Principal Team's Report

This fortnight...

We've had yet another massive fortnight at Pakenham Springs, with a number of special events taking place.  It was wonderful to see so many students dressed up ready to 'step back in time' for our Year 1 Olden Days celebration.  Our Preps and Year 1 students had an important lesson on being safe around water, and our Year 4 students were treated with a special AFL footy clinic.  Our Year 3 & 4 Maths Enrichment session took place, with lots of problem-solving, reasoning, and 'thinking outside the box' happening.  We also had our Year 3 & 4 students attend their T20 Cricket Blast excursion.  Never a dull moment at the Springs!

Springfest is nearly here!

We're looking forward to seeing all of our families on Friday, November 17th from 3pm-6pm at our fabulous SPRINGFEST celebration!  This event showcases all of our Specialist programs and will also give families a chance to come and have some fun, eat some yummy treats and take part in some great games organised by our very own teachers. Make sure you've got this date locked into your diary now!   

Rotary Public Speaking Competition

We are very proud of Allegra and Ebony representing Pakenham Springs at the annual Rotary Public Speaking Competition last Tuesday. They both worked hard on their speeches, practising hard to make sure they were able to communicate their messages in a clear, confident, and engaging manner.  They made our school proud!   

Christmas Raffle

Today our Christmas Raffle tickets have been sent home.  We appreciate the efforts of all families in selling a book (or more!) of tickets.  We are currently looking at a number of major upgrades to our school, and any money we raise will make these upgrades bigger and better than we could ever imagine!  An 'out of uniform'day with a gold coin donation will be held next Tuesday (14th November) which will allow us to purchase items for our winning hampers. 

2024 Planning

It's that time of year again when we need to finalise our student numbers for 2024.  Please let us know as soon as possible if you have a child starting at the school in 2024 - Step into Prep plans are underway and information is already beginning to go out to families. 

If you have a student leaving the school at the end of this year (apart from our Year 6 students), please let us know as soon as possible.  Accurate student numbers allow us to budget and employ the correct number of staff. We have already commenced our recruitment activities this year due to the state-wide teacher shortage to ensure we lock in the best staff for our students. 

Hats - Term 4

It's time to look in the back of those cupboards and begin finding hats!  These are required from Day 1 of Term 4 - students will need to remain in a hard-covered area if they do not have a Sunsmart hat at school. Not only does this affect their play times, but it also has an impact on their ability to participate fully in PE and Year Level Sports activities.  A cap or hood is not sun-smart and is not acceptable at Pakenham Springs. 

Supervision before school

Students are not to arrive at school until 8:30 am on school mornings.  Staff do not begin their workday until this time, and there is insufficient supervision available in the mornings.  Any student arriving before 8:30 am will be asked to sit at the office and wait. We ask for your support in this matter.  Likewise, under no circumstances are students allowed to leave the school grounds in the morning and go across to the shops.  Not only is this incredibly unsafe, with them crossing the busy Heritage BLVD road unsupervised, but a small number of students are also coming back having purchased items inappropriate for the school day.  Please contact OSHClub if you need to organise care and supervision for your child/ren outside of 8:30 am - 3:30 pm.

I will be on leave from Wednesday 1st November, returning to school on Tuesday 14th November.  In my absence, Mr Scott McKinnon will be the Acting Principal.

Enjoy the fortnight ahead!

The PSPS Leadership Team