What a big term at TPS

I cannot believe we are already at the end of Term 1. It has been a jam packed term, which has seen our 31 new Prep students settle into school life superbly, whilst our senior students are already displaying excellent leadership qualities. Term 2 is 11 weeks, and is already very busy, so please keep an eye out on the key dates to make sure you are on top of everything that is happening.

Term 1 Highlights

As we always do at the end of each term, we share what has been happening this term. Despite it being only a 9 week term, we have had lots of highlights, including:

• welcoming our 31 new Prep students.
• our annual welcome BBQ, which was very well attended.
• inducting our new student leaders.
• taking part in Swimming week and our House Swimming Carnival.

• a special visiting performance around the importance of Making Friends.
• a visit from our Grade 3/4 students to the Nathalia Heritage Centre as part of their Inquiry Unit.

• a visit from Wayne Cowley to share his knowledge around Indigenous Artefacts

• Tonny's Got Talent, which showcased some amazing performances.
• starting our Hands-on learning program.

• taking our students to the Tongala Library for visits.
• attending the Aged Care facility for our Grade 2 students.

• competing and winning the Campaspe Lawn Bowls tournament at the Moama Bowling Club.
• taking part in Clean Up Australia Day both at school and in the community.
• a visit from our Federal Member of Parliament, Sam Birrell.
• celebrating International Day of Happiness in style with fun activities and a DJ at recess and lunchtime.
• a performance from Bravehearts, in regard to Body Awareness for our junior students.
• taking part in Ride 2 School day, with over half of our students either riding, scooting or walking to school.
• competing in the Team Tennis competition amongst local schools in Echuca, with our girls team coming away victorious.
• showcasing our work during Inquiry units this term to our families in Grade p-4.
• a very cute Easter Hat parade for our F-2 students.

We look forward to more great highlights in Term 2.

School Council

On Monday night, we held our 2024 AGM. At this meeting, Amber Townsend stepped down as President, a position that she has held for the past 5 years. Amber has put a lot of time and effort into her role as school council president, and has always been a fantastic advocate for our great school. Thank you Amber for your fabulous contribution to our school.

Our new school council is:

President: Rohan Aldous

Vice President: Jon Beach

Secretary: Karen Vick

Treasurer: Ryan Todd

DET representatives: Melissa Pearce, Julie Dullard

Parent representatives: Sheree Marsh, Dean Holyman, Rory Fynch, Ash Watson, Carly Mullins

Executive officer: Rob Hogan

Our school council is our voice of the school community, so please feel free to speak to any members about anything you would like raised.

Welcome

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Deena Pridham to our teaching staff from Term 2. Deena will be teaching Grade 5/6 and comes to us from Echuca East Primary School, where she has been teaching for many years, and most recently in Grade 5/6. Deena has just completed Middle Leadership training and the Leading Numeracy training with the Department, so we are excited to see what skills she will bring to our school.

I am sure the students in 5/6A will enjoy connecting with the new teacher from the start of next Term, and we look forward to having Deena as part of the TPS community.

We also welcome Mrs Eileen McNeilly as our new Visual Arts teacher. Mrs Mac, as she is affectionately known to the students, has been a very reliable CRT for a few years now, and loves teaching at TPS. She is also very passionate about Visual Arts and we look forward to seeing what the students produce next Term.

Finally, as mentioned at Assembly last week, we also can welcome Miss Hollie Reid as our new PE teacher. Hollie is very well known to us, as a past student and most recently working as an Education Support staff member. As a very talented Sports person herself, I know the students are very excited to be starting PE with Hollie.

Farewell

Wayne Cowley (Lips) has been working with the school in his role as our Koorie Education Support Officer for the past 7 years. As many may be aware, Lips is moving to Bali to live, therefore resigning from his position with the Department of Education. We wish he and his wife, Bernie all the best for their move.

We will be notified early next Term of his replacement KESO.

Also a big thank you to Nicole Mitchell and Peter Tinning who have helped us out this term by taking our Specialist classes.

Speed Zone

A reminder that the speed zone around the school is 40 kmph at all times. Local police will be patrolling this over the coming months. Please be mindful of this.

Thanks for your co-operation with this to ensure safety at all times.

Have a fantastic Easter everyone.

Rob