Principal's Message
Messages from Mr. Tim Callaghan
Artwork by Caitlyn Davies-Plummer
Principal's Message
Messages from Mr. Tim Callaghan
Artwork by Caitlyn Davies-Plummer
It has been a gold medal start to term at Ceres Primary School. Classes are very settled and have been off and racing since day one. The Olympics has been a fantastic source of inspiration for our classes with some wonderfully aligned work being completed with enthusiasm and excitement, it's great to see.
Thanks to our families who made our Parent/Teacher Meetings last week. Attendance was incredibly high and our teaching staff valued your time to discuss your child's achievements, and future goals for this semester.
On Monday I was in Melbourne for the 2024 Government Schools Principals Conference. It is always an insightful event and an excellent opportunity for Victorian government school principals to hear from renowned educators about collaborative leadership, participate in innovative workshops, and learn, reflect, and network with other principals.
As today is Principals Day, it is a nice opportunity for me to take the time to pause and be grateful for the opportunity I have to lead Ceres PS. It is a privileged position to be here at Ceres. The staff and I will continue to work with our parents and the wider community to ensure our school fulfills its full potential. Fresh from our strategic review over the last few weeks our vision has never been clearer and, as a staffing group, we are excited to see what our school can achieve in the next four years.
Our school is surveying to find out what parents/caregivers/guardians think of our school. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional but we encourage all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. All families are invited to participate in the survey.
The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey opened on Monday 29th July and will remain open until Friday 30th August. A link has been sent via Compass. Please check your news feed for it.
The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
The survey results will be communicated to parents/caregivers/guardians through annual reporting and an invitation to a Parent Data Dive in Term 4.
The planning for our milestone 150th event in 2025 is well underway.
Yet, a key piece of the puzzle is selecting the optimal date and time for our family event to ensure we can attract the best attendance possible.
We would love your help with this, therefore this link will take you to a survey with our potential options.
At our event, we are looking to have food trucks, entertainment for the kids, a musical guest, speeches, open classrooms, a historical display in the Stoneroom, and more.
Also, we are looking at having a time capsule made. We would love a nice wooden box to be displayed in our foyer. This way it becomes a feature and a nice conversation starter for years to come. We are curious to know if there is anyone in our community interested in helping us out to make it, as we would love a Ceres connection to the process. Feel free to pass on the name of anyone interested for us.
We, the 150th Planning Committee, thank you in advance for your support.
Reminder: Our student led Assembly is on today at 2:30 pm.
Our assembly is an important part of our school. It is an opportunity to proactively reinforce our school culture and expectations through the acknowledgement and celebration of our students and school.
Have a great fortnight.
Tim Callaghan
Acting Principal