Principal's Report

Joshua Sheffield                                                                    

In what is the final newsletter of the year, I want to thank each and every one of you for your partnership, volunteering, support and involvement. Meaningful Community Engagement is one of three pillars at our school and makes us the thriving and successful community that we are and I am very grateful for your engagement in your child’s learning journey. 

I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and holiday season and hope it brings lots of quality time, smiles, pudding, sun and surf (or whatever your choice of relaxing is!). Merry Christmas!

Staffing 2025

The end of the year brings inevitable changes to our staffing at school. Whilst we are thrilled to welcome some new staff who are highly qualified and credentialled, we are always sad to see great teachers and people leave our school. What is reassuring is that each of the teachers leaving are off to try very different things in their futures. I thank each of the staff below for their commitment, passion and professionalism throughout their time with us and wish them all the very best in their very new endeavours. 

 

Max Attwood (Grade 6): Max is heading to Sandringham College in the new year to teach years 7-10, which is something he has been wanting to do for some time. Max is a highly regarded and respected teacher by his colleagues and students alike, evidenced by the many that I often find returning to HPS to say ‘hi’ after hours. 

 

Anna Lane (Foundation): Anna is heading to Balcombe Grammar in Mount Martha. After commuting for many hours a day, Anna is making the change to ensure she is able to spend less time on the road. Anna has taught at our school in the Junior levels and has worked in a highly collaborative way within her teams and supported students in their formative years with her calm and caring nature and expertise in scaffolding their learning. 

 

Julia Nitsios (Grade 1): Julia is taking some time to work casually and travel the world in 2025. Julia has worked in Grade 1 for two years since graduating and has made an incredibly measured and confident start to her teaching career. She has supported her students with compassion and commitment to catering for their individual needs.

 

Please see below the overview of teachers’ grades in 2025. We will again have 28 grades throughout the school with the fantastic average size at 21.6 students per class school-wide. 

* denotes Learning Specialists

^ denotes Strategic Leaders (year level leaders)

Farewell Class of 2024

We wish the graduating class of 2024 all the very best as they head off on their next adventure to secondary school. These students throughout the year have led our school both in formal leadership roles and as buddies and through other programs, contributing significantly to many projects throughout. The majority of the level have been with us for seven years and we hold great confidence that they are more than ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities that will come their way in the years to come. We look forward to welcoming them back for events, to help out in holidays, for work experience and just to visit from time to time. We look forward to celebrating each of them at our Graduation Ceremony next Monday and at our final assembly.

Good luck!

A Dad’s Will: To the Moon & Back!

As many of you will have come across in the WhatsApp channels, we have a family in our school that is tackling the incredibly difficult challenge they face head-on, with a campaign to help raise money and awareness for the Florey Institute to develop a life-saving treatment for the rare neurogenetic disorder that his son Will and other children like him suffer from. 

 

Stu and Vicki Place are parents at our school with Angus in Grade 2 and Will (4 years old) who suffers from a rare neurogenetic disorder. Stu is currently completing a 15,000km virtual ride and plans to ride up to 300km everyday for 50 days. This ride will take him from Hampton to the towns of Moon and Back in America. 

Your support in following, donating and pedal power would be greatly appreciated. Stu has set up two bikes in the CBD where he’ll be riding every lunch and weekend. 

 

On Monday 16th December Stu will be setting up here at HPS for the morning from 8:30am. Children will have the chance to visit and donate a gold coin if they wish to the cause.

 

If you're able please take the time to visit him in either location. 

Thank yous!

STAFF LUNCH

A huge thank you to all parents involved in providing lunch for our curriculum day on Monday. It was absolutely delicious and greatly appreciated by all staff that enjoyed it. The generosity of you all is obvious in so many ways and please know how much we appreciate it!

 

SECOND-HAND UNIFORM SALE

A large thanks to Mel DaSilveira and her amazing team of helpers Megan Lester, Kirsten Whaley, Amy Taylor, Annaka Chan, and Steph Gillies who sold an incredible amount of second-hand uniform last week. They raised $1,770 which is an incredible amount and evidences how much they were also able to support you in accessing cheaper and recycled uniforms.

Reminders: 

  • If there are any interior designers in our community who would be interested in providing some guidance for some updates to our school, please get in touch with Josh. 
  • Leftover juice boxes from the Carnival are being sold off at $10 ea for 24 packs. Please visit the office to purchase. 
  • Remember to sign up to help out the garden watering over the summer using the link shared by Anne on Compass yesterday.

New & Important Dates

  • Soiree: 11th December. 
  • Christmas Carols: 13th December (2:00-3:30pm)
  • Gr 6 Graduation: 16th December 
  • Final Assembly & School Finish: 20th December @ 1:00pm & 1:30pm respectively
  • Curriculum Days: Tuesday 28th & Wednesday 29th January. 
  • Students Return to School: Thursday 30th January

To stay up to date with all events and key dates, see the Compass Calendar. 

Celebrations

Congratulations to Barney S (Gr 5) who recently represented Victoria at the National Athletics Championships. Barney ran the individual 100m in 13.83sec, finishing 9th nationally and a mere .05 seconds outside of the final. He also ran in the 4x100m relay, in which the team registered a state record of 53.77sec, placing them second nationally. This is an incredible result and we congratulate Barney on his determination and ability to stay calm in such a high-pressure environment! 

 

Congratulations also go to a group of Grade 2 students who recently won their third straight Basketball Grand Final. In a high-energy final they came out on top again, most importantly demonstrating teamwork and sportsmanship throughout. Well done to Oliver M, Ethan L, Jai P, Bodhi S, Riley C and Aflie A, as well as Dave Moore (Coach), Rob Liepa (Assistant Coach) and Kim Smith (Team Manager). 


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