Principals' Message 

Hello Parents and Friends,

Happy Education Week!

We are so excited to be celebrating Education Week at Templestowe Park.  This year’s Education Week theme of ‘Celebration of Cultures’ highlights the diversity of our communities and the importance of every child feeling safe and welcome at school.  Our Open Morning and Night yesterday were a great celebration of the Templestowe Park community.  It was so wonderful to see hundreds of families and friends visit classrooms to see the fantastic learning taking place at our Open Morning and to celebrate the cultures that make TPPS the great learning environment that it is. Seeing family and friends visiting classrooms across the school, contributing to artworks and murals, and playing games from traditional cultures was such a great sight.  We had hundreds of completed passports submitted and I would like to congratulate the following students on winning their special prizes.

• 1st place – Xavier Thomas ($60 gift voucher to Westfield)
• 2nd place – Leon Brooks
• 3rd place – Isabella Terzini-King
• 4th place – Aaliyah Kuy

Education Week allows us to celebrate learning across the entire school.  We are so proud of the diverse and empowering learning environment that we are able to provide at Templestowe Park.  Our classroom learning programs have been operating extremely well and we were so pleased with the outcomes we are seeing from our new literacy and numeracy teaching methods. Templestowe Park has always been renowned for the outstanding enrichment opportunities we offer our students. Only this term the following enrichment activities have occurred at TPPS:

• The unveiling of the Grade 6 Legacy Project.
• The Grade 4 excursion to Polly Woodside to learn about how colonisation affected Australia from 1750 - 1800. 
• The Grade 6 Debating Team was selected and are now preparing for the Debaters Association of Victoria Regional Debating Day that will take place at Templestowe Park next week. 
• Our talented Mathematicians in Grade 5/6 have commenced the Melbourne University Mathematics and Statistics Research Challenge. 
• Our highly able Grade 5 students are about to commence the ‘Little Scientists’ and ‘Mini Mathematicians’ programs at the John Monash Science School. 
• Grade 4 students are about to commence Kinder visits with Ms Huber to teach music lessons.  This is a fantastic community service for our local pre-schools. 

We thank our community for making our school such a successful and thriving learning community. 

Reminder: ‘Tricky Talks’ Interrelate Relationships Family Evening Tuesday 20th May ONLINE

For many years, TPPS have used the organisation ‘Interrelate’, a not-for-profit provider of relationship services that specialise in supporting parents and children, to help us deliver relationship and sexuality programs. The programs empower families to build and navigate strong, resilient and healthy relationships, from primary school through to adulthood. TPPS host an ‘in class’ Interrelate program for our Grade 5 classes annually, and in addition to this, offer an online family evening, ‘Tricky Talks’ for families from Grades 3-6.  Late last term, TPPS hosted an online Parent Information Session for the upcoming ‘Tricky Talks’ Relationships Family Evening. This was an opportunity for parents to learn about the content that will be covered.  Families now choose if they wish to participate.

The ‘Tricky Talks’ ONLINE program will be next week, on Tuesday 20th May.  There are two sessions:

Session 1 - Where did I come from? 6.00-7.00pm

Audience: Grade 3&4 students and their parents/carers

Older students are encouraged to attend if they have not previously seen this program.

Session 2 – Preparing for Puberty 7.15-8.15pm

Audience:  Grade 5&6 students and their parents/carers

Younger students are welcome to attend at the discretion of their parents/carers.

Families may choose to participate in one or both of the programs for a cost of $42.23 per family (set price, regardless of whether you choose one or both programs). Information about the content of each session may be found via the registration page. All bookings will be made directly with Interrelate. Only one registration per family is required. The link below directs parents to a registration page. Each family will need to complete the registration process to secure their place and access the platform. Parents will need to click the link located on the e-ticket to open up the platform. No download is necessary.

https://events.humanitix.com/templestowe-ps-tricky-talks-20th-may-2025

A member of the Principal class team will be present online during both sessions. We hope that these programs give our families the opportunity to create an open line of communication between parents and their children, led by highly skilled educators. If you would like further information about Interrelate including their history, please visit their website:  https://www.interrelate.org.au/

A new baby on the way!

Next Friday, Mrs Megan Bell will spend her last day at TPPS before she commences Family Leave.  Megan and her husband, Alex, are expecting their first child very shortly.  We are so excited for them both and we can’t wait to meet the new addition to their family. 

Mrs Belinda Cambareri and Mrs Hayley Boucher will share the teaching responsibilities in Grade 3B from Monday 26th May until the end of the year.  Mrs Cambareri will teach from Monday to Wednesday and Mrs Boucher on Thursdays and Fridays. 

2024 Annual Report to the School Community 

The Templestowe Park PS Annual Report to the School Community has now been published. Please click here to read about our achievements from last year. 

2026 Prep Enrolments - Now Open! 

For families that are interested in enrolling their child in Prep at Templestowe Park in 2026, please see the process below and our school website for further information.  2026 Prep enrolments are now open!

How to enrol at Templestowe Park PS

• Contact our school office on 9846 2700 to book a school tour with our Principal or Assistant Principals.
• Submit an Expression of Interest EOI if you would like to receive updates from Templestowe Park about enrolment news and our numerous transition programs.
• Digital enrolments for Prep 2026 opened on Tuesday 22 April 2025.  Please click here to submit your digital enrolment after Tuesday 22 April 2025.
• Submit an enrolment application for Prep 2026 by Friday 25 July 2025.
• You will be notified of the outcome of your application between Monday 28 July and Friday 8 August 2025. If you receive an enrolment offer, you should accept the offer by Friday 22 August 2025. Please note – all in zone student enrolments will be immediately accepted on receipt of student enrolment.
• We will invite families to participate in our Prep 2026 Transition programs.
• Prep students will commence school on Wednesday 28 January 2026.

For further information from the Department of Education about enrolling in Prep for 2026 please click here. 

Prep 2026 Taste of School – Come and Try Sessions! 

Last Tuesday we held our first Taste of School for Prep 2026 students.  The Taste of School sessions are designed to give pre-school children their very first experience at school in a fun, safe and engaging environment.  

Ms Sumner delivered an excellent Art session and Mr Kitney took the students for Sport.  While being a little bit nervous to start with, our young kinder students settled in extremely well and had a fantastic time.  Ms Sumner and Mr Kitney were ably supported by our outstanding Grade 4 students and a couple of Grade 6 helpers. 

Our second Taste of School session will take place next Tuesday.  Templestowe Park offers one of the most comprehensive transition programs for any school in Victoria.  These sessions provide a fun experience for our future students and assists them greatly with their transition to school in 2026. 

Monash Manningham Principals Conference

Last Thursday and Friday, Mark Roberts and Robyn Twyford attended the Monash Manningham Principals Conference at the RACV Cape Schank Resort.  It was a fantastic two days of learning about leadership and the how to improve our school.  A key learning of the conference was led by Dr. Simon Breakspear on the importance of pruning initiatives in your school to allow more time to focus on key areas for improvement.  I know that this is something that we all deal with in our professional and personal lives.  We were very pleased to hear what Dr. Breakspear had to say as this has been a major focus of the school as we introduce a range of new teaching methods.  On the second day of the conference, we listened to a fascinating lecture by Dr. Jo Blannin (Senior Lecturer, School of Curriculum Teaching at Monash University) about generative AI in education.  The power of AI is breathtaking and it will have a major impact on education in the coming years. It was great to spend time with our colleagues from neighbouring schools and we learnt so much to bring back to Templestowe Park.

PFA Mother's Day Stall - Thank you to the PFA!

A huge thank you to our amazing PFA for the Mother's Day stall last week.  Buying a special gift for their mum is such a highlight for our students.  We hope that all mums and special people had a wonderful Mother's Day last week.  See photos in PFA Section.

Principals' Award 

This week's Principals' Award went to Anmol B in Grade 6.  Anmol is a diligent and dedicated student who continues to achieve outstanding results this year. Her commitment to learning has seen her actively participate in a range of extracurricular and extension activities this term, including the Maths Olympiad, the Melbourne Maths Competition, and the school’s debating team, which is set to compete next week. In addition to her academic excellence, Anmol is a kind and compassionate individual who consistently takes the time to support those around her. A wonderful example of this occurred late last term when she comforted her Prep Buddy, who was upset due to a delayed pick-up. Anmol sat with them, offering reassurance and empathy. Well done Anmol, you truly embody all the values of Templestowe Park Primary School.

Mark Roberts                       Brian Cleary                                       Robyn Twyford                                    

PRINCIPAL                           ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL                  ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL