Principal's Report
Farewell to Staff
Mrs Gen Rodda will be leaving SGPS at the end of today, marking the end of a 27 year contribution to our school and community. I have had the pleasure of working with Gen for the last 13 years. Besides both being avid Collingwood supporters, we also found common ground in wanting to support our most disadvantaged students, or those students that need us the most. Gen has been a wonderful Education Support teacher at our school and we will miss her knowledge and skills (...and her outlandish laugh), but most importantly, we will miss the genuine love and care she has shown the students in her care.
We will also be farewelling Mr Caitlin Harris at the end of the year. Caitlin has been a teacher at SGPS for the last 3 years. Caitlin has been an amazing teacher during this time and we will miss her greatly. We all hope she will return to SGPS at some stage in the future. We also wish Caitlin all the best for the impending birth of her first child.
Grade 6 Graduation
Last night, the class of 2024 celebrated a great year, and in many cases, seven great years, at SGPS. We were fortunate to have good weather, given our outdoor venue of The Hub. I trust all in attendance had a great night.
I would like to thank our wonderful teachers, support staff and the students for their fun performance and humorous speeches. Special thanks to Mrs Byron, Mr Lidgett, Mr McClellan and Mr Greer for supporting the children in their classroom throughout the year. Thanks also to our wonderful Specialist teachers and Education Support staff for their support and positive influence. I hope the families of these children are also feeling very proud of their efforts in successfully guiding their children to this point in their schooling.
The process of selecting award recipients this year was the extremely difficult, reflecting the high standard set by this awesome cohort. Congratulations to the following children for receiving special awards last night:
Specialist Awards:
Excellence in Art: Evie Patrick
Excellence in LOTE (Auslan): Eloise Hauler
Excellence in Music: Riley Mc Clure
Excellence in Sport: Archie Coburn
Community Awards:
Jan Osborn Outstanding Community Contribution Award: Joni Hardinge
Spring Gully Awards:
Mark Stevens Memorial Award: Hadley Murphy
Isabella Greenwood Scholarship Award: Pearl Turnbull
Cook-Comte Memorial Awards: Peggy Piper (Literacy) and Hadley Galea (Mathematics)
Emmett Walsh Memorial Scholarship Award: Billie Ross and Charlie Noonan
Endeavour Scholarship Award: Samuel Preston
STEM Award: Charlie Kochar
Strive Award: Tyler Gibbings-Johns
Below is a couple of photos from the pre-graduation party, as well as a few from Joni 'cashing in' her GuGu stickers today, so she could give me a pie for lunch! A quick inhale through my nose on impact had the cream reaching my sinuses instantly. I used to drink the creamy milk directly from the vat when I grew up on a dairy farm, so I wastn't worried about Joni's plan. However, I never consumed the creamy milk directly up my nose so I have never experienced the permanent smell that I am currently experiencing.
Thank You to Parent Club
Our extremely hard working and dedicated Parent Club have been quietly working behind the scenes all year to raise money and organise social events for our school this year. Their ongoing support is greatly appreciated and has not gone unnoticed.
A huge thank you to our incredible community for supporting their fundraising efforts throughout the year. And a very special thank you to our dedicated volunteers, who have made Fresh Fruit Friday possible.
A special thank-you to our outgoing president, Emma Clohesy. Emma has worked incredibly hard for our school and community during her 6 years as president. I'm sure everyone will join me in offering their heartfelt thanks to Emma for making our school extra awesome. Emma is steping aside so she can spinkle her magic as a classroom teacher, thankfully here at SGPS!
On behalf of Parent Club, Emma and the team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Departing Families
Brett and I would like to thank the many families that have now ended their formal relationship with our school as their youngest child, or in some cases their only child, has now graduated from Spring Gully Primary School. We would like to thank all of these families for supporting our school and for supporting their child’s education. We hope you all have fond memories of your time with Spring Gully Primary School.
We would also like to farewell those families that are moving to other schools and other locations and will not be with us in 2024. I thank you for being part of our school community and wish you all the best for the future.
School Leaders - Thanks
Special thanks to all of our student leaders in 2024. We have formal leadership roles, such as School Captains, House Captains, SRC Representatives and Indigenous Leaders, but we also have an incredible number of students who demonstrate great leadership qualities without an official title. We are fortunate to teach such great children at SGPS.
This process of selecting leaders for 2025 resulted in the following appointments:
School Captains
Cailin Schulz
Reuben Patching
School Vice-Captains
Freya Comfort (SRC Leader)
George Clohesy (SRC Leader)
House Captains
Reeva Cluff (Ashby)
Maddy Parsons and Max McClure (Tingay)
Genevieve Maher (Savage)
Isaac Briggs (Pollock)
Janaya Senya and Ollie McAliece (Harley)
Taj Williams (Godber)
We hope that all parents will be able to attend an assembly early next year to see their children receive their leadership badges.
Below is a photo of our 2025 Student Leaders with the outgoing 2024 Student Leaders just after the announcement.
Collecting Medications
A reminder to please collect any medications required over the holidays from Wendy before the end of the day tomorrow.
Final Assembly and Early Finish
We will be having a brief assembly tomorrow at 1.00pm. All students will then be dismissed at 1.15pm. We would appreciate students being pick up on time as all staff will be moving from assembly to an external venue, where we will be having our traditional Christmas lunch together.
Happy Holidays
I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. I look forward to another great year in 2025. Don't forget to Be Awesome, and if you're already awesome, just be more awesome!