Principal's Report

Dear HPS Community,

Well haven't we been hit by some wild weather over the past week! Crazy strong winds that made me wonder if we would end up in the land of Oz, Dorothy and Toto style as well as enough hail to turn the whole school as white as a winter on Mount Hotham. The excitement and joy on the children's faces seeing the hail was priceless and many simply loved scooping up handfuls and rolling into snow balls as they left the school grounds that afternoon. 

Yesterday, our Foundation students arrived in their pyjamas to enjoy breakfast at school! It was a great opportunity for students to socialise and enjoy time with other students whilst filling their tummies ready for a days learning. Choices ranged from cereal, toast, fruit, yoghurt and pancakes! A very big thank you to the wonderful year 6 helpers who attended to the Foundation students breakfast needs. The responsibility and compassion you displayed was commendable. Thanks also go to our Foundation teacher's for their preparation and organisation of the activity. It was also great to see Assistant Principals and Learning Specialists supporting the team too. Well done everyone.

Staffing updates

We have this week completed a recruitment process to appoint another Assistant Principal. Thank you to Mr Tom Boyle, Principal at Ivanhoe East PS, for his support with the panel, while I stepped aside to manage any potential conflict of interest that may have arisen through the process.

I am very pleased to announce that Mrs Monique Rankin has provisionally been appointed to the role. It is wonderful that we continue to benefit from Monique's expertise and positive influence and impact on our school culture and in supporting the achievement of our SSP and AIP goals. Congratulations Monique!

Justin Lania still holds an Assistant Principal position here whilst on secondment until the end of this year.

We wish Ms Marissa Mercuri well as she embarks on family leave and awaits her newest arrival. This will be Marissa and her husband's second child and we excited for their family to grow and extend to four!

We look forward to Ms Tahnee Pape returning two days a week in term 4. She will take on a role within the Tutor Learning Initiative team. 

Off Site Emergency Evacuation Drill

Practising what to do and where to go in the event of an emergency is something that is very

 important to ensure everyone's safety. Competing these drills enables us to test emergency response procedures and make plans and changes based on the feedback received.

It was a very impressive response by everyone on Wednesday when we practised our off-site evacuation drill to De Winton Park. Staff were well organised and equipped and students were responsive and respectful during the process. Well done everyone. It is reassuring to know that in the event of needing to activate an emergency evacuation during the upcoming building works, we have solid processes in place.

Thank you to parent helpers who assisted on the day.

Learning Walks

Over this term, we have been working together as a staff to develop a process and protocols to conduct Learning Walks in our school. Learning Walks are where a group of teachers visit multiple classrooms with the aim of fostering conversation about teaching and learning in order to develop a shared vision of high quality teaching that impacts on student learning. The focus of these first Learning Walks have aligned to the year level team's Professional Learning Community (PLC) inquiry cycle focus. Having this as a focus ensures student learning drives teacher learning, with a singular focus on success for every student.

It has been a pleasure for the leadership team to be involved in these Learning Walks and have a targeted focus for being in classrooms and talking to students about their learning. Thank you to staff and students who have made the start to our Learning Walks such a valuable and beneficial opportunity.

Upcoming Dates

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and great week ahead.

Naomi Ivers

Principal

Heidelberg Primary School