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. 

2023 Foundation Enrolments- ACTION REQUIRED!

In 2022, we will once again be limiting our Foundation enrolments to two classes only. 

Please contact the school office for details, or download an enrolment form from the following link: 

http://www.upweysthps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023-Enrolment-Form.docx 

Girls can do anything!- The role of female peacekeepers in Australia over the last 75 years. 

Whilst the first page of our newsletter represents important messages from the Principal, sometimes these 'important' messages come directly from our students. 

As a school who is beginning to engage in the 'Respectful Relationships' curriculum, the message below from Lucy was definitely important enough to be included within the Principal's section of our newsletter. 

Overview- 

This year the ANZAC Day Schools’ Award Project marks 75 years of Australian involvement in peacekeeping and peacekeeping operations around the world. The 2022 Project is open to school students across Australia, and is focussed upon “Engaging with Veterans: Stories of Peacekeeping”. One of our Year Five students, Lucy H, is taking part in this national initiative. Lucy is writing her project about the role that females play in Australian peacekeeping. 

We were lucky enough for Lucy to share some amazing photos with us about her project. Below is a quick snippet from Lucy:  

Girls can do anything!- The role of female peacekeepers in Australia over the last 75 years. - By Lucy H

Over the last few weeks, I have been learning more about the role of Australian peacekeepers, and in particular learning about female peacekeepers. I wanted to learn more about this because when you are peacekeeping (instead of defending your country such as during a war) your main role is to help others by listening to people, balancing what different sides might want, and to provide other countries and their people with the resources to stop wars from erupting. 

I became interested in learning about this because there are lots of skills that peacekeepers use which I think I also use in my daily life as a kid- such as helping my friends to listen to each other when there is a disagreement. I think it’s better if everyone is working together, instead of working against each other. 

Keeping the peace (even if you are not in the defence forces) is all about treating different people equally no matter who or what they are. 

It has been so interesting learning about how being a female peacekeeper has changed over the last 75 years. When I was interviewing Major Freeman (see picture below) we spoke about how years ago female peacekeepers would feel terrified to be out in the open without a male peacekeeper being with them. But now Australian female peacekeepers generally feel much better supported and are proud to be treated as equals. As well as learning about the role of female peacekeepers, a really important message I want people to learn from my project is that girls just don’t have to be housewives or stay at home like may have been expected from them a long time ago. 

As a female student, I would like all girls now and in the future to grow up knowing they can be whatever they want. There shouldn’t be a difference between genders, and anyone can do anything. 

After Mr Kitch and I spoke about my project, Mr Kitch showed me a video which illustrates the importance of children my age acknowledging that girls can do anything. I think everyone will like this video. 

Increased and Proactive School Counselling Services

As a school focussed upon the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) underpinned by our School Wide Positive Behaviour for Learning (SWPBL) framework, we understand that sometimes students need to be given time to talk to a trusted adult. These conversations can be many and varied, and will often revolve around what is going on in the world of the 'child' with whom the conversation is being held. 

Whilst many of these conversations take part with our trained Let's TALK mentors (the fancy name for teachers who have been trained to manage difficult conversations about facts, feelings and fears) some of these conversations are referred to our School Counsellor, Carvin, who is part of Inspiro Health (formerly Yarra Valley Psychology Services). 

Currently, Carvin's service occurs one day per week- being focussed upon personalized sessions being held with students. However, through discussions with our SWPBL team we have determined that this limits the effectiveness of the service. Therefore, we will be expanding counselling services at our school; which will further support the staged introduction of 'Respectful Relationships' to our school curriculum ( https://www.vic.gov.au/respectful-relationships#what-respectful-relationships-is ). 

As part of this curriculum rollout, from Week Two of Term Three we have been able to fund increasing the school counselling service available through our school. This is relevant, as it will increase the service from a single day of individual therapy/counselling to now also include an additional day of small group sessions (a proactive rather than reactive strategy). The first round of group sessions for Term Three is targeted at our Year Five/Six students and is based upon ‘respectful communication’ and expectations of each other, as students become pre-teens and enter high school with students from many different backgrounds.  

Somers Camp Update

Somers Camp is a Department of Education and Training (DET) school camp which hosts students from various schools throughout the year. Every two years, schools from across the Knox/Dandenong Ranges Network can apply on behalf of their school to attend Somers Camp. Somers Camp is only open to Year Five/Six students. The camp presents a wonderful opportunity for students to engage in a unique extra-curricular experience with students from across other schools. ( https://www.somersschoolcamp.org/  )

In 2022, we were fortunate to have seven of our Year Five/Six students recently attend the nine day camp. They only returned to school yesterday, and had so many wonderful stories and experiences to share with their friends and families. 

Keep an eye out for a report from these students early in our Term Three newsletters. 

Spotlight on School Policies

Each Department of Education and Training (DET) school is mandated to hold a minimum of eight School Council meetings per calendar year. At each of these meetings, the School Council members oversee the governance of the school; part of which is the updating and publishing of policies which are aligned with DET legal obligations. As these policies are updated, they are distributed to the community via school websites. 

In order to bring these updated policies to the attention of our school community, we will be including a "spotlight on policies" twice per term through our newsletters. 

In this edition we focus upon the area of Duty of Care and Child Safe. 

Please refer to the below policies: 

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