Principal's Report
Welcome to Gardenvale PS for 2025
On behalf of our staff a warm welcome to all our students and parents for the 2025 school year. Hope you've had a wonderful time over the summer holidays. I thank our staff for their hard work over the holidays to ensure all was ready in classrooms and offices for a smooth start to school. We are pleased to be welcoming three new staff members to Gardenvale, Noa Opat will be teaching 1D; and Penny Osborne and Athan Vlahogiannis join our Integration Aide team.
Last Friday our new Prep students had their first day of school. There were lots of smiling faces, only a few tears and photos being taken that will be lasting memories of this very important occasion. Welcome and best wishes to our new staff members and families who are starting with us also.
A reminder that unless students are attending GOSH (before care with Team Kids) they should not be onsite at school before 8.45am. The gates will be opened, and teachers are supervising the school grounds, from 8.45am onwards.
Changes to our Newsletter
Please note this year our newsletter will move from weekly to fortnightly publication.
Working Bee – Saturday 25th January
Once again Dimi and I were overwhelmed by our amazing school community that answered our plea to help prepare the school grounds for the 2025 school year. There was so much leaf litter and weeds to clean up, grass to mow and whipper snip, drains to clear, etc. Thank you so much to all the mums, dads, and children that were able to come along to the working bee. We can’t thank you enough – what a truly amazingly supportive community we have!
A very sincere thank you from Dimi and I to the following: – Natalie Anker, Penina Berkovic, Ryan Berman, Noam Bosak, Yoon Kyu Chang, Josh Cole, Meytar Duadi, Robert Forrester, Daria Gabriel, Barry Goldman, Daniel Goldman, Judi Grossbard, Mick Hennig, Holly Ife, Adelle Incledon, Callum Kaka, Clive Kaicer, Jenny Kirschner, Leon Lopata, Hugh Maguire, Mayank Maini, Nicky Martin, Louise Mckee, Liz Molloy Fishley, Naoko Nishikawa, Phill Nixon, Edoardo Nucci, Tom Nguyen, Cara and Luke Papatheohari, Rowena Pereira, Stef Perkovic, Anna Phelps, Mark Pointer, Jen Robinson, Andrew and Sharon Ryan, Theresa Scott, Tanya Shulman, Simon Stainmagen, Melinda Suchard, Maria Tiong, Andrew Varker, Amy Voterakis, Fi and Jonathan Yap and Yu Zhang (sorry if your name is missing but thank you!!). It was wonderful to see so many children also helping to make sure our school was spick and span; they certainly deserved a special treat for their hardwork!
Once again we say a huge thank you to Jen Robinson, one of our parents, for all her work in our vegetable garden at the Junior Campus. Jen kindly volunteered many hours last year, and over the summer break, to maintain and nurture the garden beds. We are so fortunate to have Jen continue her work caring for this important space.
Information Evenings
Last night was the Parent Information Evening for our Year 1 Parents. Tonight, we will welcome our Year 2 parents (in the Hall at 7.00pm). Tomorrow evening it will be our Year 5 parents (in the MPC at 6.30pm) to hear what is in store for their children in 2025. On Thursday night we will welcome our Prep parents (in the Junior Hall at 6.00pm) and our Year 6 parents (in the MPC at 6.00pm).
The high attendance by our parents reflects the level of engagement our families have in our school. Our teachers share the plans for the year ahead and highlight the expectations for students and families.
Please note the remaining two Information Nights are as follows:
- Year 3 - 6.00pm – Wednesday 12th February (in the MPC)
- Year 4 - 6.45pm – Wednesday 12th February (in the MPC)
Ambulance Subscription
Last Wednesday all our staff were involved in our yearly First Aid Training. We were advised by the trainer to inform our parent community about the importance of having an Ambulance Victoria membership. Children are full of energy and sometimes mishaps occur which means they need to go to hospital. There have been times when students are injured at school and we have needed to call an ambulance. So that it does not cause an issue we recommend that you check if your family has ambulance cover, either through your private health fund or that you have Ambulance membership. The Education Department does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students.
Have a lovely week,
Janine Hall