Hello Parents and Friends,

It has been a fantastic fortnight of learning and special events at Templestowe Park. We

had a marvellous time celebrating Education Week last week. The theme for Education Week was 'Spotlight on STEM'. This provided schools across Victoria with a chance to celebrate and share how they bring science, technology, engineering, and maths to life in the classroom. At TPPS we had a wonderful time at our Open Morning and Night as we invited our community to learn about how we undertake STEM in our school. Our families

built towers, created 3D objects, used directional language, designed a masterpiece in the Art Room and produced their own songs in Performing Arts using Garage Band on an iPad. It was amazing to see hundreds of our community members attend our Open Morning and Night. It is one of our favourite days of the year and our students love having their family and friends visit their classrooms.

Our Open Night passport competition was once again very popular with hundreds of entries across the school. Congratulations to winning families, who took home a gift voucher for Games World or a special stationery package. As you can see in the photo, they were all very happy with their prizes!

Student Free Day – Monday 22nd July

Monday 22nd of July will be a student free day as all staff will be undertaking professional learning on trauma informed practice. TeamKids will provide a full day service for any family needing supervision. To contact and make bookings for TeamKids please click on the link below.

https://www.templestoweparkps.vic.edu.au/page/33/Out-of-School-Hours-Care

Grade 4 Kinder Visits

Over the last couple of weeks our Performing Arts teacher (Ms Huber) and Grade 4 students have been visiting local preschools to deliver a special performing arts lesson. Our Grade 4 students assisted Ms Huber in a Prep lesson and have then delivered this fun filled lesson to students at Gum Nut Gully and Templestowe Heights Preschools. They did a marvellous job of being the teacher and the preschool students loved the activities. Over the coming weeks, more Grade 4 students will have an opportunity to visit other local preschools. We would like to thank Ms Huber and our fantastic students for their community service.

Regional Debating Day at TPPS – student learning

On Tuesday 28th of May, TPPS will welcome schools from across Melbourne to participate in the Debaters Association of Victoria (DAV) Regional Debating Day.

The Regional Debating Day provides an opportunity for students in Years 5 and 6 to put their skills to use in ‘friendly’ debates with students from other schools. We wish our Debating Team the very best for the day!

To learn more about our enrichment programs at TPPS please click here.

Enrolments for Prep 2025 Now Open!

Digital enrolments for Prep 2025 are now open. To register for a digital enrolment account please click here. The final date for Prep 2024 enrolment applications is Sunday 28 July 2024.

For assistance in enrolling at Templestowe Park PS please email us at enrolments@templestoweparkps.vic.edu.au or call on 9846 2700.

Grade 1 Parent Information Night - Reading

Last Wednesday night, Mrs Twyford presented to over forty Grade 1 parents about our new approach to teaching reading in Grade 1. Students from Grades Prep – 2 are now learning to read through a systematic synthetic phonics approach. Many of you may have read about this teaching strategy in the media as it is quite often referred to as the science of reading. This systematic approach explicitly teaches alphabetic principles and phonemes (the unit of sound in a word). This approach provides students with extensive knowledge of letter sounds that they can apply when reading a wide range of words rather than memorising individual words. The following quote explains this strategy best.

“If a child memorizes ten words, the child can read only ten words, but if a child learns the sounds of ten letters, the child will be able to read 350 three sound words, 4320 four sound words and 21,650 five sound words.” ~Dr. Martin Kozloff

We would like to thank all parents that attended the presentation and for their support with our home reading program.

Working Together - Student Wellbeing

As you are all aware, student wellbeing is the greatest focus of our school. Our RRIPO values and Positive Education program underpin everything we do as a school and we are continually looking at ways that we can support our students to be their best. At assembly last week, we discussed the importance of our RRIPO values and the high behavioural expectations for our students, staff and community. We make no apologies for our high expectations as it makes our school a safe, productive and successful learning community.

We consistently review our wellbeing initiatives and track how they are going. One way we do this is through our Student Attitudes to School (Grades 4-6) and Parent surveys. We are pleased that our results are above Similar Schools in all areas in both surveys. This includes the following key student wellbeing areas:

Not experiencing bullying
Managing bullying
Respect for diversity
Advocate at school
Promoting positive behaviour

One of the main reasons for these strong wellbeing results is the relationships we build with our students and families. Does this mean that bullying, teasing or disrespectful behaviour does not occur at TPPS? The answer is simply no.

One of the most important things parents can do when their child expresses that they are experiencing difficulties with their friends or peers, is to inform the classroom teacher in a timely manner. As soon as we are informed, we can respond immediately and solve issues quickly. Please do not wait a few weeks or months to inform the school.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership to support our students wellbeing.

Student Health

As we head into the depths of winter, many bugs, viruses and illnesses occur in schools. This includes a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. We have soap dispensers in most classrooms, and in every sink around the school. We also provide tissues for every class. Good hand and personal hygiene are an important strategy to reduce the prevalence of illnesses.

If your child does experience an illness, guidelines from the Victorian Department of Health are provided to all schools outlining the exclusion period for different illnesses. Please see a link to this website below.

https://www.health.vic.gov.au/infectious-diseases/school-exclusion-table

Principals’ Award

At last week’s Assembly, we presented Angelique V from Grade 5 with the Principals’ Award. Angelique gives 100% effort into every single thing she does, whether it is a maths task, a simple spelling task, or a sporting activity. She has a huge growth mindset attitude towards everything she does, which has enabled her to be so successful in many different sporting elements, whilst also remaining very humble. Her kindness is another one of her fantastic traits. She is encouraging of others and supports her peers both in and out of the classroom.

All of these fantastic qualities were shown most recently on camp and at cross country,here Angelique blitzed through all of the opportunities available to her. She ran across the high ropes course as if she were just running on land. Then when it came to running on land earlier this week at district cross country, she pushed through and got 6th place. Well done Angelique, you are a fantastic role model to your peers and younger students at school.

Mark Roberts Brian Cleary Robyn Twyford

PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Learning @ TPPS

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