Hello Parents and Friends,

What a year we have had at TPPS!

This newsletter will be the final one for a spectacular year we have had at TPPS. As we reflect upon the last twelve months of learning at TPPS, we are so proud of the outstanding achievements of our students and school. We pride ourselves on the balanced education that we provide for all students. This includes our cutting-edge academic programs, vast specialist classes, comprehensive support and enrichment programs, our Positive Education and wellbeing programs, our extensive extra-curricular activities and the comprehensive sporting opportunities that are offered. These achievements were highlighted by the wider community with TPPS being named as a finalist for the Victorian Education Excellence Awards (VEEA), State winner and Outstanding School recipient in the Maths Talent Quest (MTQ) and a State winner in the Financial Literacy in Practice (FLIP) Challenge. We have so much to be proud of at TPPS.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our community for the ongoing support you provide us. Learning is a partnership between students, families and the school and we have worked so well to achieve outstanding outcomes for all students in 2023.

We wish you all a very happy and safe holiday period. We are looking forward to 2024 and we can’t wait to introduce our brand-new Sustainability specialist program. The students are going to love it!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Final Assembly and Farewell to our Graduating Grade 6 Students

Our final assembly for 2024 will take place next Friday 15th December at 2:40pm. It will be an outdoor assembly and hopefully it is a beautiful afternoon to say our official goodbye to our graduating students. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Return to school dates in 2024

The students will return to school on the following dates in 2024:

Wednesday 31st January – Grade 1-6 students
Thursday 1st February – Grade Prep

Farewell to the Class of 2023!

It is with great pride and a touch of sadness that we farewell our graduating class of Grade 6 students. This cohort has been truly amazing over their seven years at TPPS and have made their mark in so many ways.

Nearly seven years ago, our Grade 6 students started their learning journey at TPPS. They were a very happy, adventurous and bright group that have remained this way for the entire time at TPPS. Over their journey at primary school, these students have exhibited excellent resilience, hope and optimism. After enduring two years of lockdowns, they bounced back and had such successful Grade 5 and 6 years.

It is an exciting time for any young person to move from the sanctuary of their primary school and take the challenge of entering secondary school. We are so confident that this highly talented cohort will make a very successful transition to secondary school based on the personal attributes and the education that Templestowe Park has provided them over the last seven years.

We are looking forward to the Grade 6 Graduation next Thursday night. Our students are so excited and we know that they will represent TPPS, their families and themselves brilliantly on the night. We would like to thank our Grade 6 teachers and the Graduation Organising Committee for the work they have done to make this special night happen. We are so grateful for your effort.

2024 Parent Payments: Please Make Your Payment by Monday, 11 December

You will notice on your Compass Newsfeed, under Course Confirmation, that the 2024 Parent Payments are available to be paid. The process on how to pay the charges is outlined in the 2024 TPPS Parent Payment letter on Compass.

Thank you to those families who have made contributions thus far. These contributions provide our students with educational support, facilities, grounds and opportunities that we simply could not offer without your generous support. This has included the brand new Grade 1/2 playground that has just been completed. If you have any further queries, please contact the school office.

Parent Payments – Free Instruction & Curriculum Contributions

Victorian Government Schools provide students with free instruction and ensure students have free access to all items, activities and services that are used by the school to fulfil the requirements of the Curriculum.

Curriculum contributions by parents allows Templestowe Park PS to purchase the following items for students:

Curriculum Consumables: covering stationery items including but not limited to: scrapbooks, exercise books, display books, art folio, document wallet foolscap, pencils/ pens (depending on grade), pencil case, colour pencils/wax crayons, white board markers, wooden ruler, sharpener, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, etc. ($50)
Consumables for Art ($40)
Consumables for STEM ($40)
Consumables for Literacy ($40)
Consumables for Mathematics ($40)
Consumables for Language ($25)
Consumables for Food Tech ($15)
Consumables for Wellbeing ($20)
Maths Online Subscription ($15)
Literacy Online Subscription ($15)
Other subscriptions ($10)

Without the contributions of families, the school would only be able to purchase basic resources that allow the delivery of free instruction. This would greatly impact the quantity and quality of classroom and specialist consumables/resources that each student uses. It would also mean the cancellation of the excellent online subscriptions that we provide all students.

We thank the community for making contributions that allow the school to offer such an engaging, diverse and empowering learning environment. Without your contributions, our learning programs, grounds and school library would be vastly different and inferior to what we currently offer.

Appointment of Acting Leader Teacher for Disability Inclusion and Student & Community Wellbeing

We are pleased to announce that Mrs Narelle Sime has been appointed as an Acting Leader Teacher for Disability Inclusion and Student & Community Wellbeing. Narelle comes from a background of leadership in wellbeing at previous schools and is an outstanding classroom teacher. We congratulate her on her appointment for 2024.

Mrs Sime (right) is seen sitting here with Mrs Daly (left) at our Christmas Carols.

Semester 2 Student Reports

The Semester 2 Student Reports will be available to download from Compass next Friday 15th December. Just click on 'View Academic Reports' on your Compass home page to access them.

2023 Yearbook

All families that ordered the 2023 Templestowe Park PS Yearbook will receive the publication early next week. This year’s yearbook looks amazing, and it is such a fantastic keepsake for all families. We would like to acknowledge and thank the PFA and teaching staff who have worked tirelessly to produce our fantastic yearbook. In particular, Kellie Fletcher and Kirsty Reilly, who have coordinated the production of this keepsake.

We know that our Yearbook will bring great joy to families for many years to come.

Class Placements and Transition between Classes – Meet the Teacher Days

Our students will have the opportunity to meet their new teacher and classmates next week. These sessions are vitally important to build initial relationships and to alleviate any worries that our students might have. Our teachers will participate in two formal class handover meetings next week where important information about each student will be shared.

The two class transition sessions will take place at the following times:

Tuesday, 12th December 11:50-12:40pm; and
Thursday, 14th December 11:50-12:40pm.

A great deal of care goes into the formation of classes. Here is a link to the Class Formation Policy, outlining the process undertaken, to ensure we provide the best learning environment for all our students.

http://www.templestoweparkps.vic.edu.au/images/downloads/policies/class_formation_policy.pdf

We received a substantial amount of additional information from parents through the Class Placement Form for 2024. Submission of this form did not guarantee the parent request, as multiple factors were used to make placement decisions, however the information was certainly considered.

Starting in a new class can be challenging for some students and it is important that the school and parents help them with this transition. Children take their cues from trusted adults and it is our job to set them up for success for the coming year. We have provided some advice from Dr Judith Locke (clinical psychologist and former teacher) to assist parents whose children may be anxious about their new class.

Tips for Parents of Anxious Students

If your child is anxious about starting a new class with unfamiliar people, do listen to them talk about their fears, but normalise them (‘A lot of people feel worried about starting something new’), and then talk about their past strengths in facing tricky things and your confidence that they will cope with this challenge.
When they come home from their first transition day, keep your questions broad, ‘How was it?’ not, ‘Did you make a friend today?’ or ‘Is Sam in your class?’ This won’t put unnecessary pressure on them or suggest things in which they should be disappointed.
Keep your and your child’s expectations realistic. It is highly unlikely that they will form close friendships in the early days of a new school year, particularly in early primary. How often have you started a new job and come home from your first day to announce, ‘I made my new best friend today’?
There are things you can say if your child is not in a class they want to be in:

Listen to them. Then reflect back what you hear. ‘You’re upset because some of your friends are not in your class. That is a completely understandable feeling’. Or ‘Sounds like you are upset because you didn’t get the teacher that you wanted.’
Then state the potential benefits of facing this challenge, ie: making extra, new friends; learning skills to make new acquaintances; being able to focus more on schoolwork in class than talking to their current best friend; and learning how to work with a different type of teacher than the one they had last year.
Maybe tell them a story about how you learned a lot from a teacher you had who was a bit tougher but taught you a lot, or a time you went somewhere where you didn’t know anyone but learnt how to get on in unfamiliar environments.
Let your child know they can still see their other friend/s at lunchtime or at playdates and parties.

Principals’ Award

In our time at TPPS we have never seen such as an explosion of joy for a student receiving a Principals’ Award than what was witnessed at our assembly last week. Brandon B in 6S received the award to rapturous applause from all students and we couldn’t be more proud of him.

Brandon consistently follows all the school values. He completes his schoolwork to a high standard and shows pride in everything that he does. Brandon demonstrates a real love for learning and has a talent for writing poetry. He’s also a keen downball player! Brandon has a fantastic sense of humour and is kind and polite to everyone that he meets. Finally, Brandon should be commended for being an excellent role model to his peers across his time here at Templestowe Park Primary. Well done on a magnificent seven years at TPPS, Brandon!

Arrival at school in the morning

At our assembly last week we spoke to the students about staying within the school grounds once they arrive to school in the morning. We discovered recently that a very small number of students were visiting the playground adjoining the school in Mandella Reserve before the commencement of school. This is not allowed and when students enter the school in the morning they cannot leave to visit this playground.

Every morning, we have three teachers on yard duty from 8:30 – 8:50am. During this time, the Mandella Reserve playground is checked for students. We ask all parents to remind their child that this playground is out of bounds for students before school unless they are supervised by their own parent or guardian.

Thank You - Helpers Morning Tea: Monday, 11th December: 10:30am

Our Helpers Morning Tea will take place on Monday, 11th December at 10:30am in the School Hall. This Morning Tea provides us with the opportunity to thank you, our community, for the invaluable assistance you have provided to us throughout the year in the classroom, on excursions and camps, with the PFA events, helping covering books, as classroom representatives and in so many other ways.

An invite was sent to all helpers last week. If we have accidently missed you, please feel welcome to join us. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning.

Farewell to Departing Families from TPPS

We would like to wish a very fond farewell to all our parents and families who will be departing Templestowe Park PS at the end of 2023. We wish you all the very best for the years ahead and I thank you for the contributions you made to our learning community.

Goodbye and best wishes to the following families:

Reinehr, Sheehan, Clements, Furneaux, Lu, Namboodiri, Wheaton, Azzopardi, Bates, Browne, Craggs, Khodadadian, Heath-Ross, Shirzaditouyserkani, Vanevski, Yoannidis, Bennett, Dehghani Ashkezari, Hatzolos, Honarvar, Kusuma, Tse, Man, Mullarkey, Oguzhan, Puls, Randhawa, Sherrington, Lee, Van Wyk, Hansen, Wu, Wyatt, Balassone, Belfield, Colyvas, Prior, Holmes, Pietersen, Lighton, Stamoulis, Zhen, Bach, Young

Mark Roberts Brian Cleary Robyn Twyford

PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

From the Office