Principal's Message

Please take the time to read each page of our newsletter, as we provide you with information updates across our school.

SCHOOL EVENTS:

Please be aware that all known upcoming events are viewable within our Compass Calendar.

We advise all families to add these events to your schedules, being aware that on rare occasions additional events may appear based upon qualification for Regional events and above.

Restricted access to school grounds during the June/July term break

Over the June/July term break, we continue to undertake improvement works across our school. Please be aware that during the term break, access to the school will be impacted for the entire two week period, as detailed below:

NO ACCESS to junior playground area

For the duration of the two week term break the junior playground area will be CLOSED to the community.

During this time, the following works will be undertaken:

relocation of the covered sandpit, to create space for future paths of travel to the Riley Road play area
the joining of both sets of junior playground equipment, in order to reduce trip hazards and to increase areas of play
the installation of concrete paths of travel in place of existing dirt and gravel paths
replacement of existing wooden sleepers with large sandstone rocks

In order to assist you with understanding the areas which will be CLOSED, please refer to the images below:

NO ACCESS to Morris Road play area

Over the first week of the term break, we continue to undertake treesafe works throughout our school. Whilst these works are undertaken, access to the Morris Road play area is CLOSED.

In order to assist you with understanding the areas which will be CLOSED, please refer to the images below:

ACT NOW- Enrolments for Foundation 2027

Enrolments for Foundation 2027 are due to be lodged via the Department of Education (DE) online platform known as Insight.

If you know of a child/sibling who is due to commence Foundation in 2027, you must act by submitting your enrolment application online prior to 31st July 2026.

For details on how to enrol, please visit ACT NOW- 2027 Foundation Enrolments

Welcome to our new School Counsellor

At Upwey South Primary School, we recognise the important balance that both wellbeing and academics play in helping children to learn and grow throughout their schooling years. It is for this reason, that we locally fund a 0.6FTE (three days per week) Scholl Counsellor.

Our current School Counsellor, Vicky Procyk who has been with our school for the past two years has recently made the career move to transition to working in community addiction services. Please join us in congratulating Vicky as she enters the next phase of her allied health career.

The departure of Vicky has previously been communicated to families of students who have been actively engaged with Vicky and the service our school provides.

Following a recent recruitment process, we are now in the position to announce that Vicky Procyk will be replaced by Lynne Kennedy.

Lynne has an extensive background in allied health, most recently working in private practice and as the School Counsellor of Mount Dandenong Primary School. Over the past week, Lynne has been working alongside Vicky for a thorough handover of the counselling services offered at our school.

Lynne Kennedy will commence with our school in Week Four, Term Three (week commencing Monday 3rd August 2026). Lynne's days on-site will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday of each school week, with the exception of scheduled Curriculum Days.

Please be aware that new parent permission forms will be required to be completed for both existing and new referrals to access the School Counsellor. These forms will be made available to families from the first fortnight of Term Three- inclusive of direct contact details for Lynne Kennedy.

In the meantime, please refer to a brief introduction which Lynne has prepared for our school community:

My name is Lynne Kennedy, and I am delighted to be joining the Upwey South Primary School community as the new School Counsellor. I look forward to meeting and getting to know all the students, families, and staff who make this school such a special place.

I am a registered Clinical Family Therapist and a qualified Early Years Teacher, with additional post graduate studies in Play Therapy, and Neurobiology and Complex Trauma .

For the past five years, I have worked as the School Counsellor at Mount Dandenong Primary School, where I provided support to the terrific students, staff and parents who make up the Mt D school community.

I live locally in Tecoma and have loved being part of this vibrant community for the past 15 years. On weekends I enjoy gardening, walking in the hills with my dog, Carlos, or spending time with family in Inverloch.

I am excited to begin this new chapter at Upwey South Primary School, and look forward to being part of a team that supports the wellbeing and success of every child.

We extend a huge thank you to our amazing Parent Association

Once again throughout Term Two, we have been fortunate to receive outstanding support and commitment from members of our Parent Association. From arranging our Krazy Hair Krazy Sock Krazy Krispy Kreme Special Lunch, to our amazing Mother's Day event, through to the outstanding and highly entertaining Parent Trivia evening.

On behalf of our school community, I express our thanks to the amazing volunteers of our Parent Association.

We express our thanks to the parent community and major sponsors who supported our recent Trivia evening, which raised $5899.80. These donations will go towards the funds allocated for the installation of the new play area along Riley Road- of which ground preparation works are currently underway.

Pictured below are the winners of the Trivia Raffle which was announced at our recent assembly.

Dogs on School Grounds

We bring your attention to updated enforcement rules which now appear within our "Dogs at School Policy".

Within our previous policy, dog owners were permitted to tether pet dogs to the fenceline bordering the school. However, due to a recent safety incident this practice is no longer allowed.

During operational hours:

Pet dogs are not permitted on school grounds at any time during operational hours. This is inclusive of school drop-off and pick-up times.

Operational hours are considered to be 7:00am- 6:30pm on all weekdays.

We request that families who wish to walk a pet dog during pick-up or drop-off remain with their dog at all times, and remain external to the boundaries

of the school grounds.

Community members are no longer permitted to tether dogs to the fenceline which borders any part of the school grounds.

During sanctioned school events:

Pet dogs are not permitted to be on school grounds during approved school events at which Upwey South Primary School students will be present (for example: Christmas concerts, Parent Teacher interviews, open nights, etc).

During school term breaks and curriculum days:

As the school operates an Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) Service, pet dogs are not permitted to be on school grounds during operational hours of 7:00am- 6:30pm on weekdays.

Educational activities:

At times, the principal may approve dogs or other animals to attend the school grounds for educational purposes. This includes accredited dogs used as part of the Responsible Pet Ownership Program.

For information regarding the handling of wellbeing dogs, please refer to the attached policy.

For information regarding the handling of stray dogs, please refer to the attached policy.

Dogs at School Policy.pdf

Student speeches which inspire others to act

Building on the success of previous speeches which have been delivered at our school-wide assemblies throughout 2025 and 2026, we recently had the pleasure of Lincoln speaking about his experiences of living with Type 1 diabetes.

As the principal of our school, I was one again immensely proud of the culture that we are building at Upwey South Primary School. To view the confidence of our students to speak in front of over 400 people, and to display their leadership through personal vulnerabilities is truly inspirational.

Lincoln's speech brought to the attention of the audience that National Diabetes Awareness Week occurs from 12th -18th July 2026, and he also helped to educate members of our school community as to how we can support people living with diabetes.

For those of you who were unable to make our most recent assembly, Lincoln has volunteered to share a copy of his speech within this newsletter:

Learn More about Diabetes_Lincoln.pdf

What's been happening throughout our school in Term Two?

Our end of Term Two newsletter is full of learning and fun happening across our school.

Upwey South Primary School really is a very busy, and exciting place to belong. Throughout the term we have been engaging with other schools, students from across our region, and local community groups. This edition of our newsletter is packed full of exciting photos, stories, and reports covering a number of highlights from Term Two, some of which are:

sporting achievements at District, Regional, and State level
Yr 3-6 swimming lessons
Yr 5-6 camp experiences
VSSS dance and choir rehearsals
aerobics competitions- with our team qualifying for nationals
Mothers Day events
Year 3-6 electives
Year 3-6 athletics carnival
crazy hair and crazy sock day
various community days, such as Auslan Day, Wear It Yellow Day and Reconciliation Week
an exciting Foundation science incursion
Yr 3-4 and Year 5-6 Hooptime
Parent Association events, including special lunch days, and a hugely successful parent trivia evening.

Below are just a few photos which reflect the excitement around our school throughout Term Two: