Principal Team's Report

This Fortnight...

We've had another jam-packed, action-filled fortnight at The Springs!

Our Year 6 students travelled by train into the City for their 3-day camp last week. They enjoyed visiting ACMI, taking a cruise down the Yarra River, seeing the city from the top of Melbourne Skydeck, visiting the Old Melbourne Gaol, taking a tour of the MCG, posing for photos at ArtVo and skating around the rink at O'Brien Ice-House.  We are so proud of the resilience shown by our campers - this is a huge 3-day experience and involves a lot of walking! 

A massive shout out to our staff for attending camp - it is never easy to be away from your own family and personal commitments and we appreciate the efforts you go to in making sure our students can have such fabulous experiences. 

We also had a small number of students represent our school at District Swimming last week. We are incredibly proud of their efforts as well as the encouragement they gave each other.  They represented the Springs with Respect, Responsibility and Resilience.

Last week we also challenged our students to Clean Up Australia. There was a huge amount of rubbish collected from around our school and I urge all families to think carefully when packing lunch boxes - can wrappers be removed? Can re-usable containers be used instead?  Please take a moment to have a chat with your child about the importance of being responsible with their rubbish.  Not only does rubbish make our school look untidy - the environmental impact is also a concern.  

Bush Dance Community Afternoon

It's nearly here!

On Wednesday 20th March, we will be holding a community Bush Dance instead of our usual Open Afternoon.  After participating in lessons throughout the day, our students will be able to teach you some boot-scooting moves after school as we all celebrate the end of Term 1.  We look forward to seeing all of our families on the basketball court ready to celebrate another awesome term with us. 

School Council 

It was wonderful to see so many parents/carers interested in being part of our School Council this year.  We thank all of our nominees and also the entire school community for your participation in our elections.

I am pleased to announce that our School Council for 2024 is:

Principal and Executive Officer - Renee Cotterell

DET Representatives - Emily Landolfo, Kirsty Manning, Sally Baker

Parent Representatives - Michael Whiting, Kimberley Dowel, Vanessa Mercan, Taryn LaGreca, Sarah Scott-Worthington, Kate Mowbray, Jodie Taylor, Lauren Leeder & Jay Allen.

A huge thank you to our retiring members Jarni Sewell and Carrie Mattson. Jarni and Carrie have both been long-serving members of our Council and we appreciate the many hours of time they've given in support of our school. 

THE BOOK FAIR IS HERE!

Book Fair is now in our Library!

Opening times are as follows:

Friday 15/3....8.30 to 9.00 am 3.15 to 4pm

Monday 18/3.... 8.30 to 9.00 am 3.15 to 4pm

Tuesday 19/3.... 8.30 to 9.00 am 3.15 to 4pm

Wednesday 20/3.... 8.30 to 9.00 am 3.15 to 5.15 pm

A percentage of all purchases enable us to add to our library collections which means more books for students to borrow.

Thank you for your support.

NAPLAN - Year 3 & 5

This week, our Year 3 and 5 students began sitting their NAPLAN assessments. These assessments cover Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy, and give a snapshot of where each student, and our school as a whole, is performing in relation to similar schools, the statewide average and against benchmark standards.  We believe that each and every one of our students will perform to the very best of their ability during these assessments.  While it is nice to see a measure of academic achievement, we also acknowledge that NAPLAN doesn't show the kindness of our students, their levels of respect or how they may shine in areas such as Art or STEM.  Please celebrate the efforts of your children throughout NAPLAN - we are proud of them all for their efforts and willingness to give it their best shot!

Facilities Update

Big things are happening at The Springs!  In the coming weeks, you will see that we are having a large fence erected around the perimeter of our entire school.  With the amount of vandalism over weekends and also in the interests of student safety, our School Council approved this work to be done.  This will mean some changes to the ways we enter and exit the school, however further details about that will be communicated shortly. 

We had several works done over the school holidays which included extensively cleaning up our grounds and fixing a lot of little bits and pieces that were beginning to show signs of their age!  Keep your eyes out over the next few weeks for some exciting new additions to our Prep play area!

Hats - Term 1

Hats are required from Day 1 of Term 1 - students will need to remain in a hard-covered area if they do not have a Sunsmart hat at school.  Not only does this affect their play times, but it also has an impact on their ability to participate fully in PE and Year Level Sports activities.  A cap or hood is not sun-smart and is not acceptable at Pakenham Springs. 

Supervision before school

Students are not to arrive at school until 8:30 am on school mornings.  Staff do not begin their workday until this time, and there is insufficient supervision available in the mornings.  Any student arriving before 8:30 am will be asked to sit at the office and wait. We ask for your support in this matter.  Likewise, under no circumstances are students allowed to leave the school grounds in the morning and go across to the shops.  Not only is this incredibly unsafe, with them crossing the busy Heritage BLVD road unsupervised, but a small number of students are also coming back having purchased items inappropriate for the school day.  Please contact OSHClub if you need to organise care and supervision for your child/ren outside of 8:30 am - 3:30 pm.

The PSPS Leadership Team