From the Principal

Welcome to IPS

It's hard to believe that Term 1 is already coming to a close. For most, it has been a wonderful term full of excitement, learning and laughter. For some, the journey has been a little tougher, but I am confident that our continued commitment to working together will have everyone smiling by year's end.

At IPS we focus on positive behaviours and good citizenship. We understand that everyone has the right to feel safe at school. Our School Values are Confidence, Independence, Persistence, Resilience, and Respect. 

It is up to all of us to bring these values to life and represent them in a way that makes our school a safe place, and a place we want to come to everyday.

Today IPS held an end of Term House Lunch. 

Students and staff dressed in their House Colours and took part in activities directed by House Leaders and our talented Mr Pearce. 

Mr Pearce never fails to get everyone excited and working in their teams to celebrate our wonderful school.

Take a look at the images from the House Lunch  on the Student Voice page.

Emergency Management Drills.

n order to help keep us safe all schools are required to practise emergency management drills. Generally speaking this occurs once a term. The drills are: Lockdown, Evacuation on site and Evacuation off site. Today we held a lock down.  For a small number of children the noisy alarm and the change to routine can be a little distressing. You may like to talk about this experience with your child explaining the importance of drills and the importance of listening to, and following the teachers / staff members instructions.

Farewell Mrs Morrow

After over 20 years of teaching at IPS our wonderful Music teacher, Mrs Marie Morrow is retiring. Marie leaves a legacy of productions, concerts, choirs, not to mention Battle of the Bands. 

We are truely thankful to have had Marie's passion and influence on the Music program here at IPS for so many years.  She has been integral to the IPS community. 

Here are some photos from our very special Monday assembly.

Marie has nurtured many a young talent to adult musicianship. She has supported the IPS Strings Program through performances at assemblies, Education Week and our famed Night(s) of Music. 

At Monday's assembly it was our opportunity to say thank you.

Marie has, through her program, enabled every students an opportunity to experience a variety of instruments, dance, singing and music games.

We all wish Marie the very best in this next chapter of her life after what has been a joyous, purposeful and meaningful teaching career.

Order of Australia

You may remember back to Issue 1 of Inside Ivanhoe 2025 where we reported that our string program’s founder, Liz Bonetti, has been honoured with recognition in the 2025 Australia Day Honours with the Medal of the Order of Australia for Services to Music.

On Tuesday Liz attended Parliament House and received her award. It was fitting she was once again accompanied by Marie Morrow (albeit in a different role).

Later that afternoon Liz visited IPS to share her story. Thank you, Liz Bonetti for your contribution to music and to the culture of our school.

ANZAC DAY

ANZAC Day is in the first week of Term 2. 

Years ago one of my daughters asked why we have a holiday on ANZAC Day and was it to celebrate victory in war? It stopped me in my tracks - I guess I had taken it for granted that we all understood the importance of ANZAC Day. I remember replying it was more about considering the sacrifices other people had made for us so we could have a good life. 

We have a limited number of ANZAC Day Badges on sale from the school office if you would like to buy one. We have $2 and $5 Badges available.

Here are some facts you might find useful if you get asked a similar question.

For young children, we want to encourage questions but keep the messages simple and reassuring:

• It’s a day when we remember and thank everyone that has helped to look after our country
• It’s a day when we are say thank you and are grateful that we live in a such a great country
• It’s a day when we remember that we have to look after everyone that lives in our community, including our older people who helped make it so great.

For older children:

The tradition of wearing poppies on ANZAC Day is an important way to honour the sacrifices made by the soldiers who fought and died for their country. We think wearing poppies on ANZAC Day is a beautiful way to remember those who gave their lives for all Australians and New Zealanders.

Lest We Forget is a line in a 19th century poem Recessional by Rudyard Kipling , the phrase 'lest we forget' means 'it should not be forgotten'. We say or write 'lest we forget' in commemorations to remember always the service and sacrifice of people who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

Naturally all children will continue to process these concepts as they grow older, and develop their own opinions with influences from many sources, including your values as their parents.

IPS will hold an assembly on the Thursday of the first week back at school. Some students will be sharing their work. Parents & carers welcome.

Year 1 - Desperately Seeking Crayons

Annual PFA Trivia Night 31st May

Any profits from the IPS Trivia Night will go toward the purchase of a new portable stage for music events, graduations and celebrations. This was considered to be a number one priority by our Junior School Council.

Traffic and Parking

On Wednesday a parent dropping of a child sideswiped another vehicle as they were leaving the drop off area.  The parent of the damaged car was justifiably concerned as the other driver left the scene and contacted me. Fortunately no body was hurt but let this be a reminder to be careful. 

Exclusive analysis of all Victorian road incidents in the past five years — excluding fender benders and incidents that weren't reported to authorities — shows more than 550 crashes were recorded within 200m of school gates during school zone times. Of those, one in five were near northern suburbs schools.

If you read this data, you will see most accidents are preventable.

https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/2431414/Hazard88-web_FA.pdf

Take extra time to drop off your child. 

Dont u-turn in driveways to save an extra minute. 

The cost of careless actions will likely be catastrophic. 

Care, not luck, prevents injury, saves lives and keeps all children safe.

2024 Annual Report

There will be a brief meeting to provide the community with information about the school's performance in 2024. The reports contain information regarding the school's context, performance highlights, financial information, and data that informs future goals and targets. 

All community members are invited to the presentation online at 6pm on Wednesday the 23rd of April. You can join us at https://eduvic.webex.com/join/kent.mark.j 

A reminder will be posted in the newsletter prior to the meeting.

*The 2024 Annual Report will be uploaded to the school website shortly thereafter.

FUNDRAISING FOR YEAR 6 CAMP

On Saturday 3rd May – Election Day, IPS will be having a cake stall and a BBQ to raise funds for the Year 6 annual camp to Canberra. We need your support to help on the cake stall and the BBQ.

Please see the links below to sign up to help out.

BBQ 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C054CAEAF2EA6FBC61-55860835-election#/

Cake stall 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C054CAEAF2EA6FBC61-55860651-election#/

Thanking you,

Year 6 teachers

On Saturday 3rd May – Election Day, IPS will be having a cake stall and a BBQ to raise funds for the Year 6 annual camp to Canberra. We would greatly appreciate your support and you can contribute by making your favourite treats, such as cakes, slices, biscuits, scones, muffins, sauces, and jam. Thank you for your generosity!

Mathematics in the holidays - Using playing cards

Playing with cards is always a fun activity, particularly on holidays.

You can:

• Play matching number games like ‘Snap’ with playing cards.
• Order the numbers on the cards from smallest to largest, or largest to smallest.

Playing shop

Playing shop helps ground your child’s maths learning in the real world while also developing their social skills. One way to play shop is to create a mini-shop at home. 

Here are a few tips and activities:

• Collect food and grocery items and label them with prices written on sticky notes, or prices cut out of shopping catalogues.
• Talk about how we pay for items using coins, notes and cards.
• Make paper money or use play money to buy and sell goods from the mini-shop.
• Collect old receipts or price tags and use them in the mini- shop.
• Notice the features of different coins, including their shapes and the animals and people shown. Discuss the differences. Create coin rubbings with pencils and paper.
• Encourage your child to order food items by height (tallest to the shortest) or by cost (least expensive to most expensive).
• Introduce kitchen scales to the mini-shop to weigh foods, such as a box of tea bags or a bag of rice, and order items by weight.

Education Week  12th to 16th of May

Education Week Theme : "Celebration of Cultures".

This year's theme, ‘Celebration of Cultures’, highlights the diversity of our communities and the importance of every child feeling safe and welcome at school.

Education Week Open Morning Wednesday 14th of May - 9.30am to 11.30am.

Finally - Being your best self

A message to our students. 

Just before holidays is a good time to reflect on how your year in school has gone so  far. No one can be the best they can be all the time. Effort is the only way that anyone can improve.  Put in the effort to make the progress with your schoolwork and in your friendships.

Keep going even if you make mistakes. Sure, this can be frustrating but effort is the key to success. Have a wonderful break, stay safe and be ready to return in Term 2 as your very best self.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mark Kent

Principal

http://www.ivanhoeps.vic.edu.au/ 

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Victoria and pay respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.