What a big fortnight at TPS

Where is this term going!! 

In the blink of an eye, we only have 2 weeks to go until our next Term break. It is certainly starting to feel like Spring is in the air, and we are looking forward to an action-packed end to the school year.

We hope all Fathers had a great day last Sunday. It was fabulous to see so many here for our annual Fathers Day BBQ. A big thanks to our head Senior Constable Tim Fraser who did a magnificent job feeding the hungry masses.

Sensory Garden Opening

What an amazing opening we had for our Indigenous Sensory Garden. It was great to have so many special guest, in particular Uncle Rick, who opened our space with a traditional Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony.

This garden, designed and created by the students, has been 2 years in the making and the final product is nothing short of amazing.

The project, funded through a grant from Junior Land care, has involved not only our students and teachers but local businesses and families.

This space will be a fantastic place for student reflection and education for many, many years to come. 

The students then spent time participating in Indigenous art and craft activities and playing Indigenous games. Thanks to our Koorie Education Support officers and First Nation Treaty representatives for co-ordinating these sessions.

Grade 2 Camp

A big thank you to Miss Brereton, Mrs Haw and Brett for accompanying our students to Swan Hill for their overnight camp at Pioneer Settlement. Hopefully you were able to follow the fantastic photos on Facebook, with the students looking like they were having a fantastic time. 

Camps are an integral part of schools, and it is great to see the children, and staff benefiting so positively from attending.

School Saving Bonus

As part of the Victorian Government Education State model, all families will be part of the new School Saving Bonus Initiative from 2025.

The School Saving Bonus initiative is a one-off payment of $400 per child to be used towards supporting your child's education. 

Families can choose how they spend the School Saving Bonus. It can be used towards 2025 school costs, which may include:

• camps, trips, excursions and incursions
• swimming and sporting programs
• school uniforms

The School Saving Bonus will be emailed directly to parents and carers in November 2024. Therefore, it is essential that the school has your correct email address on your child's enrolment. If you need to change this, please speak to the school.

More information about the School Saving Bonus can be found at:

https://www.vic.gov.au/school-saving-bonus

Story Writing Competition

Last Friday we acknowledged our amazing Story writing competition winners at assembly. The quality of the stories were amazing, and our students should be very proud of the work that they produced.

The Principal Award winner for Best Story will be published into a book for us to keep at school and place in the library.

Best Narrative:

Most Creative

Best Illustrations:

Girls Empowerment Program

Our Girls Empowerment Program has completed their 3 week Self-defence course and learnt some amazing tips and tricks along the way. It is a great program, which also sees this group of girls have lunch together and simply spend time with one another in the community. This week they have been doing Art classes with Rossy, and going for a bike ride around town. 

This fabulous program is completely funded by the Community Bank - Tongala and Mathoura.

House Athletics

Our House Athletics are being held next Wednesday. Students can wear their house colours on this day. If you can help out during the day, that would also be greatly appreciated. Please speak to your child's teacher if you can assist.

The first part of this day will be the opening of the newly named Peter Tinning oval. Families are more than welcome to attend this as well.

Looking forward to what is always a great day!

Head Injuries

As part of our First Aid policy, Head Injuries (from the neck up) are a mandatory phone call home and collection from school. This is to avoid any chance of delayed concussion or progressing to further illness or injury.

Staffing challenges

Right across Australia we are experiencing a teacher shortage, which does not seem to have a clear solution at the moment. 

Luckily, we have a full allotment of classroom and specialist teachers at the moment, but finding replacement teachers is extremely hard.

Of late, we have had to split grades across the school for parts of the day, as we have been unable to cover some classes. This is not ideal but it is a reality unfortunately at the moment.

We endeavour to always find replacement teachers, but many of these are either working in schools already, booked up in advance or semi-retired.

This is a struggle that all schools are facing, and hopefully a solution to this problem is forthcoming.

Camps

Our camps program is fast approaching with the following camps all locked in.

Grade 5/6 Urban Camp - October 16-18

Grade 3/4 Murray Life Adventures - November 20-22

All notes have been sent out via Compass, giving plenty of time for deposits to be paid and existing camp amounts to be paid off.

Footy Colours Day

The final day of term is footy colours day. A chance to wear your favourite football teams colours and take part in some fun activities. Unfortunately, Harley Reid has now got another commitment which means he is an apology, but we will have some fun activities planned.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Rob