Principal's Report

As we move towards the mid-point of Term 4, our school continues to be abuzz with activity. This week we have focused on the importance of student wellbeing in our ‘respectful relationships’ week, whilst our classrooms were open to families on Thursday morning to showcase the outstanding learning in each classroom. Today I have a few important and exciting updates regarding the upcoming building project, highlighting the great work of our PFA, as well as reviewing the first get-together of our ‘CSPS Dad’s Group’ and subsequent sign-up opportunity for a fun-run. 

The architects appointed to lead the design for our building project, McIldowie Partners, recently met with our staff, providing them with the opportunity for input into the project. Similarly, the architects provided an activity for all our students to participate in, ensuring a strong student voice in the master-planning process. Earlier in Term 2, our community (as well as staff and students), provided significant feedback regarding both the ‘current state’ and ‘future state’ of our school site; this feedback will provide significant guidance towards the final master-plan. We will continue to keep you up-to-date of the progress of this via our newsletter. 

Our Parent’s Association, superbly led by President Jess Tuszynski, have run an outstanding schedule of events this year, all with the aim of raising funds to support student learning and to build community amongst our families. Most recently, this included fundraising from the Father’s Day Stall that enabled the purchasing of ‘document cameras’ for each classroom; allowing our teachers and students to display and discuss learning and projecting it to the whole class. Previous events this year have raised funds that have enabled further purchasing in STEM and mathematics, with a raft of equipment (including my personal favourites, the coding ‘dash robots’ and ‘m-tiny robots’!) purchased to enhance student learning. 

The final fundraiser of this year, our ‘Colour Run’, will be raising funds to go towards new mobile whiteboards for classrooms that do not have one, another vital resource for excellence in student learning. Previous fundraising in the school has been targeted for additional shaded areas in the school; we look forward to providing some further updates on this, including a timeline for future installations (considerate of the final decision on the placement of our new gymnasium) before the end of the year.  Your ongoing contributions to our events have a great impact on the learning and wellbeing outcomes for all our students. 

Last week, over thirty of our CSPS Dads attended our first get-together at the Camden Town Hotel. It was great to share stories and a laugh together, knowing how important being connected to our community is. We hope that this is the first of many CSPS Dads events and we can build a strong and connected community together. We did have a wonderful volunteer on the night offer to set up a ‘WhatsApp’ group for us; we’ll keep you posted on this and hope to have many more of you involved in events moving forward. 

I was delighted to hear that many attendees on the night (and many more that I have spoken to in the yard) will be participating in the 2XU Wellness Run on Sunday 3rd December. Starting and finishing at Catani Gardens in St Kilda, entrants can run (or walk, of course) the 5km, 10km or 21.1km (half-marathon) course. There is also a 1km junior course that our students can enter. Every dollar raised helps to fund Beyond Blue’s 24/7 support services. If you would like to join our team at this event, please click on the link here or search the team name ‘CSPS’. 

Please remember that this coming Monday (6th November) is a Curriculum (student-free) Day. On this day, our staff will be focused on moderating student assessment, analysing student achievement data and collaborating with their peers in beginning the student reporting process. Tuesday 7th December of course is Melbourne Cup Day, and we will look forward to our students returning refreshed on Wednesday 8th December.

Thanks for your ongoing support and keep doing your best.

Rohan Cooper

Principal