Principal's Report

Dear Families,

It was lovely to return on Monday and catch up with students and staff after a lovely holiday. A special thank you to all staff for filling in for me whilst I was away. 

TRIVIA NIGHT

According to all reports the Trivia Night was a great success thanks to our dedicated Parents and Friends group and the very generous support of the Cricket Club. Not only was it a fun night but financially very successful.

LONG WEEKEND

Don’t forget that this is a long weekend for students, there will be no school on Monday due to a Professional Practice Day and Tuesday is the Melbourne Cup holiday. 

CONCERT

Our concert is on November 19th. The theme is “Name that Song” which means all the songs in the concert have a person’s name in them. It has allowed us to have a wide range of music. Rehearsals are in full swing.

Concert bags and a note about costumes will come home this Friday. The venue for the concert is the Junction Hotel.  The concert begins at 6.30pm. Tickets are available on Qkr! for $10 for aged 13 and over. Proceeds from the concert go towards Hip Hop incursion.

JUNIOR SCHOOL EXCURISON AND GRADE  2 SLEEP OVER 

Our Junior School Excursion and Sleepover will be on Friday 6th November. The F/1/2 students will go to Shepparton to visit Fun Planet for ten pin bowling as well as Somersault for a gymnastics session. Grade 1/2s will have dinner at school, with the Grade 2’s, sleeping over.

Foundation students are dismissed at the normal time. Pick up time for Grade 1 students is 7pm and Grade 2 students are to be collected on Saturday at 8am.

SCHOOL REVIEW

School review will take place in 2027. The first part is the Child Safe Minimum Standards which will take place on 24th November. We are in the process of updating all policies as needed and collating information for the audit.

OUT SCHOOL HOURS CARE

We have employed a new OHSC employee, Alanah Cross, who is covering all shifts in the program. She is studying and has 2 young children, and this works well for her. There will be a newsletter profile on her this week.

STAFFING BUDGET

We have been working closely with the Department as our staffing budget is in a large deficit. We have been advised to reduce classes from 7 to 6 as continuing with 7 classrooms is unfortunately not sustainable. With six classrooms the  average class size would be  approximately 20. This will mean declaring a position of in excess. This process requires firstly a call for nominations from staff, which was completed at a recent staff member, and in absence of nominees, we must then put forward a name. That staff member will remain at school for 18 months, as an additional teacher, and their salary is covered by the Department. We are being guided by the finance division in this process. We will keep you updated as we continue to work through this process.

POLICIES

We have updated our Sun Smart Policy, Inclusion and Diversity Policy and our Statement of Values. These have been updated on the webpage. https://toolambaps.vic.edu.au/ 

School Council approved the Parent Contributions Arrangement for 2027. Please see tab for further information. A message will also be sent home on Xuno.

CURRICULUM DAYS. 

Table below highlights 2027 days. One Professional Practice Day is yet to be allocated. You will notice that instead of the normal number of pupil free days an addition four Professional Practice Days have been added as per the new teacher agreement. 

Have a lovely long weekend,

Regards Filippa and Heather