Assistant Principal's Report

Welcome to our first newsletter for Term Four. It is going to be a very exciting term, with many  special events already scheduled on the calendar. It is a huge term for our Year Six students in particular as they complete their final term of Primary schooling and transition into Secondary School and begin a brand new journey. Our 2024 Preps are about to begin their DPS transition, which is also very exciting.   

September Attendance

A huge congratulations to our 307 DPS students who were at school every day in September. You are superstars! Some of these students include: Heman PM, Blake PM, Elijah PM, Dylan PP, Mina PP, Rika PP, Adella PW, Jeff PW, Joseph PW, Noah PW, Onaysa PW, Celine 1G, Sara 1G, Wali 1G, Ellie 1G, Alyssa 1G, Leena 1L, Sarah IL, Harper 1L, Shiyu 1L, Jordan 1L, Theo 1S, Ethan 1S, Zara 1S, Sofia 1S, Benjamin 1S and Simra 1S. 

Well done and keep up the great attendance. Remember it is not ok to be away!

Dance Curriculum

Next week, we are pleased to have Dean from Dance Curriculum returning to DPS to complete a dance unit of work with all DPS students. Students have been waiting all year for Dean to return. Dance classes will run across the week (during school time) and then we will be having a big Dance Performance at 2:15pm on Friday 13th October. You are most welcome to attend this performance in the School Gymnasium next Friday. We look forward to seeing our students perform and show off their skills.

Performing Arts

We are thrilled to begin another specialist class this term called ‘Performing Arts’. I was lucky enough to attend some of the classes throughout this week and Mx Dutlow has already been introducing students to rhythm, beat and movement. We are excited to see the students shine in their Performing Arts classes each week.     

Division Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to 8 of our students who progressed through to the Maroondah/ Manningham Division Athletics on Wednesday 4th October.  Well done Zi Yu, Trish, Alex, Smaragda, Semrah, Rafaela, Sebastian and Logan. DPS are very proud of your efforts and achievements!

SWPBS - School Wide positive behaviour

We continue to explore our school wide approach to teaching and managing behaviours through the SWPBS framework. All classes have been learning behaviours off the Matrix this term. Teachers in classrooms and on Yard Duty are continuing to look for students that are displaying behaviours from the 'Be Respectful' and 'Be Safe' part of the matrix and giving students coloured wrist bands. Students are working really hard to earn wristbands and get holes in their punch cards. We are VERY close to earning stars to put in our jar at the office. Keep up the great work everyone.

Respectful Relationships

We continue our whole school approach of Respectful Relationships. In Respectful Relationships there are 8 topics that we focus on across the year. They are: 

1. Emotional Literacy 
2. Personal Strengths 
3. Positive Coping 
4. Problem Solving 
5. Stress Management 
6. Help Seeking 
7. Gender and Identity  
8. Positive Gender Relations 

This term students will be exploring new topics, which will bring new skills and new learnings. We can really see the impact this program has on our students and the culture at our school as we learn how to appreciate and understand diversity across our school. We have very accepting and inclusive students.  

ATOSS – Attitudes to School Survey

The Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) is an annual online student survey offered by the department of education and training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students’ perceptions and experiences of the school. It is conducted annually in Term Two with all students in Years 4 to 12 being invited to participate. Schools facilitate the collection of data with students during school time.

Students are asked about their thoughts and feelings about school, their learning, peer relationships, community connections and life in general, with a range of statements such as “My teacher tells us what we are learning and why, My teacher makes the work we do in class interesting and Students at this school treat each other with respect” being asked. Students need to select ‘strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree’ for each of the statements.

All of the students’ results remain anonymous. Overall Doncaster Primary School had extremely positive results with our strongest factors being:

• High Expectations for success – meaning teachers believe in students and expect that they can achieve great results at school 
• Attitudes to attendance – meaning students try to attend school and catch up on work if they miss anything 
• Advocate at school – meaning that students feel there are teachers and trusted adults at this school that care about them and will listen, offer support and acknowledge them with praise when they achieve. 
• Differentiated learning challenge – meaning teachers understand how students learn, give them extra support if required and helps students do their very best 
• Sense of Inclusion – meaning students feel part of class activities, they have friends and feel included and their teacher makes them feel like they matter. 

The survey highlighted the positive experiences that students are having at DPS, the friendships that are being built and strengthened each and every day and the level of care and support our teachers offer. As a school, we are proud of the ATOSS results for 2023 and look forward to continuing and building upon this for the rest of this year.

World Teachers Day – Thursday 5th October

Today is World Teachers Day and we had a small staff celebration at recess today to acknowledge the amazing teachers of DPS. The purpose of World Teachers' Day is to acknowledge, celebrate and thank the teaching profession worldwide. Can you remember the teachers who contributed to and influenced your education? I can specifically remember the time and effort they invested motivating and encouraging me to be the best version of myself possible. The teachers at DPS do all of these things and more. They are wonderful educators who love their job teaching your children. If you have anything to say to your child’s teacher this World Teachers Day, please take the time to write them an email or catch them at the school gate and say “Happy World Teachers Day”. It’s nice to hear positives from parents, it let’s teachers know they are doing a good job. We are lucky to have such committed, passionate and loving teachers here at DPS. Well done to our amazing staff, you are a blessing! 

Art Show

On Wednesday, we had the Annual Art Show at DPS. It was lovely to see such terrific art work in both the Junior Building and the Art Room and the families who attended seemed to really enjoy the walk through. A huge congratulations to Artin 5C and Chloe 4K who performed on the evening and enhanced the atmosphere. You made it feel like we were walking through an Art Gallery! A huge thank you to Mrs B for putting together the Art Show and a massive thank you to our students for the amazing art work that they contributed.  

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS 

Kids Help - kidshelpline.com.au phone 1800 55 1800 

Parent Line - betterhealth.vic.gov.au phone 13 22 89 

Headspace - headspace.org.au phone 1800 650 890 

eSafety Commissioner - esafety.gov.au - Advice for parents and carers to help children have safe experiences online 

Have a great week ahead DPS families,

Carly Epskamp

Assistant Principal