Principal's Report 

The final newsletter article is always an interesting one to write.  It is with excitement, happiness and reflection that I connect with this time of year.

Our Year 6 graduation was a wonderful night and I acknowledge the contributions that our departing senior students have made to our school over the time they have been with us.  I also congratulate Shannon (and her team of helpers) for the tremendous work that she (and they), put in to ensuring our Year 6 cohort had an evening to remember.

While it is with sadness that we will say farewell to our Year 6 students and other students moving to other areas of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and the world, it is with excitement that we have had our 2024 Prep students participate in their Off to School program. Spending time with our new parents over the four weeks, I have seen them move from completely uncertain about school commencement to having a developed understanding.  Welcome to our wonderful school and community.  Thank you to Kath, Catherine, Mary, Michelle and Jo for all the work put into this program.

It is scary how quickly time moves; it only feel likes a couple of months ago that I was commenting on our Harmony Day celebrations that was in Term 1.  We have had many significant events, however three that I will mention are our Re-opening Celebrations, our school Production and our Vocal Ensemble performing to our community.  The latter two are special because they helped us re-connect to pre-COVID activities (news alert – we are hoping to return to our pre-COVID food celebration as part of our 2024 Harmony celebrations).

This time of the year is about transitions.  Tuesday was transition morning at Windsor Primary School.  While most of our Year 6 students were at their secondary school transition day, we gave our remaining students an introduction to their 2024 classes and teachers.

It is also a transition for us as a school with some staff beginning their time at Windsor, some finishing and some returning.

Next year Amber, Ella and Shannon will not be returning to Windsor.  At the time of recruiting, Amber was not sure about how long she would be remaining in Australia and did not want to commit to a position for a full year.  Ella has tentative travel plans in 2024 and she too, did not want to commit to a full year’s work.  Shannon will be joining South Melbourne Primary next year, a school where she worked as an education support staff member for a number of years, so it will be a sort of homecoming.

We welcome Jenna Barker to Windsor Primary School and we welcome back Tom Gosling.

Teachers and Classes for 2024

Prep A - Catherine McGarrity

1/2A - Amelia Bell

1/2B - Nathan Heaton

3A - Kathrine Gratz and Stephen McLeod

4/5A - Jenna Barker

5/6A - Tom Gosling and Mia Amon

Art / Greek - Connie Barkatsas

English as Another Language - Lily Papamihail

Music - Paul Cartwright

Physical Education - Mia Amon

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to making Windsor Primary School such a wonderful place to be part of.  Our staff and our parent contributors most definitely have their heart in the right place. Things are not easy at Windsor due to our budget constraints, however every minute that our contributors give us, whether it is the staff with their abundance of professional expertise and personal compassion and regard, or it is our parent community giving their time, effort or financial support helps provide our students with the education expertise and programs that every student deserves.

Our staff resume on Monday, January 29 and then our students (all year levels) resume on Wednesday, January 31.

On behalf of Simone, myself and the entire WPS team, I wish everyone a happy and safe summer break.