Principal's Report - Mr Pitt

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Welcome to the final newsletter for the term. We have had another extremely busy term for everyone at Fairvale PS. Although the last few weeks have been super-busy, we have been able to reflect and congratulate our learning community - Fairvale Festival, External Validation and Fairfield’s Network Awards - keep reading to find out more. Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our community for all their support throughout the term. It is a pleasure working with you all. Please remember that Term 4 commences on Monday 9 October, 2023.

STAFF NEWS

We will have a few staff changes when we return in Term 4.

Mrs Gina Lale commences maternity leave and will be replaced by Mrs Deanna Popovic working Thursdays and Fridays. Best wishes to Mrs Lale and her family.
Mrs Merna Jewo will also be commencing maternity leave at the end of Week 1. Mrs Sarah Borg (Mondays and Tuesdays) and Mr Stefano Misitano (Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays) will be teaching class 5M. Best wishes to Mrs M Jewo and her family.
Mrs Ashleigh Jewo will continue in a support role teaching literacy and numeracy (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays)
Ms Nalini Jesusdason will be covering the First Nations Mentor role on Tuesdays, whilst her other days remain the same.
I will be taking some extended leave at the beginning of next term. During this time Miss Chloe Fletcher will be relieving Principal and Mrs Vesna Rosic will be acting Deputy Principal. Miss Lucy Cassady will be relieving Assistant Principal - Curriculum and Instruction and Miss Jenna Volpato will be relieving Assistant Principal.

EXTERNAL VALIDATION (EV)

This year, our school has been participating in an External Validation process. On Thursday 7 September, the school’s EV panel, consisting of myself, Miss Fletcher, Mrs Rosic, Mrs Fedele and Miss Cassady hosted the panel meeting. This meeting is a collaborative approach where the school shares their programs and practices with two independent Department of Education representatives. We toured the school with school leaders, George and Maria to showcase some of the amazing initiatives we have on offer before commencing the meeting. It was a very proud day as the panel were impressed with the work we do in the three domain areas of Learning, Teaching and Leading. Further highlights include, Learning Culture, Wellbeing, Data skills and use, Professional Standards, Learning and Development, Educational Leadership, School planning, implementation and reporting, School resources and Management practices and processes. Thank you to Frankie who also joined the panel and presenting our guests with a school umbrella and some Frankie lollies. There’s much to celebrate with our staff, students and community - congratulations everyone! Thank you again to our EV school team who devoted hours of work ensuring our submission was a reflection on what we do best - putting children at the centre of all decisions we make. A special mention to Miss Ida who was an instrumental part of the EV school team and Zelda, for allowing mum to finish her work (just in time!)

BIKE VISITS WITH MR PITT

This last fortnight I visited two classes.

2/3 NOOSA – On Monday I visited 2/3N and Mr Nguyen during maths time. On arrival Mr Nguyen was asking children to assist him to partition 3-digit addition and subtraction number problems. It was great to see everyone using their own mini-whiteboard to solve the problems. Even better, the children could identify where they may have missed a step or made a silly error. Children returned to their desks to complete independent work and I had the opportunity to spend time with each group to see how they were progressing. I had an awesome visit 2/3N - thank you!

5 MARRAMARRA – I was super impressed with the mathematicians in class 5M. Everyone was actively participating, ensuring they understood which place value was their level. Miss Kopec, Miss Sue and I assisted children and often checked in to see their progress. It was great to see so many confident and hard-working senior students taking responsibility for their learning. Impressive work 5M!

Check out some of my pics in this edition of the school newsletter.

FAIRFIELD NETWORK PRINCIPALS AWARDS

Every year, Miss Fletcher and I have the challenging task of nominating staff members from Fairvale PS to receive an excellence award at the annual Fairfield Network Principals Awards. It is challenging, because it such a difficult decision, however we are very proud of the staff and community members who were selected this year. Last Thursday, they attended the special awards ceremony held at Fairvale HS. Congratulations to:

- Miss Wendy – School admin and support award

- Mr Joe – Community award

- Miss Cassady - Executive teacher award

- Mrs C Bruzzese – Classroom teacher award

- Miss Nak – Early Career teacher award.

We are so very proud of you all! Great work!

FAIRVALE FESTIVAL

The wait was finally over! It has been a busy (and very hot week), with the dress rehearsal on Tuesday and then 2 shows on Wednesday. As always, the children were the superstars and every year each show just gets better and better. I would like to sincerely thank our whole staff because for these events to take place, it really does need to have everyone on board - this includes staff who were at school supervising classes, to our ticket collection team, our Festival Project Team leader, Mrs A Jewo coordinating every aspect of the event and working closely with the festival team - thank you! To our teachers who have been directly involved in working with each performance, the biggest thank you to you. I know the work you have all put in, and to see your faces light up as much as the parents and children during both shows on Wednesday just shows how much these events mean to us all. Thank you, parents and carers for allowing your children the opportunity to take part in this year’s Fairvale Festival. I would also like to take this opportunity in thanking Lisa Porter, Director Educational Leadership - Fairfield Network for attending the evening show. She enjoyed it immensely and has asked that I pass on this message to you. Thank you for your support Mrs Porter! Check out Miss Fletcher’s section of the newsletter for more information and pics!