Principal Team's Report
Renee Cotterell, Scott McKinnon and Melanie Brown
This fortnight at the Springs!
A busy fortnight as usual at Pakenham Springs! It's great to see all students jump straight back into their learning after their holiday break, setting goals in Literacy, Mathematics and wellbeing for the term ahead.
Our Prep students have now been at school for 100 days! We congratulate them on having such a settled start to their school journey and we look forward to helping them continue to shine brighter and brighter every day. Last week, the Prep students took part in their own 'Spud Olympics', a fabulous way to showcase their learning and have some fun ahead of the Olympic Games.
Our Victorian State School Spectacular students are continuing to work hard on learning their songs and choreography ahead of their performances in September. They recently travelled into the city via train to attend a rehearsal. I was so proud that a member of the public actually took the time to comment on the exemplary behaviour of our students when using public transport. This really does show that Pakenham Springs students are living by our school mission of helping them become 'respectful and informed members of the local and global community'.
Learning Conferences
Thank you to those families who attended our Learning Conferences this week. It's a great opportunity to sit down with your child's classroom teacher and get an update on their academic and social/emotional development. Please note that our staff are always happy to provide updates about your child's learning - suitable appointment times can be arranged by contacting the teacher directly through Compass.
Parent Survey
Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey and is seeking your feedback. The survey, offered by the Department of Education, is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.
Your opinions are important to us and will contribute to identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies. The department will use the results from the survey for research purposes and to improve outcomes for students.
The survey will be conducted online and only take 20 minutes to complete. It can be completed on any internet-enabled device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and is compatible with most browsers.
To complete the survey, simply:
1. Click on the link below or copy and paste the text into your browser.
This link will take you directly to the survey - https://www.orima.com.au/parent
2. Select the School and Campus name:
School Name: Pakenham Springs Primary School
Campus Name: Pakenham Springs Primary School
3. Enter the School PIN below.
PIN: 617659
4. When complete, please click on the TICK button at the end of the survey to submit your answers. Please note that the survey will time out after 60 minutes of inactivity.
Planning for 2025
It's hard to believe that we're already planning for 2025! Our budget and workforce planning take place now and it is important that we have the most up-to-date information possible. If you know that you will not be returning to Pakenham Springs in 2025 (not our current year 6 students!), please let us know with as much notice as possible. This allows for our class structures to be finalised as early as we can.
If you have a request that should be considered before placing your child in a class for 2025, please address this in writing to myself at renee.cotterell@education.vic.gov.au with the subject line "2025 Request". Please note that requests for specific teachers are generally not considered. Likewise, friendship group requests from parents cannot always be considered for many reasons.
NED Assembly
As you know, we recently hosted an all-school event called NED’s Mindset Mission. We trust your child was encouraged by the show, which taught about having a positive Mindset for learning and life!
Mindset Mission yo-yos are still available for purchase at school to support the free show and message. If your child has already purchased a yoyo, here is an important link to help them get off to a good start with proper string length adjustment, click here.
Additionally, here are a couple of our favourite follow up home resources from the Mindset Mission website. You may want to use these with your child as they are designed to go hand in hand with the program.
If you'd like additional resources, they are available here.
And don’t forget to ask your child what they learned in the show about having a growth mindset from YET the Yeti, Captain Kindly and during NED’s visit on the spaceship!
Some of the reactions of our Year 6 students to the NED show include:
"The NED show was really awesome and funny. I learnt the power of 'yet the Yeti' and to never give up" - Cassandra S38
"The NED show was awesome to watch. The yo-yo tricks were the best part about it and the magic trick" - Larrah S38
More information about the NED show can be found at...
Illness
There seems to be a perfect storm of bugs and germs around at the moment! We've been hit hard by staff illness during Term 2 and the beginning of Term 3, and we thank the entire school community for being understanding and flexible when things have had to change, sometimes at the last minute. We understand that splitting grades or having casual relief teachers can be a little unsettling for students. Whilst splitting a grade is a last resort, sometimes this cannot be avoided. This is often a last-minute decision as well, so communicating this in advance is near impossible.
We ask families to keep students at home if they are unwell. Whilst we encourage good hygiene practices within the classroom, germs spread easily between children. If students come to school unwell, they are miserable, and not focused on learning and it is a health and safety risk to other students and our staff. Please advise us on Compass if your child is unwell and staying home on a particular day.
Uniforms
Parents and Carers are reminded that a condition of enrolling at Pakenham Springs Primary School is adherence to our School Uniform. This includes the wearing of school-approved jumpers and polo shirts, the minimal wearing of jewellery, and also the requirement that hair colour be natural. Please note that our old red polo shirts are no longer acceptable. If you are having trouble securing uniform pieces, please contact our office for some assistance. Uniform breaches will be recorded via Compass, and we ask for parent/carer support in rectifying them as soon as practicable. Possible actions following frequent breaches of our Uniform policy are listed in the document attached.
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.
Have a wonderful fortnight Springers!
The PSPS Leadership Team