Principal's Report

Dear Families,

WELCOME back to all our students, families and staff. I sincerely hope that all our community had time to relax and connect with their families and friends over the Easter break and school holidays.

Our first week back has started off very smoothly and our children look happy and settled back in their classrooms. Thank you to all our parents and carers for the excellent care and time you provide to support our children to come to school ready for learning. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by us all here at Kismet Park Primary School.

PREP TOURS AND INFORMATION SESSIONS

A friendly reminder that we have set dates and times for our 2023 Prep Information sessions and tours. This year we will begin to hold our prep information sessions and tours from Term 2. Please see below dates for our upcoming tours and information sessions for all parents/carers and their children who are starting Prep in 2023.

Prep Information Sessions and Tour Dates:

Tuesday 3/5 - 9:30am

Thursday 19/5 - / 6:30pm

Tuesday 24/5- 9:30am

Thursday 9/6 – 6:30pm

Please share these dates with friends and family who have children starting prep in 2023.

COVID UPDATE FOR TERM 2:

I would like to thank our community for your support in helping us to stay COVID safe and working with us to navigate the changing landscape regarding COVID. As the restrictions ease in schools, we will continue to proceed with care and caution, as has been our practice. This means that we will begin the first two weeks with the following in place for our community:

• Whole School Assemblies once a fortnight and all our parents invited to assemblies. Our first whole school assembly will take place next week Friday 6th May, hopefully the weather will be lovely and we can hold it outdoors – stay tuned. The time of the assembly will be 2:30pm. At this assembly we will celebrate our mothers and primary care givers in honour of Mother’s Day.
• Pick up/drop off and entering our buildings - for the first two weeks we will continue the same process as per Term 1. Parents/carers welcome on our site to drop off and pick up students. Please remain outside classrooms and say goodbye to children at the door. Teachers have communicated to me that our students have become very independent with organising themselves for learning. Thank you in advance for your support with this process for the next two weeks.
• For Mother’s Day initially we thought it was a lovely idea to have mothers, carers come into classrooms however upon reflection I feel we should proceed with caution in terms of having potentially large numbers of adults in classrooms in close proximity to students. Instead we are inviting all our mothers, significant carers to an outdoor picnic lunch with their children’s class on Friday May 6th at 1:15pm. After the lunch our mums/carers are welcome to stay in our playgrounds (1:30-2:15pm) with their children and see our Lunch Time Clubs in action. Then we will move into our whole school assembly at 2:30pm.

Face Masks

While recommended, face masks are not required in any school settings from 11.59pm 22 April 2022.   Any students or staff members who wish to wear a mask may do so, including those who are medically at-risk.

This means students in Grades 3 to 6 and staff and visitors to primary schools are no longer required to wear face masks. 

Household contacts attending school who are over 8 years of age are required to wear face masks indoors unless they have a valid exemption.

Infection Prevention and Control 

Service Victoria QR code check-in is not required at schools. Routine school visitor record keeping arrangements will continue to apply. This means any visitors to our school need to use our check in system at front office, 

All staff, students and visitors to schools should practice good hand hygiene, particularly on arrival to school, before and after eating, after blowing their nose, coughing, sneezing or using the toilet. Staff should direct or supervise young students where required.

ANNUAL REPORT TO OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Every year the Annual Report to the School Community provides principals and school councils with an opportunity to share the year’s achievements and progress with the school community. This includes reflecting on the school’s performance and explaining the positive impact of school improvement efforts on student outcomes.

Our school’s Annual Report to the Community will occur on Monday 16th May at 6pm. I will hold it on our school grounds in our staff room and also provide a Webex link to those who wish to join online.  

I look forward to sharing the work of the school for the 2021 school year.

SCHOOL OVAL UPDATE

Our oval works are yet to begin.

I received communications from the architect stating that they have received a Variation from Builders in regard to the soil conditions and they are still in discussions with Victorian Building Authority (VSBA) and the Builders in regards to this. The Variation is connected to the excavation works therefore the builders are unable to start works until the issue with the Variation has been resolved. I will continue to keep our community updated.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DAY – (PPD)

Since 2018, the workplace agreement on staff workload and wages granted each teacher one day per term to develop their teaching skills in an area of their choice. These days are referred to as Professional Practice Days (PPD).

Historically, teachers have been released from the classroom by providing a casual relief teacher (CRT). Our new enterprise agreement has three PPD scheduled in 2022, with the first one occurring in Term 2.

As with most industries there is limited supply of staff and in the Education sector this affects the availability of CRTs to replace illness. Having the added burden of replacing all teachers across the State with a CRT for the PPD, the department has decided schools can provide all teachers the Term 2 PPD on the same day with students not required at school on that day. 

We are looking at Tuesday June 14th as our PPD. I have been in contact with Extend and they have confirmed for me that care will be available on June 14th for students who require the service. 

I hope that this early communication will assist our families with care for students on Tuesday June 14th.

PROCESS FOR PARENT/CARER COMMUNICATION UPDATE

Thank-you to all our parents/carers for the respectful ways in which we continue to communicate at Kismet Park Primary School. The process for communication regarding concerns is to first speak to classroom teacher and then if further support is required to make an appointment with the Principal Class Team.

This term we are aiming to streamline this further by having our Prep-2 parents/carers with concerns continue to first reach out to class teacher and then if further support is required, please make an appointment with Ciara Stewart our Acting Assistant Principal. If Ciara is not available then I will step in.

Parents/carers of 3-6 students please continue to reach out to class teacher in first instance and then if further support is required, please contact the office to make an appointment with me. If I am not available then Ciara will step in.

We hope that this process will further support and strengthen the connections between home and school.

NO HATS REQUIRED TERM 2

A friendly reminder to all our parents/carers that students DO NOT require hats in Term 2. Hats are required in Terms 1 and 4, during the warmer summer months.

PARENT HELPERS/VOLUNTEERS INDUCTION UPDATE

Thank-you to our parents/carers who attended the recent induction sessions. Classroom Helpers are now welcome to make contact with class teachers to establish a time table and come into classrooms to assist. Parent Volunteers working in our classrooms or attending onsite to help in a voluntary capacity will require a third dose of the vaccine as per DET requirements.

Parents, carers and other adult visitors are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine if not performing work or volunteering at the school.

Any parents/carers who could not attend this weeks Parent Helper/Volunteer induction sessions please feel free to make an appointment through the front office with me and I will take you through the session 1:1. I want to be able to give as many parents as possible the opportunity to be in our classrooms and I think it is important that all parent/carer volunteers get the same information so they are confident when supporting students and class teacher.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit in May each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students do. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards over time. NAPLAN is just one aspect of our school’s assessment and reporting process. It provides teachers with additional information about students’ progress.

The NAPLAN online test window is nine days. This is to ensure all schools are in a position to complete testing with the devices the school has. The NAPLAN online test window for our Year 3 and Year 5 students starts Tuesday May 10th and finishes Friday 20th May, 2022.

DOGS ON OUR SITE

A friendly reminder that dogs are not to be brought onto our school grounds as per DET requirements. Thank you in advance for your support.

STAFFING UPDATE

Today we farewell Cassie Hampton-Smith. Cassie is off to have her first baby and we thank her for all the contributions she has made to our school and wish her all the very best. In her place we welcome Alexander (Alex) Devereux who comes to us as an experienced teacher from Tarneit College P-9.

We also farewell Kirk Anstee in Year 3. Kirk has accepted a position at Kyneton Primary School that reduces his hours to part time giving him time with his family. Kirk’s last day with us will be next Friday 6th of May. We thank Kirk for all his contributions to our school over the years and wish him well. In his position we welcome Gennetta Arthrell who comes to us as an experienced teacher from Mount Ridley P-12 college. Gennetta was teaching a year 3 part time at Mount Ridley and was ready to increase her time fraction to full time. 

I am sure both Gennetta and Alex will find their time with us to be positive and rewarding experience.

CONGRATULATIONS MACY!

Finally, we have received some exciting news, Macy Harvie in grade 5 has been offered a child's role in the Australian Ballet Company 2022 season of Harlequinade!  Rehearsals start early May and the season runs for 11 days at the end of June.  Good luck Macy, the Kismet Park community will be cheering you on! 

Warmest Regards,

Kathy Cvitkovic

Acting Principal

‘Building the foundations for success and happiness’.