Change to student-free day – Please Note the New Date

We’d like to inform families of a change to our upcoming student-free day.

Originally, we had planned to hold a curriculum day on Monday 21st July (the first day of Term 3). However, due to changing priorities and school planning, this date has now been rescheduled.

Our new student-free day will take place on Tuesday 10th June, which is the day following the King’s Birthday public holiday. This day has now been designated as a whole-school Teacher Professional Practice Day.

On this day:

Students are not required to attend school.
TeamKids will be offering a full-day care program for families who require supervision for their children.

We appreciate your understanding around this change and encourage families to make note of the updated date in their calendars.

School Photos - sent home tomorrow

We are excite to share that the MSP School photo packs ordered by families following our school photo day earlier this year have now arrived at school.

The packs will be sent home with students tomorrow (Friday 30th May) so please ensure that you check your child's bag.

For any families who nominated to collect their photo packs from the office, rather than have them sent home, these will be available to collect from Wendy in the office from lunchtime onwards tomorrow (Friday 30th).

Celebrating 40 Years of Service – Congratulations, Louise Moore!

We are thrilled to share that our very own Louise Moore has been formally recognised by the Department of Education for an incredible 40 years of service to Victorian public education. This milestone was recently celebrated at the 2025 Recognition of Service ceremony, an event that honours staff who have made extraordinary long-term contributions to our public school system.

The ceremony, held at the Pullman Melbourne on the Park, shines a spotlight on dedicated educators who have served for 40, 45, 50 years and beyond—acknowledging the impact they've had on generations of Victorian students

Louise began her teaching journey in 1981 at Carlton North Primary School, later moving to Footscray North, Footscray West, and Lower Plenty Primary Schools.

Even early in her career, her excellence was recognised. A 1983 report described her as:

“An outstanding teacher who co-operates with staff and parents. A tireless worker who stays abreast with current developments, a competent organiser and a friendly person with a positive attitude.”

In January 1995, Louise joined us here at St Kilda Park Primary School—which means she is also celebrating an extraordinary 30 years of service to our school community this year.

Louise’s passion, professionalism, and dedication to the students and families of SKiPPS have made a lasting difference. We encourage everyone in our community to congratulate her on this truly remarkable double milestone—40 years in public education and 30 years at SKiPPS.

Thank you, Louise!

Visit from Josh Burns

We’re looking forward to welcoming Josh Burns, our recently re-elected Federal Member of Parliament, to St Kilda Park Primary School next Friday, 6th June. Josh will be speaking at our school assembly and taking the opportunity to present us with a brand new set of Australian flags for our school yard.

These flags will replace the existing ones, which have proudly flown for many years but are now showing signs of wear. We’re grateful for Josh’s support and generosity, and we look forward to raising the new flags on our three poles as part of our ongoing efforts to maintain a respectful and inclusive school environment.

Pride Flag

On the subject of flags, this week we proudly raised a new Pride Flag at school, generously donated by the Hills-O’Boyle family. A big thank you to Claire, Ele and Sorcha for their thoughtful contribution and for helping us replace the older, weathered flag.

In 2023, our School Council made the important decision to fly the Pride Flag year-round as a visible symbol of inclusion, acceptance and respect. It reflects our school’s commitment to celebrating diversity and ensuring that every student and family feels welcome and valued as part of our community. We’re proud to continue flying this flag as a sign of who we are and what we stand for.

Biggest morning tea

On Wednesday this week, our staff came together to host a Biggest Morning Tea—a delicious way to raise funds for the Cancer Council and support those impacted by cancer. This national initiative encourages workplaces and communities across Australia to gather over tea and treats while raising money for life-saving cancer research, prevention programs, and support services.

We’re proud to support this important cause and invite our broader SKiPPS community to get involved too. If you’d like to contribute, please visit our fundraising page here:

Every donation—big or small—makes a difference. Thank you for helping us support the Cancer Council’s vital work.

Albert Park Habitat Renewal Project

On Thursday 19th June we will be participating in a school planting day near the Pencil Park.

This project is about getting community connected and active outdoors, helping to transform a 400m2 patch of dried lawn into a vibrant habitat corridor, with over 2.5k indigenous plants including grasses, shrubs and trees. The planting will become a learning space for primary students, and an asset for park users as well as local pollinators.

We require 1-2 parents to assist each class planting throughout the day.

We would also like to invite families after school to finish the planting between 3.30-5pm. There will be a Winter Solstice event held in the Pavillion after 5pm (dinner and lantern making) to mark the shortest day and longest night of the year. More details to come.

If you are interested in the tree planting activities, please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you!

This project is funded by BUPA Landcare and delivered by the Port Phillip EcoCentre in partnership with St Kilda Park Primary School and Parks Victoria.

Lost Property

With the colder weather well and truly upon us, our lost property is already overflowing—and it's only Week 5! Jumpers, jackets, hats and drink bottles are piling up fast.

If your child is missing any items of clothing or belongings, please take a moment to check the lost property area, located just inside from the quadrangle near the Year 3 classrooms.

Labelled items are much more likely to find their way home—thank you for your help in keeping lost property under control!

Classroom Tissues please

The arrival of the colder weather also brings sniffles and sneezes to the classroom, and the students are going through boxes of tissues each week.

If you can donate a box of tissues to your child's classroom, that would be greatly appreciated.

Outside School Hours Care Program survey

For the last four years the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) program at SKiPPS has been provided by an external provider Team Kids, who have a licence agreement with our School Council to provide this service every day (and also on school holidays and curriculum days).

Following the completion of our building works, the Team Kids program is now back in its permanent home, the Kitchen Dining Room and the Director of Service Jacqui and her team have settled in.

Our current contract with Team Kids expires at the end of 2025 and School Council have decided to gather some feedback about the current program to understand parent and student perceptions of the service so we can make a well-informed decision around our next contract.

We would appreciate you spending ten minutes answering a short survey, so we can understand what our community thinks is important in an OSHC program and whether our current program fully meets these needs.

In doing this, we encourage you to chat to your children for their views on the program - whether they are regular users or not.

The survey can be found on the link below;

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF)

A reminder that the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities. Eligible families will receive a payment of $154 per year for primary school students.

If you have a valid means-tested concession card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. Means-tested concession cards must be valid on the first day of Term 1, 2025 (Tuesday 28 January 2025) or Term 2, 2025 (Tuesday 22 April 2025).

If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.

Applications close on 4th July 2025. Please see the page titled CSEF in this newsletter for further information.

Team Kids Update