The Year Draws to a Close!

Festive Celebration a great Success!

A huge thank you to the fabulous Syndal South School community for making our ‘Festive Celebration’ such a success. We were all holding our breath in anticipation of the weather, but we were pleasantly surprised. After a day of rain, heat, and gusty winds the students had reasonably clear, calm skies to perform under and they performed so well.

Terrific Kids Awards

On Monday, Anne Wilson from the Kiwanis Club was at our assembly to present the Term 4 Terrific Kids Awards. A huge thank you to Anne for coming and presenting these special awards.

Andy Griffiths 

Andy’s visit on Monday was sensational and truly inspiring.  Students and teachers were captivated and engaged for the whole hour he spoke. As well as being an accomplished story writer he is also an engaging storyteller which we all witnessed and enjoyed on Monday. Humour plays a central role in his writing and the way he connects to people.

Andy was very generous with his time, he sat for around two hours signing books that students had been invited to bring to school to have signed, even personalising the signings. He also left for the library six of his books. 

Welcome to our 2024 Foundations

On Monday evening we welcomed our 2024 Foundation families to our Information Night. The families were introduced to the Foundation teachers Miss Antzoulatos and Miss Howes. The night’s discussion centered on the start to school covering areas like starting times, the daily school routine, what needs to be packed into the lunch box and pick up and drop off areas. All students were given an information pack that was delivered in a ‘decorated’ bag. A huge thank you to our talented Year 6 students who during their art lessons had produced these magnificent decorative panels to decorate the bags. 

Year 6 Graduation

Next Monday evening our Year 6 families and friends will celebrate the graduation of our fifty-nine students at ‘The Pavilion’ in Box Hill South. The format of the evening will include the students enjoying a meal together followed by the formal graduation ceremony and the presentation of awards, to mark the end of their 7 years of primary schooling. 

On behalf of all the SSPS community, I wish all the graduating Year 6 students a wonderful start to their secondary schooling in 2024 and that all their dreams for the future be realised.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the Year 6 teachers and the specialist teachers in 2023 for their dedication and commitment to ensuring that Year 6’s final year at SSPS was a memorable one. 

School Captains

Special thanks to Samika and Riley for being such wonderful role models and ambassadors in their role as school captains for SSPS. Samika and Riley supported each other and worked as a great team sharing responsibilities throughout the year. I have seen their confidence, public speaking, and organisational skills grow throughout the year. Thank you and well done!

2024 Staffing

Principal:  Helen Freeman

Leading Teacher: Rebecca Stonehouse-Melke

Learning Specialist: Clare Searle

FA - Irene Antzoulatos

FH - Rachel Howes

1G – Kate Glew

1S - Clare Searle

2F - Jo Fisher

2J - Jess Jason

2T – Caroline Tait

3B - Chloe Bourke

3W – James Wang

4P - Flavia Petrucci

4S – Rebecca Stonehouse-Melke

5H - Kate Holly

5GP - Maria Giannone-Perri

6D - Michelle Dodson

6P – Amber Panagopoulos/Jarrod Riley

Specialist Team

Physical Education: Jarrod Riley

Music: Leo Kahans

Japanese: Michelle Lee

Art: Skye Threadgold

Science: Jessie Evans

Teaching Learning Support: Tahni Ross and Jan Oliver

Office Team: Katie Forbes, Julie Pfitzner, Michelle Huppe

Education Support Staff: Inger Robinson, Sally Blaber, Alec Blaber, Samantha Pergadis, Ramya Sundar, Siobhan Selvarajoo, Wen Gao.

As always at the end of a school year, we have an opportunity to welcome new members to our team and say farewell to some of our current staff.

In 2024 we welcome the following teaching staff: Caroline Tait, Kate Glew and James Wang. We also welcome back Tahni Ross in a part time capacity. In addition to the teaching staff, we welcome Wen Gao who will join our integration aide team. We look forward to welcoming these people to our SSPS team and working with them in 2024.

Janine Stockdale is taking leave for 2024 to take up a teaching position at Nazareth College. We wish her all the best for the 2024 school year and look forward to hearing about the experience of teaching in a secondary school.

We say farewell to Marina Hughes-Onslow, Kate Phillips and Michelle Ord who are leaving SSPS to pursue other opportunities. We thank these staff members for their contribution to SSPS and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.

You will see that Merrilyn Mann is not taking Art next year as she is retiring in February. Plans are in place to celebrate her retirement which we will be communicated to you in the first newsletter in 2024.

Change to Start Time in 2024

To abide by the requirement of the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 that teachers have 21.0 hours face to face teaching time per week from 2024 we will be changing our school starting time to 9.00 am.

2024 Student Placement

On Wednesday students will be given the opportunity to meet their 2024 class teacher and find out who their classmates will be in 2024. Many hours have been spent on the creation of these classes, considering the needs of students, balancing academic performance and gender. We ask you to support the placements made and speak positively to your child about the year ahead for them.

Reports

Just a reminder that families will receive student reports Monday via Compass, if your child is leaving SSPS at the end of the year (including Year 6’s) please ensure you download your child’s report before your Compass access ceases.

Final Assembly and Early Dismissal

All students will be dismissed at 1.30 pm on Wednesday. Before the dismissal, we will be holding a final farewell assembly at 1.00 pm. We will be acknowledging students leaving SSPS F-6.  The 2024 School Captains will be announced, and Year 6 graduating students will be singing their graduation song. Parents are most welcome to attend our final assembly for 2023.

Finally, the end of school is a perfect time to reflect on our achievements throughout the year and to show gratitude for the work and support of the wonderful school community I would like to thank the school community (staff, students, and parents) for their support throughout the year.  

To those families and staff who are leaving our school community, I would like to wish you all the very best for the future and thank you for your amazing contribution over your years at SSPS. I am already aware of the loss you will be to the SSPS community!

It is now time for all of us to take a well-earned rest and spend some additional relaxing time with our families and friends and loved ones, we all deserve it. I look forward to contributing and working with all members of the SSPS community in 2024.

I sincerely wish everyone a very safe and happy festive season with their families and friends.

Helen