This fortnight at the Springs

Our students have certainly been on the go this past fortnight! We've sent our Year 4 students off to Phillip Island for their camp and we're looking forward to hearing all about their adventures! We also had our Victorian State School Spectacular students attend a rehearsal this week, along with our Munchkin performers in the Pakenham Secondary School production of Wizard of Oz. We had our Year 1 Olden Days Celebration which was lots of fun! I love seeing our students and staff immerse themselves into our learning units and have a great time really exploring the content.

Over the past fortnight, we've been so lucky to access some high quality professional learning for our staff. Our Curriculum Day last week saw all staff undertake Community Understanding and Safety Training. This training is designed to create culturally safe environments for all students, with a particular focus on our Koorie population. The importance of all students feeling safe, included and connected within our school is paramount and I am proud of the measures Pakenham Springs has in place to ensure this is the case.

During our Curriculum Day, we also had a learning session around Neurodiversity, some of the different presentations of neurodiverse students, some proactive strategies for assisting these students in being safe and successful in the classroom and also strategies for staff self-care. The job we do is emotionally draining at times, and although there's certainly a lot of joy and satisfaction in our role, it can wear even the most positive and experienced person down sometimes.

Dealing with issues between students

When your child comes home and tells you about an incident of concern that has happened at school, particularly in regard to another child being involved or a seeming 'lack of care or action' from staff, it is only natural to feel upset, frustrated or angry. Please remember the following:

You are hearing one child's version/perception of the event. Please keep an open mind when respectfully seeking further information. Remember that children often see only their point of view and may omit or forget all of the details of an incident.
Under no circumstances should a parent/adult approach another child to try to 'sort it out'. This is intimidating for children, against our PSPS Code of Conduct and, if accompanied by a physical action/touch at all, could leave a parent/adult liable for legal consequences.
The correct way to address the issue would be to respectfully seek further clarification from the classroom teacher. Please remember that staff are busy, and it may take a little time for them to gather the information you require.
Remember that when a child says a staff member 'did nothing', this is usually not the case. Staff have a number of different ways of following up incidents, in ways that protect the dignity and privacy of all involved. Details of consequences applied to other students will not be discussed.
If you are still dissatisfied with the level of information, or the response you have received, please put your concern in writing to a member of the leadership team to follow up further.
Children will have accidents in the school yard and issues with other students at times. This is normal and is part of them learning, growing and developing. Our procedures and policies recognise that children will make mistakes, and we aim to use these opportunities for teaching resilience, assertiveness, compassion, accountability and problem-solving. That is not to say that incidents do not go without consequence - on the contrary. Many incidents have a logical and natural consequence attached to them which happens automatically, and school processes are always followed.
Bullying or the intimidation of students by other students or adults at PSPS will not be accepted. We have processes to deal with genuine cases of bullying and intimidation and will follow these should the need occur.
Similarly, intimidation, abuse and disrespect towards our staff members (via phone, email or face-to-face) will not be tolerated at any time. Staff have been instructed to end a conversation if they are feeling like it is becoming unproductive or heated. It will then be handled directly by the Principal, with Department of Education representatives assisting.

We want to hear from you!

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey and is seeking your feedback. The survey, offered by the Department of Education, is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.

Your opinions are important to us and will contribute to identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies. The department will use the results from the survey for research purposes and to improve outcomes for students.

The survey will be conducted online and only take 20 minutes to complete. It can be completed on any internet-enabled device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and is compatible with most browsers.

To complete the survey, simply:

1. Click on the link below or copy and paste the text (https://www.orima.com.au/parent) into your browser. This button will take you directly to the survey...

2. Select the School and Campus name:

School Name: Pakenham Springs Primary School

Campus Name: Pakenham Springs Primary School

3. Enter the School PIN below.

PIN: 617659

4. When complete, please click on the TICK button at the end of the survey to submit your answers. Please note that the survey will time out after 60 minutes of inactivity.

Planning for 2025

It's hard to believe that we're already planning for 2025! Our budget and workforce planning take place now and it is important that we have the most up-to-date information possible. If you know that you will not be returning to Pakenham Springs in 2025 (not our current year 6 students!), please let us know with as much notice as possible. This allows for our class structures to be finalised as early as we can.

If you have a request that should be considered before placing your child in a class for 2025, please address this in writing to myself at renee.cotterell@education.vic.gov.au with the subject line "2025 Request". Please note that requests for specific teachers are generally not considered. Likewise, friendship group requests from parents cannot always be considered for many reasons.

Illness

There seems to be a perfect storm of bugs and germs around at the moment! We've been hit hard by staff illness during Term 2 and the beginning of Term 3, and we thank the entire school community for being understanding and flexible when things have had to change, sometimes at the last minute. We understand that splitting grades or having casual relief teachers can be a little unsettling for students. Whilst splitting a grade is a last resort, sometimes this cannot be avoided. This is often a last-minute decision as well, so communicating this in advance is near impossible.

We ask families to keep students at home if they are unwell. Whilst we encourage good hygiene practices within the classroom, germs spread easily between children. If students come to school unwell, they are miserable, and not focused on learning and it is a health and safety risk to other students and our staff. Please advise us on Compass if your child is unwell and staying home on a particular day.

Uniforms

Parents and Carers are reminded that a condition of enrolling at Pakenham Springs Primary School is adherence to our School Uniform. This includes the wearing of school-approved jumpers and polo shirts, the minimal wearing of jewellery, and also the requirement that hair colour be natural. Please note that our old red polo shirts are no longer acceptable. If you are having trouble securing uniform pieces, please contact our office for some assistance. Uniform breaches will be recorded via Compass, and we ask for parent/carer support in rectifying them as soon as practicable. Possible actions following frequent breaches of our Uniform policy are listed in the document attached.

Supervision before school

Students are not to arrive at school until 8:30 am on school mornings. Staff do not begin their workday until this time, and there is insufficient supervision available in the mornings. Any student arriving before 8:30 am will be asked to sit at the office and wait. We ask for your support in this matter. Likewise, under no circumstances are students allowed to leave the school grounds in the morning and go across to the shops. Not only is this incredibly unsafe, with them crossing the busy Heritage BLVD road unsupervised, but a small number of students are also coming back having purchased items inappropriate for the school day.

Please contact OSHClub if you need to organise care and supervision for your child/ren outside of 8:30 am - 3:30 pm.

Have a wonderful fortnight Springers!

The PSPS Leadership Team

School Wide Positive Behaviour

Matrix of Expectations