Principal Report

Students Online - please read

Dear families,

I wanted to write something to you all to think about and to consider within your own families.

Technology. Its great, until it isn’t.

It will become very important to you as parents and guardians to put some control measures in place for your child/ren when it comes to technology use, TV, iPad, laptop and mobile phones. They are addictive and a huge part of everyday life.

There are times when students do not think about what they are doing online with their peers and this can become very significant to others and can result in consequences for all. 

Therefore, to help you in this learning and to be able to fully understand the whole cyber safety elements we have organised another Federal Police parent information session on Monday 23rd June at 5.30pm at the school. You just need to enter via Kent road and the main office.

We have also applied for further student sessions to be run by the federal Police with our students and hopefully these will be undertaken early next term.

As part of our regular wellbeing sessions which includes many elements of cyber safety awareness, we also have cyber safety lessons which begin in Prep to Year 6, one every term.

I don’t have all the answers here for you as my children have grown up and all I had to worry about was what they were really watching on TV (I even didn’t like them watching Home and away!)- technology access is more concerning, especially mobile phones! All I can advise is to set some protocols before any situation arises; like a spot check in in to check all messages, pairing to your phone/devices, and also about talking to them about how is it all going and is there anything they are concerned at all with- being there to listen is always the best option and trying not to blame and be too judgemental. But, as I say, every family is different and as a family you are the best ones to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your children in the best way you know how.

Please come along to our information session to find out further strategies and information to help you and your children in the future with technology and cyber safety.

New Zealand Principals Visit 

Last Tuesday afternoon we had nine visiting Principals from New Zealand to undertake some classroom observations of our synthetic phonic program and our maths instructional model.

As I am part of the Victorian Principals Association, we were asked and of course I had no hesitation to showcase the great teaching and learning we are doing at PVNPS.

Many thanks to Mrs Lytton, Ms Emily, Ms Sarah and Ms Lyon for opening their classrooms for our visitors. They were very impressed!

Thank you also to Ms McAlister who was involved in our discussions about our school, our priorities and whole school curriculum.

Curriculum Day

On Tuesday 10th June we held our Curriculum Day focused on finalising our self-evaluations for our upcoming school review in Term3.

On Thursday 11th September, Day #2 of our review, we will be asking for a number of parents to participate in a parent forum with the reviewer and our Senior Education Improvement Leader for only about 30-60 minutes. I will be sending out an invitation early next term for interested parents. This is just heads up.

New Teacher

Ms Yanuli, our 5/6C classroom teacher has left PVNPS to take up another teaching opportunity from her previous school. It is unfortunate that Ms Yanuli has left but we all must make decisions based on our family needs and what is best for us individually.  Ms Yanuli was taking personal leave for the last three weeks of term to go on a family holiday. Mr Phypers has been booked for the class.

We have been so very lucky to have already shortlisted and interviewed and found a successful applicant for the class of  5/6C.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome our new teacher, Mr Jared Baum. Mr Baum will be attending the Year 5/6 planning day with his new team on Monday 23rd June and he takes up teaching at PVNPS on Monday 30th June. This will allow for one week for Mr Baum to have some coaching and mentoring of the PVNPS way before he takes over the fulltime role on Thursday 3rd July. 

This will make a very seamless transition for all stakeholders: students, staff and families!