Principal Team's Report

This fortnight at the Springs...

As we head into the final week of Term 2, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of each and every one of our Springers Staff through what has been a long and challenging term. With widespread illnesses, unavailability of casual relief staff, camps, reports, and swimming programs, not to mention rigorous teaching and learning programs, our staff have certainly earned their school holiday break! At Pakenham Springs, we are lucky to have such a dedicated, enthusiastic, and motivated group of professionals educating our students every day, I am sure you will join me in acknowledging their efforts throughout Term 2. 

End of Semester Reports

Our end of Semester 1 reports will be published on Compass next Friday 28th June. I hope that you will see a real difference in the way these reports are written, with a focus on personalisation and really explaining what your child/ren knows and their next step in learning. Our staff work hard on these, spending many hours in their own time making sure they are accurate and really reflect the strengths of each student. Please make some time to read and discuss these reports with your child/ren. It's important that we have a strong and consistent partnership between the school, home, parent, and child to ensure we are working together to get the best possible outcomes for each child.

There will be Parent-Teacher-Student Learning Conferences held in Week 3 of Term 3 - bookings for these can be made through Compass shortly. 

Year 4 Cultural Celebration

What a colourful extravaganza we had last week for our Year 4 South American Cultural Carnival Celebration! There were feathers flying, maracas shaking and bodies dancing to some pretty cool Latin grooves! Celebrating the end of their unit of study, our year 4 students took part in many activities throughout the day and finished this off with a parade and a dance with their family and friends in the gym during the last hour. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces! Huge congratulations to Melanie Breadon, and the entire Year 4 team for their organisation of this fun event.

Year 3 Camp

Last week, we sent 90 Year 3 students on their very first school camp to Forest Edge in Neerim South. It was pleasing to have the owners of the camp contact me to say how impressed they were with the behaviour of our students. The work we do in building Respect, Responsibility and Resilience certainly pays off! Our students enjoyed Archery, bush cooking, rock climbing, flying fox, and many more fun activities throughout their time on camp. Even with some cold and wet weather, these little champions still had a fabulous time and learnt a lot about teamwork, persistence, and independence.  We thank the staff and parent helpers for giving up their time to ensure our Year 3 students enjoyed this experience. 

Coming up in Term 3

There's never a quiet moment at the Springs! Term 3 looks to be another term filled with exciting events, celebrations, and learning for all of our students. Coming up, we have our Year 5 & 6 Health and Sexuality Education program, Hoop Time, PJ Day, State School Spectacular, our Wizard of Oz performance with Pakenham Secondary College, Prep 100 days of school, School Disco, an Author visit,  Yr 4 camp, visits from Red Cross and the NED shows, Father's Day, incursions and excursions... the list goes on! 

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 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.

Respect towards all members of the community

We are incredibly lucky to have such a supportive school community, however, occasionally situations arise where a member of the school community is unhappy about a situation or decision and raises this matter in an inappropriate manner. 

Any member of the school community is entitled to raise a concern, or put in a complaint, following our Complaints Policy (published on our website). The majority of issues can be sorted quite quickly by finding out more information, or getting clarity, from the classroom teacher. This is the first point of call for all queries. 

If further clarification or discussion needs to take place, community members are asked to put the complaint or issue to be discussed in an email and send it to the school email address so that it can be passed on to the most appropriate person to respond. Please understand that this may take some time. We deal with a multitude of issues each day and do our best to respond in a timely manner to every issue. We may not be available to take a call, or see you in person, right at that very moment. Like all professional services, making an appointment is the most effective way of ensuring we can give you the time and attention you may need. 

Under no circumstance will abuse towards our staff be tolerated - this includes in person, on the phone or through written communication. We appreciate your support and understanding for our staff who are working hard to provide an outstanding learning environment for your child/ren. 

Fences

They're almost done! We are so pleased to be able to put these in place to help ensure a safe school environment for our students. With the installation of the new fence, some changes in how we enter and exit the school may be needed. The gates will be unlocked at 8:20 each morning, and then locked again from 9:15am until 2:45pm. They will then be locked again at 3:50pm to ensure the safety of our staff and our school premises after hours. When the gates are locked, all entry to, and exit from, the school must be through the front office.  We understand that this may cause a change to the way you enter the school, but we know that you support our desire to keep our students, staff and school grounds safe. 

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.

The PSPS Leadership Team