Principal's Notes

Dear families and friends, 

Our thoughts are with the many schools and families affected by the recent floods. Luckily our area has not been affected. Tammy and I have been busy organising our Bushfire Prevention works and maintenance to keep our school as prepared as we can be in the upcoming bushfire season.  

Newsletter survey

Yesterday we sent out a request for our families to complete a very short survey about our newsletter. Please complete the survey as we are wanting to make sure our communication to families is meeting needs. 

School Council 

On Wednesday night, we held our most recent School Council meeting at school. Items discussed were: approving the F/1 camp to Halls Gap, Building and Grounds maintenance items, upcoming events, financials, the Solar System is being replaced for a newer model in the upcoming weeks at no cost to the school, Junior School Council have proposed a fundraising project to support children with bikes and scooters for refugee children in Australia, staffing and a report from the Parents Club. 

I also discussed the new Victorian Government Schools Agreement which has now come into effect. All Department of Education staff have received salary increases and some alterations to their salary/progression levels. Changes for teachers are: reduced face-to-face teaching hours by one hour in 2023 and and another 30 minutes in 2024, continued Professional Practice Days and time in lieu provision for teachers extended to cover teachers undertaking 'school activities', such as, 'parent teacher meetings, camps, excursions in excess of their 38 hour work week. For example, if a teacher updated their First Aid/CPR and the evening session was from 6.30 -8.00pm. The teacher would then have 1.5 hours off their teaching and or other duties for the week.  These changes will enable our teachers to complete planning, collaboration and assessment. 

Staffing 2023 

Earlier this week I emailed all our families with some of the changes to our staffing for 2023.  We had recently advertised for a fulltime classroom teacher for the 2023 school year and we are pleased to inform you all that Miss Amy Gray will be joining our teaching staff next year. Amy is currently teaching at Darley Primary School in Bacchus Marsh and will be relocating to the Hamilton area to be closer to her family. Mrs Brabham has accepted a teaching position at Gray St Primary school next year, where she will be going to school with her daughter who is starting her Foundation year in 2023. 

The remainder of our staffing profile for next year consists of Miss Sally Purnell returning from Sabbatical Leave, Mrs Susan Bell as our Learning Tutor and Tammy will continue in her Business Manager role three days a week.  The part-time Music/Performing Arts teacher is currently being advertised as well as a part-time Wellbeing/Teacher. This is a new position for our school as we have been fortunate to receive additional funding to support student mental health and well-being. Please be advised that I will be taking a period of Long Service Leave in the middle of next year, where I will be heading to Europe on my pre-planned Covid holiday. Further details of dates and classroom replacements will be announced in the new year. 

At this stage we are looking at a similar daily structure as this year:- 

F/1 – Amy Gray

2/4 – Sally Purnell

5/6 – Lisa Ferrier

The afternoon sessions will be with Sally Year 4/5/6 and Amy F/1/2.

Play practice

The students went down the Cavendish SM Hall on Tuesday during their Performing Arts lessons to practice their play called 'The Golden Plan'. The students are very busy learning their lines and practising their dance routines. So please keep Wednesday 16th November free to come and see our play. More details about costumes and events times will be sent home soon. 

Year 12 Graduation

Congratulations to some ex-pupils of Cavendish PS on graduating today from Baimbridge College.  Well done to Lachie Crawford, Jack Freeman, Liam and Aidan Lomas.  We look forward to seeing what your futures hold for you.

Have a great weekend.

Lisa Ferrier