Principals' Message 

Hello parents and friends, 

We have had such a busy fortnight at Templestowe Park.  There have been so many amazing activities taking place across the entire school.  We had absolutely sensational weather last week for our Grade 3 and 4 camps.  Our Grade 3 students experienced their very first overnight camp and they managed it wonderfully.  The teachers could not have been any prouder of the students as they met the many new challenges that a camp provides.  On Wednesday, our Grade 4 students left for their camp to Anglesea. Being a beach camp, we were so blessed to have perfect weather for three days.  It was even a little warm on Thursday and Friday.  We would like to thank all the teachers and parents that attended the camps.  A special shout out must go to Mr Kitney and Mrs Cambareri who both organised and coordinated the camps.

Student Free Day – Monday 2 November Cup Eve 

Monday 2 November will be a student free day as all staff will be undertaking assessment and reporting duties. As part of the 2022 Victorian Government Schools Agreement, teachers must be provided with a student free day for student reporting purposes.  

TeamKids will provide a full day service for any family needing supervision. To contact and make bookings for TeamKids please click on the link below. 

https://www.teamkids.com.au/venues/templestowe-park-primary-oshc-5/ 

The Fruits of our Labour – Outstanding results in Mathematics

As you are all aware, the school has transformed our teaching and learning model over the last three years. The introduction of the ‘Science of Learning’ principles and The Victorian Teaching & Learning Model (VTLM 2.0) have led to outstanding improvements in students learning. In particular, maths outcomes across the school have improved greatly.  Our focus on the daily practice of number facts, ‘daily reviews’ of learnt material, explicit teaching of new concepts and supported practice of problem solving have had a significant impact. 

An indicator of the outstanding mathematics learning of our students was seen in the 2026 Numeracy NAPLAN assessments. In both the Grade 3 and 5 assessments, our students outperformed all students in the categories of 'Strong & Exceeding’ in the State, Network and Similar Schools.  We measure ourselves against ‘Similar Schools’ as they are schools across the state that have a similar student body and parent background.  In the graphs below, the orange bar is where Templestowe Park achieves compared to the purple and blue bars that indicate ‘Similar Schools’ from across Victoria.  In both Grade 3 and 5, TPPS is one of the leading schools in the state for Numeracy achievement.  This is an outstanding achievement by our students, teachers and support staff. 

We have seen further outstanding mathematical results in the Maths Olympiad problem solving competition that our Grade 5/6 students participate in.  In 2026, our students achieved our greatest ever outcomes for this competition which runs across Australia and New Zealand. This included a perfect score by one of our Grade 6 students. To read more about the sensational work of our students in this competition, please go to the ‘Learning @ TPPS’ section of this newsletter. 

We are so proud of the effort of our students, staff and school leadership for the hard work that they have all put in to improve mathematics outcomes at TPPS.  As the old adage goes, hard work pays off.  These mathematical outcomes show this. 

Parent/Carer Opinion Survey 

Last term, TPPS families were requested to complete the annual Parent/Carer Opinion Survey.  This survey provides feedback for the school on what we are doing well and areas for improvement across a multitude of different areas.  We were so pleased to have doubled the number of families completing the survey from 2025 to 2026.  We thank you so much for taking the time to complete the survey.  As a leadership team and School Council, we will be reviewing these results in the coming weeks.  This will then lead us in our planning for 2027 as we take your feedback to improve the school. 

It was extremely pleasing to see that families rated Templestowe Park above Similar, Network and all State schools in over 80% of all categories.  Following on from the last article of the hard work we have been undertaking to improve teaching and learning, we received excellent feedback in the ‘General School Improvement’ section.  TPPS achieved a 7% higher rating than our Similar School and this has improved by 13% from 2025. 

We are so grateful for our families to recognise the hard work we are undertaking to improve the school. While this is encouraging, we still have so much more to improve upon and your responses provide us guidance in doing this. Based on your feedback, we will continue to work on communication from the school and providing our students with social skills to build friendships and support each other.  Thank you to our community for providing such rich feedback. 

World Teachers Day – Shine a Light on Teachers 

Today is World Teachers’ Day.  It is a day where we shine a light on the work that our educators do to inspire, support, and empower our children and young people every single day. At Templestowe Park, we like to include our entire staff on this day as we all have a critical part to play in educating our students and inspiring them to be the best that they can be.  We thank our TPPS staff for going the extra mile for our school community.  We have such a wonderful school, and our teachers and educational support staff are the heart and soul that guide our sensational students.  Happy World Teacher’s Day! 

50th Anniversary 1977 – 2027 

We are extremely excited to celebrate Templestowe Park Primary School's 50th Anniversary in 2027.  TPPS has educated generations of children in our community and we are looking forward to celebrating this special milestone. 

We have established a planning committee to commence planning for the special year ahead.  The committee will coordinate a group of volunteers, staff and students to organise our celebrations.  We can’t wait!

Our first meeting will take place on Thursday 5 November at 4:00pm (online). You can still join the committee by clicking on the link below. 

 https://forms.gle/y9C9rSyg9XmTXgK27

2026 Yearbook – orders close on Friday 30 October - TODAY! 

Each year, TPPS put together a wonderful memento of our year at school together in the form of a Yearbook.  The book includes reflections from students about their year together in the classroom and of the many special events that have taken place. Every class is represented. There are photos galore, with the book providing many hours of reminiscing for the future. 

The 2026 Templestowe Park Yearbook is currently being produced and is available for sale.  There is a quick turn-around time to get the orders in for printing, so if you would like to purchase one, please complete payment via Compass by Friday 30 October - TODAY! 

PFA Colour Fun Run - Friday 20 November

Our PFA Colour Explosion Fun Run will take place on Friday 20 November.  The Fun Run will commence at 2:00pm and will take place on the back oval. 

The PFA have once again decided not to make this event a fundraiser.  The cost for each student will be $8 and this money will be used to purchase the colour powder and other equipment required for the day.  

Students will need to wear old clothing for the day (not their school uniform).  For full effect of colour, students should wear an old white T-shirt or purchase a cheap white T-shirt for the event. A couple of important clothing requirements are outlined below. 

• All students are required to bring a pair of sunglasses from home to wear during the event. 
• As the students will be sprayed with water, some students may wish to wear a singlet or crop top underneath their T-shirt. 

Holi Colour Powder will be used for the run.  These powders are non-toxic, non-flammable, environmentally friendly and skin safe and are made of 98% corn starch and 2% permitted colours.

Please see Compass to provide consent and payment for your child to participate in our colour explosion Fun Run and for further information.  We can’t wait for the event! Our students are going to have an amazing time. 

Are you Leaving Templestowe Park in 2027?

We ask that you let us know if you are considering moving or have enrolled at another school in 2027.  We require this information as soon as possible in order to establish grade structures for the start of the new school year.

If your child is currently in Grades Prep to 5 and will not be at Templestowe Park in 2027, please notify the school office by emailing to:- templestowe.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au 

Prep 2027 Teachers and Transition Program 

Our 2027 Preps had their first transition session on Thursday and they had a fantastic time.  We currently have 81 new Preps starting next year.  This is the biggest cohort in four years. Our new Preps spent a fun session with the 2027 Prep teachers and their classmates.  I am happy to inform the community that the 2027 Prep teachers are as follows:

• Mrs Julie Foudoulis
• Mrs Marnee Tobin 
• Ms Lori Conn
• Ms Christina Demetriou 

The remaining Orientation sessions are as follows: 

• Thursday, 5 November: 2.00 – 3.00pm
• Thursday, 12 November: 2.00 – 3.00pm
• Thursday, 26 November: 9.15 – 10.30am (final Prep orientation session)

Principals' Award

At our assembly last week, we were so pleased to present the Principals' Award to Ollie in Grade 6. Ollie is a fantastic role model who consistently demonstrates leadership, respect and sportsmanship. He is an incredibly talented athlete who has proudly represented TPPS in basketball, football and athletics, competing at state level in both basketball and football, and district level in athletics. Beyond his sporting achievements, he is a respectful and attentive student who listens carefully, treats everyone with kindness and always leads by example. It is easy to see why he was chosen as our Sports Captain this year. We are incredibly proud of him and all that he has achieved. Congratulations, Ollie!

Have a fantastic Melbourne Cup long weekend! 

Mark Roberts                       Brian Cleary                                       Robyn Twyford                                    

PRINCIPAL                           ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL                  ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL