Congratulations to our year 6 students who celebrated the culmination of seven years of education at Presentation last week. It was a lovely celebration for the students and families alike, particularly as the JSC members led it. Each child received individual attention as they were presented with their medal, there was the chance for group photos, numerous opportunities for photos with past and current teachers, short ‘words of wisdom’ from me and a disco for the kids.

Congratulations to the year 6 team; Ms Nicola Holmes, Mr Simon La Rocca, Mr Clint Lowes, Mr Lachlan Dixon, Mr Andrew Cavalieros, Mr Steve Janevski, Ms Julie Windsor and Ms Kristy Caruso for their work with, and commitment to, our 2019 year 6 students.

Special thanks to our official photographer, Mrs Stephanie De Cata, who took all our school happy snaps. Thank you to the other staff members who attended. It was fabulous to see them there, including specialists and teachers and ES staff from past years, some of whom are on leave and came for a ‘night out’.

Thank you and congratulations also to the staff who have worked with and nurtured our year 6’s for the previous six years; they say it takes a village to raise a child, and for our kids, PPPS is that village.

One last goodbye to other members of our community who are leaving PPPS. We wish these people and families all the best and thank them for their contribution to our lives.

The year 6 students themselves.
Families whose year 6 student is the ‘baby’ and last child to attend PPPS.
Students and families who are moving to other locations and different schools next year.

For staff who are moving on to other schools and other challenges, we wish them all the best for the future.

Mr Chris Uniacke is moving to Aitken Creek PS, while Mrs Lauren Batty is having a sea change to the Bellarine Peninsula.

Mr Sean Prien is joining the Bethal Primary School Meadow Heights community, while Ms Monika Baricevic and Mrs Jenifer Byrne, are still deciding on their next career/life move. Perhaps we will see them here next year in the role of casual relief teachers.

We also say farewell to Ms Marg Gardner who has accepted the challenge of working with VCAL students at PRACE College. Marg has worked in our music program for a number of years, providing our kids with opportunities to use a range of instruments, sing in the choir and develop a love of music; thank you Marg.

Thank you to all these students, families and staff members who, in their own special way, have contributed to making PPPS an even greater school.

We also welcome new teaching staff members to PPPS; Ms Hollie Winfield who joins us as a Learning Specialist and part of our leadership team, Mr Tom Kimpton who is joining our year 5 team and Ms Aimee Deacon who is joining the year 2 team.

They have already worked with their teams on planning day and are excited to start in 2020. We will get to know them more next year.

We also welcome Mr Thomas Stubberfield who will join our specialist team for four days each week in Music.

We are delighted to welcome back Mrs Sharon Kandell, after a year’s leave, and Mrs Kate Cugnetto who are excited to be joining us and sharing a year 1 class.

We look forward to hearing about the successes of our year 6 students as they move into secondary school, of our staff who are leaving and of the families who are also leaving us this year.

We have one final goodbye to announce. We congratulate Ms Kristina Elvey, our Business Manager, who has been appointed as the Business Manager at Eltham High School. For five years Kristina has led our office; introducing new and improved processes, ensuring that as a school we are ahead of all the DET regulations and requirements, and making students, parents and community members a priority when they contact the office. We thank Kristina for her professionalism, her patience, her warmth, her commitment to our community and for her never ending good humor. We will all miss her, no one more than the Principal. Having such a skilled and knowledgeable Business Manager is a strength and we know that Eltham High will quickly benefit from her leadership. We wish you well, Kristina.

Rock on to the New Year!

Julia and Angus would like to congratulate all the Little Groovin’ Guitars students for a fantastic 2019 culminating in the rock band workshop and evening concert. This year was our biggest yet with 20 students on stage, packing out the Ruang! Thank you to the school staff and parents for your support - the LGG team and students are lucky to have you.

Please contact info@littlegroovinguitars.com.au with your child’s name and class for information about enrolling in Term 1, 2020.

Special welcome

Special welcome to Lewis Gregory Marcy who arrived Tuesday this week. Congratulations to Jessica and Adrian on Lewis’ safe arrival; the family are loving this special time together.

Once again, thank you all for your support of the school and your contributions to the interdependent partnership we share. We wish everyone a safe and relaxing Christmas and a fun filled holiday. Take care.

Claire McInerney

Principal

Plenty Parklands Press

Issue 19 · 19 Dec 2019

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