Welcome to the final newsletter for the 2024 school year!

Dear parents, carers and friends of WSPS,

What a wonderful year it has been. I would like to acknowledge with genuine gratitude the partnerships that make our school a productive and enjoyable working environment; our parents, students and staff working together.

As with most people, as we reach this stage of the year, we often pose the question, “Where has the year gone?” As you would be aware, the years do seem to pass rather quickly, whether this is because of the ‘pace of life’ or the fact that we just seem to be busier, I’m not sure. However, what I am sure of is the fact that 2024 has been another outstanding year for everyone associated with our school. Please take the time over the holidays to rest and rejuvenate in readiness for the 2025 school year!

Thank You to our School Council

As we move into the last week at Wales Street Primary School for 2024, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank all members of our School Council this year for their significant contribution to our school:

Kellie Marks, Suzi Sagar, Rebecca Scott, Davor Stanic, Ed Rutherford, Tim Sheedy, Marian Tosif, Nadia Cooke, Paula Bateson, Georgia Prince, Luisa Kalenjuk, Laura Fisher and Pina Tarquinio

This group of dedicated parents and staff have further strengthened the educational environment for our students.

In particular, I acknowledge Kellie Marks for her leadership as School Council President. Kellie's leadership of Council has ensured that we have been able to successfully manage the challenge of providing time for rich discussion and debate whilst also ensuring that all voices are listened to. Most importantly Kellie has managed this with a sense of fun and humour as well!

Overall, much has been achieved in 2024. We can all be proud of our school as it is today and excited about our school into the future.

Thank You to our School Parent Band

A big shout out to all of the amazing members of our school parent band. A fantastic effort in raising $2,784.00 for our Performing Arts program. Our school community really appreciates the time and effort this wonderful group of parents puts in. Also a huge thank you to all their groupies who have supported them as well.

Child Safety and Wellbeing at Wales Street Primary School: information for families and the school community

Wales Street Primary School is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe.

Our child safety framework includes policies, codes and procedures that explain how we support and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students and protect them from harm. These documents are available on our website: www.wales.street.ps@education.vic.gov.au

We are also committed to continuous improvement of our child safety framework. We are currently reviewing our child safety policies and practices to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.

Our students and families are important partners in this process. We welcome your feedback or ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing

If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Wales Street Primary School on 03 9484 3949 or at wales.street.ps@education.vic.gov.au.

Grade structures for 2025

Year Level	Number of Classes
Foundation	4
Year 1	4
Year 2	4
Year 3	3
Year 4	3
Year 5	4
Year 6	3

STAFFING CHANGES FOR 2025

Every year we farewell some teachers and welcome the new.

We would like to thank Tyler Lunn, Grade 2 who will be returning to Country Victoria to pursue teaching in a rural setting, and Natalie Rambaldi, Grade 4 who will be teaching overseas. A heartfelt thanks for their contributions to our school and wish them all the very best as they pursue further opportunities and experiences in 2025.

We welcome Georgia Kourakis, from Haileybury College, and Erin Halloran from Reservoir Primary to our Foundation team, Tom Allen, from Wangaratta to our Grade 2 team, and Lauren Nanni from Ruthven Primary who will be our Italian teacher on Fridays.

Teaching Teams for 2025:

Foundation: Maria Mandilas, Erin Halloran, Abbie Melchior, Georgia Kourakis

Grade 1- Lesley King, Shannon Hayes, Spiro Pantazopoulos/Georgia Prince, Laura Fisher

Grade 2- Jo Ristos, Marie Apostolou/Clara Nickson, Tom Allen, Laura Nunan/Clara Nickson

Grade 3- Kim Chau, Stathis Moshis, Chris Hingston/Megan Urban

Grade 4- Steve McArthur/Geoff O’Connor, Kate Bowran/Clara Nickson, Kathryn Answerth

Grade 5- Samim Kashani, Lauren Shepherd/Geoff O’Connor, Renee Patkas, Toby Marquette

Grade 6- Michelle Turner, Sue Losada/Geoff O’Connor, Michael Tindale

Specialist Teachers:

STEAM- Jason Sergi

P.E. – Anna De Vos

Visual Art- Georgina Tragis

Performing Arts- Samantha Panettieri

Italian- Dina Divitcos, Lauren Nanni

Disability & Inclusion: Sotiroulla Kyprianou

Instructional Coaches: Sue Losada/Spiro Pantazopoulos/Marie Apostolou

Meet the Teacher 2025

Next Wednesday the 18th of December our current students will meet their teacher for 2025 following on from a number of transition sessions we have held this term. The staff at Wales Street have placed considerable time and effort into the transition process to support the learning and wellbeing of our students. We look forward to students meeting their 2025 teacher next week!

Student Reports

As a learning community, it is essential that we value the children’s reports as they provide an opportunity to celebrate their social, emotional, and academic growth over the year. Our teaching staff have worked diligently to ensure each report accurately reflects your child’s current level of achievement as well as their progress throughout the year.

The Semester Two reports will be distributed electronically via Compass on Wednesday 18th December.

Year 6 Student Leaders

At assembly today, we thanked our 2024 Year 6 student leaders for their efforts during 2024. They have contributed in so many ways to help sustain and build the culture of our school during the year. Thank you to them for hosting assemblies, organise sporting events and fundraisers and for being role models- thank you to all of you.

Important dates for Term 1 2025 (so far)

Please make a note of these key dates for Term 1

Start of the 2025 school year - Year 1-6 Wednesday 29th January

First day of school Foundation Thursday 6th February

Parent Teacher Interviews: Tuesday 11th & Wednesday 12th March

Year 4 Camp: Monday March 17th - Wednesday 19th March

Year 5 Camp: Monday 24th March - Wednesday 26th March

Friday 4th April: Last day of term: 2:30pm finish

There aren’t the words to adequately express our gratitude to our parents and carers for your tireless support this year. On behalf of the school I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas and New Year and look forward to seeing all our returning students on Wednesday 29th January 2025.

As we approach the summer holidays, it's the perfect time to give our children a much-needed break from the pressures of social media. The long, sunny days offer a wonderful opportunity to focus on outdoor play, creativity, family & friends time, and personal growth—without the distractions and expectations that often come with online platforms.

Our final school assembly will also be held on Friday 20th December at 9:15am. We will have our guard of honour for our grade 6 students at 12:40pm and dismissal is 1:00pm.

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