From The Principal

Welcome to the first newsletter for 2023. It has been another wonderful start to a new school year. I hope all families have had a very happy and restful break and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather and time together. It has been wonderful hearing and sharing holiday stories with families and the children. It is also terrific to see the children returned happy, refreshed and ready to reconnect with everyone and continue their learning! It has been 3 weeks of activity and conversations, establishing the important relationships, expectations and learning to learn routines that ensure a successful school year. 

I am excited to be joining the Kilberry Valley community and being a part of a great team ready to continue to build on the successes achieved so far.  Over the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of visiting each of the classes around the school, and I have asked learners to share with me ‘What makes Kilberry Valley PS a great school?’. It has been lovely to hear a common thread in every classroom I have visited. Our learners have shared that the students here are friendly, they respect each other, they have great teachers to support them, and they are proud of the diversity of our school. This speaks so highly of the learning environment and sets a strong foundation.

I believe that every child can learn and experience success irrespective of their entry point. I am guided by the principles of lifelong learning and supporting an environment to promote happy, healthy and resilient students. This includes developing successful, active and informed members of just and sustainable communities.

I bring to this role my commitment for inclusion, diversity and acceptance of all to ensure that we foster a love of learning where our students achieve their very best and are empowered to use their voice and agency to shape their journey at KVPS.

I am humbled to be serving the Kilberry Valley PS community. I look forward to continuing the impactful work the school community is achieving in improving student learning outcomes. I am especially looking forward to meeting and getting to know the students, staff and parents of KVPS.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts, issues or concerns that you wish to discuss. I welcome your feedback throughout my time at the school.

Our Foundation (Prep) students have begun their school journey and it was great to see them walk into their classrooms with enthusiasm and feelings of true excitement as they experienced the first few days of their primary school education. I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our Foundation students and parents.

I would also like to welcome all the other new children and their families and congratulate them on selecting our fabulous school as their educational setting. We do have a wonderful school and I am sure the new students will thoroughly enjoy being part of the Kilberry Valley Primary School community.

 Also, a sincere welcome to all of our new and returning staff who have either joined us for the first time or are returning after various forms of leave.

Facilities Update

The school holidays are the ideal time for tasks to be completed throughout our school as the contractors can work uninterrupted. These holidays the following tasks were undertaken: 

• Replaced most classroom carpets with new tiles. 
• The playground has been topped up with new bark.
• The seating area next to the playground has new shade sails and topped up with pebbles. It is lovely to see students enjoy the spaces.

On Thursday and Friday, a gardener has also come out to clear out shrubs at the front entrance to open up at the area and also to allow clear access to the fire hydrant.

Last year a new industrial agreement for all government teachers came into effect. As a result, KVPS teachers start times for 2023 will be at 8.45am. Therefore, morning yard duty on the playgrounds will begin at 8.45am. Please ensure that you drop your children off at this time and no earlier as we will not have the capacity for teachers to supervise your children in the yard prior to 8.45am. The music time has also been impacted. The music will now play at 8.56am and students are expected to begin lining up at this time and enter the classroom at 9.00am. I apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and I thank you for your understanding.