Principal Team's Report

This fortnight at the Springs...

We're nearly there! The end of the school year is approaching quickly, and we are absolutely flat out as we try to fit in celebrations, incursions, excursions and learning in all of our classrooms. 

It was great to see so many families celebrating another fabulous year at The Springs at our Christmas Celebration Afternoon this week. We acknowledge all of our students for their amazing performances and congratulate all of our lucky Raffle winners!

What a great experience our Year 5 and 6 students had, attending our very first Surfing days this week! It was wonderful to see so many students manage to stand up and the look of joy on their faces as they achieved this success! The resilience of all students and the determination shown is to be commended. A massive thank you to Mr Holmes, Mrs Lloyd and all of our staff for making this such a great experience for all students.

It was also great to see our Junior School students enjoy their Athletics Day, and our Year 3 & 4 students participate in the AFL Inflatable Fun session. Well done to all students on your participation - we loved seeing your smiling faces as you tried different activities and worked beautifully in groups during these sessions. 

As we head into these last 2 weeks, we urge all of our students to enjoy the activities we have on offer, but remember to show our 3 Values at all times - Respect, Responsibility and Resilience will be so important as routines change and our days become more hectic!

Staffing 2025

In 2025, we are pleased to welcome some new staff members to Pakenham Springs Primary School. 

We look forward to the following educators joining our teaching team next year: Grace Johnson, Shae Wallin, Alyce Della Bosca, Bobbie Darwall, Tara Butler, Eleanor Hand and Kim Shortall.

We look forward to the following educators joining our Learning Support Assistant team in 2025: Tessa Gillard, Rachael Navarra, Melinda Shine, Amy Fussell, Alyse Osborne and Katelyn Ross.

We will also welcome back Amanda Daalmeyer and Brooke Bartlett who have been on leave in 2024.

In 2025, our Specialist Teaching Team will be:

• Physical Education - Scott Holmes & Bryoni Lloyd
• Media Arts - Teague Rook & Esther Priestley 
  (Vickie Jones will be covering in Term 1 due to Esther Priestley being on leave)
• STEM - Bree McKenzie, Amanda Daalmeyer, Sarah Watson
• Visual Art - Bobbie Darwall & Aimee Cain

Students will find out their 2025 classroom teachers on Wednesday 11th December as they spend some time transitioning to their new classroom. We understand that there may be a little anxiety in the lead-up to this day, which is perfectly normal! Change can be nerve-wracking and unsettling, and we urge all families to remain positive and resilient ahead of these announcements. All educators at Pakenham Springs teach to a very high standard and work together to create consistency for all students across the school. 

Classes are formed using a multitude of information sources and our staff spend hours working through this. Likewise, the allocation of teachers to classes is also considered carefully, and many different factors are taken into account. At this stage, additional requests for changes are not able to be accommodated. We often hear 'My child has no friends in their new class' or 'My child doesn't work well with that child' - please trust our staff and trust our processes. Not all children will get along or work well together - this is also true for adults out in the real world. Resilience is an important skill for children to learn and adults can play a large part in this by remaining positive, emphasising the opportunity to make new friends and reminding students that classrooms are for learning and play times can be used for catching up with their friends. Every student has had the opportunity to nominate a number of students they think they work well with, and we guarantee that every single student has at least one person from their list in their new class. 

Staff Farewells

In 2025, we say farewell to a small number of staff members. 

Mrs Jennifer Bradford departs Pakenham Springs after many years, and we wish her well as she continues her teaching journey at another school. 

Mrs Amanda Parnall will also depart Pakenham Springs after 7 years on staff and we thank her for her service during her time here.

Miss Emily Bradford and Mrs Alekhya Annapureddy also depart PSPS after 2 years as part of our teaching team and we wish them all the best as they join new schools in 2025. 

We also say a temporary farewell to Miss Leanne Jager (one year position at another school) and Miss Melanie Breadon (on leave) for 2025 and we look forward to seeing them back here in 2026.  

And finally, we congratulate Ann Doyle on her retirement. After many years in the Department of Education, Ann is looking forward to doing some travel and seeing more of Australia with her family. We thank Ann for her service to Pakenham Springs and wish her well for the years ahead. 

Canteen Update

In 2025, we say farewell to Jude Fina Foods as our Canteen operator, and welcome BOCCA Foods as our new service provider. We will distribute information in the coming weeks about what BOCCA has to offer, and we thank Jude Fina Foods for their 14 years of service. In particular, we'd like to say a massive farewell and THANK YOU to Di Street who manages and operates the canteen on a day-to-day basis. Di is a valued part of our school community, and we will miss her smiling face around the Springs. We wish her well in her future endeavours.  

To the Pakenham Springs Primary School Community,

Jude Fina Foods would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for your support over the past 14 years. Your trust and encouragement have meant a great deal to my staff and me, and we are truly grateful for the positive partnership we’ve enjoyed with you all.

As we bid farewell to operating your school canteen, with our last day being Friday, 13th December 2024, we’re confident that the new providers will continue to serve your children and loved ones with care and dedication.

A special mention goes to Diane, our supervisor, who has forged a wonderful rapport with the school community and has been instrumental in creating a welcoming environment. 

Thank you to Diane, Jay, and everyone who supported us throughout this journey. 

Warm regards,

Leo 

Jude Fina Foods

School Saving Bonus 

The Victorian Government is delivering the School Saving Bonus – a one-off $400 support for government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025.  From Tuesday 26 November 2024, you will receive an email from the Department of Education with your unique $400 School Saving Bonus code. 

The School Saving Bonus will help families cover the cost of uniforms, textbooks, excursions, activities and more. 

If you have multiple children enrolled in Victorian government schools for 2025, you will receive one School Saving Bonus code email per child. These emails might arrive on different days. Please make sure to check your spam/junk email folder. 

Parents and carers can use the School Saving Bonus code in-store at school-nominated suppliers. Parents and carers can also choose to access the School Saving Bonus online system, where they can allocate part or all of the $400 bonus to use at school-nominated online suppliers or for school activities.  

To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, visit School Saving Bonus | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au). A step-by-step user guide will be available on the webpage on 26 November.    If you have not received your School Saving Bonus code via email by Friday 29 November, please contact the Department of Education by emailing school.saving.bonus@education.vic.gov.au 

Victorian Education Excellence Awards

We are proud to announce that the Cardinia Network was the winner of the 2024 Outstanding Koorie Education Award. Each school within the Cardinia network works hard to ensure that the work we are doing is culturally sensitive and celebrates the diversity and inclusion of each and every student, staff member, family member and community member. This award is a wonderful acknowledgement of the efforts of all of our schools and we are proud to be part of such an active network in this area.

Looking ahead to 2025

Our planning is well underway for 2025, and we are getting excited about the plans we have going forward. Our Specialist programs in 2025 will stay the same, with Physical Education, Media Arts, Visual Arts and STEM being delivered to all students P-6. Auslan will again run for all students across the school, as will our year-level sports program and our Year 5/6 Interschool Sport development and competition program. We have some whole school events already booked in, such as World of Maths, a Dance Day (including the opportunity for our families to bust out their best moves) and a plethora of different experiences to help enrich the educational opportunities for all students.

If you are not returning to Pakenham Springs in 2025 (not our Year 6 students) please let the office know as soon as possible, as this will assist us in our planning for 2025. Likewise, if you have a child beginning Prep that you haven't already enrolled, please do so immediately ahead of our Prep Transition Program. 

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 8:30am 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,

The PSPS Leadership Team