Ripper Families
SCHOOL COUNCIL PRESIDENT'S REPORT
It feels like not that long ago, I was drafting the report for 2022, yet here we are, at the end of another year. 2023 has been another successful year at Ripponlea Primary School, where we have continued to re-build and strengthen our community connections as COVID has not been the main star of the show!
Our many members of school council have, as always, put in a lot of work behind the scenes and I’d like to take this opportunity in the last newsletter of the year to highlight and acknowledge the success of 2023.
Governance
Our governance team have managed to review and ratify over 10 policies that were due including, uniform, homework, child safety, child wellbeing and social media, just to name a few. This is always an arduous task as they edit policies, bring them to the wider council for consultation and then edit again.
Facilities & Environment
Our Facilities & Environment team have had another big year trying to maintain our 100-year-old school. We have had quite few projects over the year including repairs to fences, having the Italia room painted, organising and overseeing the pavers project, working with an arborist to develop a tree management plan, holding working Bees and working with the VSBA to ensure the successful build of our Inclusive Learning deck.
Finance
Once again, the finance team have delivered another healthy budget outcome for 2023. The finance team have worked hard to deliver a budget that would reflect the difficult financial times we are currently living in and are pleased that the school year closes off in a positive financial position.
Sustainability
Our green team have also been extremely busy this year. With the continued relationship with the amazing Dugald, we have seen the Koor Garden extend and flourish. The team also applied for a grant through the Victorian Schools Garden program and won 2 veggie pods for the school. They team have started focusing on waste reduction and the Italian Garden upgrade and we will continue to see changes in these areas into 2024.
I think the greatest thing to come out of the sustainability team in 2023, is their continued commitment to have the children involved in hands on, practical ways. It’s been incredible to see our Rippers using tools, bringing in sticks, attending protests and doing excursions to the Eco Centre all in the name of sustainability.
Ripper Families
It has been another busy year for the Ripper Families team. Not only have we done an amazing job with fundraising over $40,000 across the year, we have also had a lot of fun! Some highlights were the welcome picnic, trivia night, special persons day and of course the Ripper Runfest! It has been so wonderful to see the community come together at so many of these events and celebrate our wonderful little school. I really want to take this opportunity to thank every single volunteer that got involved in our events this year. It does not matter how big or small of a role you took on, those events honestly couldn’t happen without every single one of you volunteering your time. So, a MASSIVE thanks to you all.
This year has been my fourth as school council president and as always I have been amazed at the commitment and connection of the Ripponlea community. In particular, the work that my fellow school council members put in behind the scenes is second to none and really makes the role of school council president an easy one.
I need to say a special thanks to the dedicated and awesome parent and staff representatives on the council. Thank you to Suzete Ribeiro (Vice President & Ripper Families), Lee Wallace (Treasurer), Kara Merrin (Governance), Colin Smith (Facilities & Environment), Isabel Lasala (Facilities & Environment), Julie Pearce (Sustainability), Romany Tauber (Support with everything!) Braden Leech (Governance), Julie Nield (Governance), Marta Campbell (Governance) & Natalie Rose (Executive Officer). Thanks to all of you for the roles you have played this year.
Here it would be remiss of me if I did not mention the amazing Kate Crawford, our business manger. Kate comes to every council meeting and takes minutes, runs all the school finances and puts up with me calling her at least 10 times a week when we have events on as I ask her endless questions. Kate, you are an absolute superstar and the school is so lucky to have you!
Sadly our wonderful Jac Holzer left her role in the office this year as she moved into a educator support role, but we were so fortunate to have the wonderful Casey Trotter join us in her place. A big thanks to Casey for all of your hard work and helping us with school events, in particular Ripper Runfest!
To our all of our outgoing students, families and staff members, we wish you all the best for 2024 as you start your new adventures. You will all always be a part of our Ripponlea Primary School family.
Last but never least, to the wonderful teachers and leaders of Ripponlea Primary, there are no words to convey the gratitude we have for the continued commitment, kindness and dedication you show to our children each and every day. You are the key to what makes RPS so special as you are an amazing group of Educators for our children. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I wish everyone a safe and happy summer and look forward to seeing you all in 2024.
Tarryn Holland
School Council President
BASKETBALL AT RIPPONLEA
Basketball has really taken off at RPS and this season we had 6 teams competing in the Playball competition based at MSAC.
Our grade 1 boys team, The Ripper Rattlesnakes, made it to the grand final in their very first season! Even though they didn’t manage to score the win, they had a fantastic game and should be so proud of being the runners up in their first season!
Our Grade 2 Girls team, The Ripper Stars, have grown so much this season and even though they didn’t make it to the grand final they felt like winners as they won their last 2 games of the season. This was a huge achievement our little superstars!
Our other Ripper Stars team, the Grade 2 boys, had a smashing season and took home the premier pennant with an exciting 6-4 win in the grand final! Awesome effort to all and you should all be so proud of yourselves, we certainly are!
Our other Grand final winners are our amazing grade 4 girls team, The Rocking Rippers. The girls had a convincing 11-4 win to bring the Premier pennant home! Amazing effort by the whole team and a spectacular way to end the season.
Our Grade 5 girls, The Ripper Comets, had a thrilling grand final after being undefeated all season! Unfortunately, the game had to go into overtime with a draw and the other team managed to take the win by 1 point. The girls played hard and they are winners in our eyes anyway!
Lastly our grade 5 boys, the Ripper Rockets, had an awesome season. The played hard and after the finals game held their position as 3rd on the ladder. An amazing effort with some really hard competition.
A massive to all of our coaches - Chris, Kaine, Robert, Luke, Rich, Laurel & Pete. These amazing volunteer parents give up a morning and evening each week (many many Friday nights have been spent at basketball courts from MSAC through to Oakleigh Grammar) to train and coach our teams and support our little Rippers’ love of Basketball!
Congrats again to all of our Ripper teams, and we look forward to another great season starting in Feb 2024!
JUNIOR PLAYGROUND UPDATE
After all of the hard work and effort of the school community in raising funds this year, we wanted to provide an update on the Junior playground.
We have started seeking community input and would still love people to add their ideas.
You can do so by clicking on this link https://padlet.com/natalierose1/rps-community-vision-board-junior-playground-redevelopment-z0hlp300v85huami
So far, we see that people are interested in a more natural and open ended space with lots of sensory elements for our younger students to enjoy. With this in mind, our aim is to use some of our funds raised to engage a designer in the first half of next year to develop a plan for the space.
Once we have a design and plan confirmed by the students, teachers and parent community then we will continue to raise more funds so we can complete our chosen design. This may mean a staged approach so that we are working on the project over time in order to achieve our goal.
If anyone has any interest in this space, we welcome your thoughts and as always you can contact Natalie Rose or Tarryn Holland to discuss further.
