Principals Report

A special Farewell Celebration

Yesterday we celebrated with Mrs Merrilyn Mann, her family and work colleagues and of course our students her retirement from the Education Department after 55 years of devoted service, and more importantly to celebrate the end of an outstanding teaching career spanning 42 years at Syndal South Primary School. The department, countless students, teachers, staff and the Syndal South community have all benefited from Merrilyn ’s wealth of experience, energy and relentless passion for art excellence over many years. We wish her all the very best for the plans she has for her retirement which includes spending time with her family especially her grandchildren Fraser and Tessa, enjoying time working in her garden and continuing her learning journey just to highlight a few Merrilyn mentioned yesterday.

Welcome Picnic

The Welcome Picnic was a huge community success. We had a great number of families and friends attend; it was wonderful to see several ex-students there as well. A highlight was having our local community groups involved: Waverley Blues Football Club, Highvale Netball Club, NextGen Soccer Academy, and Bollywood Dance Co. TeamKids again did an excellent job supporting the event as did our own Mr Riley. Special thanks to Eric and Michelle for all the behind the scenes work that they did to ensure the night’s success.

NAPLAN 

This year the NAPLAN will again be online, but it will be conducted in March (not in May as in previous years).  The NAPLAN Literacy and Numeracy tests for students in Years 3 and 5 are scheduled from Wednesday 13 – Friday 15 March 2024. Students will complete tests in language conventions, writing, reading and numeracy. Students in Year 3 will complete the written test on paper, otherwise all other assessments will be completed online using the NAPLAN application. The school will be supporting students to familiarise themselves with the type of questions and related functionalities of NAPLAN Online. Today the students took part in a coordinated practice session which gave students an opportunity to experience a “Practice Omnibus”. This single test included questions from reading, conventions of language and numeracy and gives the students practice with the platform and test structure. 

Students will also have an opportunity to complete a writing practice test. NAPLAN is a great tool for schools to reflect on their strengths and challenges in teaching and learning. It is data that can help measure the impact of programs and identify goals for the future. It is important that when talking to students about NAPLAN we reinforce that this assessment is for the school. All students need to do is show what they have learnt and do their best. 

Parent Contributions

I would just like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all our wonderful families who have made a monetary contribution this year to the school it is greatly appreciated. Parent contributions continue to provide an important and critical source of funding which enables us to supply resources necessary to maximise the successful delivery of our learning programs. It also allows us to redirect some of our funding to engage experts like Andrea Hillbrick to work with the students and teachers to further enhance the quality education delivered at our school.

School Photos

School photos will be taken on Wednesday 6th March.  Please find below information on how to order and pay for your photos. Family/sibling photos must be paid for by 4.30pm on the 5th March 2024.  If you have any questions please call the office on 9802 5277.

Pupil Free Day

Just a reminder that tomorrow Friday 1st March is a curriculum day (pupil free day), students are not required to attend school.  If you need care for your child you can register and book them into TeamKids.  Andrea Hillbrick, educational consultant will be working further on the writing process with the teachers.

Lost Property

We have a large number of school jackets and drinks bottles without names that haven't been claimed.  Please ensure that all clothing, lunchboxes and drink bottles are clearly named. Lost property is located just outside the school office.

Goodluck

Finally, I would like to congratulate Auryn, Francesca, Harris, Hillary, Lewis, Louis, Rebecca and Scarlett for all qualifying for the Monash/Waverley Divisional Swimming Meet tomorrow and wish them all the very best from us all.

Have a great fortnight.

Helen