Principal's Message

Please take the time to read each page of our newsletter, as we provide you with information updates across each curriculum area. 

International Women's Day

Over the past fortnight it has been so great to see our students being actively involved in helping to promote wellbeing and learning across our community.  Our Junior School Council members have been appointed and are well underway planning events for our upcoming Harmony Week and National Day of Action Against Bullying events. 

We also celebrated this week with our School Captains visiting Mater Christi College to listen to a Leadership Forum involving Hannah Priest, St Kilda AFLW Captain.

Below are the take-aways from our School Captains: 

Tess- I think what makes a good leaders I someone who is always kind and respectful. The leader might have good ideas, but they let other people speak up and make the decision that is best for the group. 

Brigitte- I think that it is really important that all people should be treated equally, regardless of what they look like, sound like, believe in, or what their gender is. Equality is all about listening to people for who they are, not what you think they might be. 

Jack- The importance of community and being involved in a team is that it makes you think of things from other people's perspective. In a team sport, most people agree have the same goal and want to be there. Our challenge as school leaders is to get this same sense of team-spirit for the schools we lead. 

Will- Being a leader is sometimes about making sacrifices and putting others people's needs as your focus point. For example, a good school leader does lots of things in the background that most people don't see, like volunteering during recess to help others. 

Clean-up Australia Day

Thank you to everyone in our community who took part in cleaning up our school on Monday 7th March. Even though we consistently work hard to keep our school clean, it was amazing how many pieces of rubbish we found in the nooks and crannies of our schoolyard.  A huge congratulations to all students for actively taking part with their classes. 

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

Friday 18 March 2022 is the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative celebrates 12 years of action, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying.

The theme for 2022 is Kindness Culture. By building Kindness Culture together, we can promote inclusion, respect and community belonging for all students in schools across Australia.

Across our school this coming week we will be continuing to focus upon conversations of kindness and acceptance, which supports our SWPBL approach. We look forward to sharing with you in our next newsletter. 

Harmony Week Celebrations

We are looking forward to celebrating Harmony Day again this year on Tuesday 22nd March 2022.

Harmony Day is an important day to acknowledge, celebrate and develop a richer understanding of our multicultural Australia. It is about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.

We will be undertaking some whole class activities on this special day but would love to invite you along to share some of your own cultural experiences with us. It could be a special song, a cultural dress, a traditional food, an artefact from your country of birth or a story of immigrating to Australia. 

If you would like to help us celebrate this day please contact your child’s classroom teacher providing the following:

1. 1. What time can you visit our classroom?
2. 2. Would you be happy to visit other classrooms?
3. 3. What would you like to share with us?

On this day all students are encouraged to come to school in the colours/attire of a country in which they have a personal interest or cultural link. 

Students may come dressed in country colours, flag colours or traditional cultural attire.

Students may also choose to come to school wearing a splash of 'orange' which is the official colour of Harmony Week.

Students are also encouraged to bring to school an artefact/flag/interesting fact/photos/etc from their country of interest.

We thank you in advance for wanting to be a part of our Harmony Day 2022.

Emergency Management Planning- Evacuation Drill

On Wednesday 15th March at 12:00pm we will be undertaking an Evacuation Drill as part of our annual Emergency management Planning. 

This drill will involve all students, staff and visitors who are on-site making their way to the school gymnasium (shelter-in-place). In the lead-up to this event, the following presentation will be shared with each class so that students may talk through feelings and reasonings behind such events. 

Responsible parking/driving around our school

Please be aware that Yarra Ranges Council have confirmed that they will be monitoring driver actions over the coming month. In order to avoid a visit or a ticket, we implore you to make safe and sensible decisions when moving within our school neighbourhood. 

With recent works occurring along Griffiths Road and Riley Road we appreciate the care that our community are showing when parking/driving around the school boundary. Please be aware when collecting your child to use the marked pedestrian crossings, particularly on Morris Road. We also provide a reminder to families that the Riley Road/ Morris Road exit is not designed for parking. 

Keeping Aware of Information Relating to School

As a school we work hard to keep our families informed of happenings across the school. We acknowledge that receiving information in a timely and consistent manner can help to alleviate the pressures which come from managing a busy family calendar. 

Communicating via Compass

All of our school notifications are sent via the Newsfeed within the Compass app. There is also a calendar of events within the app, which sends push notifications to users to remind them of school events. 

We continue to utilise Compass for families to consent and pay in order for their children to take part in school events. 

In order to filter notifications which are received, you will notice that we send out notifications which are year level specific. This means that sometimes not all notifications are sent to all year levels. 

Administration Reminder

Please be reminded that if you need to collect your child/ren early, please contact the office when you are five to ten minutes away so we can have them at the office for collection.

Communicating with the School Administration Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, and welcome your input: 

Damien Kitch (Principal)  damien.kitch@education.vic.gov.au 

Paula Lee (Business Manager) upwey.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Janette Clarke (Office Manager) upwey.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au