Whole School Christmas Concert

Our Christmas Concert is less than 1 week away!

After the great success of the whole school Christmas Concert last year, another one has been organised for Wednesday, 4 December. The concert will be outdoors, with the first song beginning around 5:45pm. This concert will give our whole community the opportunity to come together and celebrate the musical achievements of our students. The location of the concert will be situated on the school oval. Fingers crossed that the weather will be fine (it is looking promising). The pre-purchased food will be available from the canteen from 4:30pm until 5:30pm. It will be so great to hold a whole-school community event!

Staffing news

Like every year, we see a movement in staff, either coming to Park Ridge or we are farewelling our colleagues. This year is no different. At the end of the school year we are farewelling Nicole Karanzoulis and Ashley Grouios from our teaching team.

Nicole will be taking 12 months of leave in 2025 to join Bayswater West Primary School. Nicole has made the decision to expand her teaching experience outside of Park Ridge PS, where she has built her 11-year career thus far. This opportunity at Bayswater West will allow her to gain valuable insights into another educational setting, and I am sure it will be a beneficial next step in her professional journey. I personally want to express my gratitude to Nicole for her dedication and commitment to Park Ridge PS over the years.
Over the past two years, Ashlee has made a meaningful contribution to our school community, and we deeply appreciate the care and commitment she has shown to her Year 1 students and colleagues. We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to Ashlee and wish her every success for the future.

Parent and carer School Saving Bonus

The Victorian Government is delivering the School Saving Bonus – a one-off $400 support for government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025.

From Tuesday 26 November 2024, you will receive an email from the Department of Education with your unique $400 School Saving Bonus code.

The School Saving Bonus will help families cover the cost of uniforms, textbooks, excursions, activities and more. The School Saving Bonus cannot be used for school fees. If you have multiple children enrolled in Victorian government schools for 2025, you will receive one School Saving Bonus code email per child. These emails might arrive on different days. Please make sure to check your spam/junk email folder.

Parents and carers can use the School Saving Bonus code in store at school-nominated suppliers. Parents and carers can also choose to access the School Saving Bonus online system, where they can allocate part or all the $400 bonus to use at school nominated-online suppliers or for school activities.  To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, visit School Saving Bonus | vic.gov.au. A step-by-step user guide will be available on the webpage on 26 November.  

If you have not received your School Saving Bonus code via email by Friday 29 November, please contact the Department of Education by emailing school.saving.bonus@education.vic.gov.au

Last Day of the 2024 School Year

The final day of the school year for students and staff is Friday 20 December, with students being dismissed at 1:15pm. Many families have indicated to classroom teachers and the office that their child’s final day will be earlier than Friday 20 December.

If your child will not be attending school at any time in the final week/s of the school year, please ensure you enter their absence into Compass as soon as possible so we can finalise our student attendance records for the school year.

2024 Final Assembly and Early Finishing Time for Final Day

Our final assembly for the 2024 school year will be held on the final day of school on Friday 20 December. Weather permitting, the assembly will be held at the podium area and will begin at approximately 12:50pm and conclude by 1:15pm. All students will be dismissed by their classroom teacher at the conclusion of assembly at 1:15pm.

TeamKids will be running an extended after school care program that will begin at 1:15pm. Information about TeamKid's program and contact information is available via our School Website.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please feel free to pop in for a chat with either Carrie, Brendan or I, should you wish to discuss anything.

Our doors are always open!

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman