Principal's Report
Jells Park Primary School
Principal: Kevin Oakey
Assistant Principal: Kellie Stewart
Assistant Principal: Scott Zachariassen
s.zachariassen@jpps.vic.edu.au
Welcome to the 2025 School Year
Welcome back to the new year, which has started really well. The new Foundation students are finding their feet and getting used to the long learning days. Welcome also to all the new families - I am sure you will enjoy being part of the Jells Park community.
Once again, we look forward to another busy year with lots happening. Look out for the Performance Showcase, the revised Swimming Program, camps, State School Spectacular (choir & dance) and another Wakakirri year.
New Staff
There has been very little staff changes for 2025, however we would like to welcome:
- Mr Phil Antoniou (Level4)
- Mrs Wendy Milner (Office)
I have no doubt that they will be wonderful additions to the Jells Park staff.
Building and Grounds Works
As always there were a number of works projects completed over the holidays, most notable being the resurfacing of the gym floor. There was also a huge job done with de-loading many of the trees, and unfortunately we lost one of the large gums outside the main office. The cricket pitch in the middle of the oval has been replaced and all the artificial grass has been regenerated (cleaned).
And there are some works to come..... The Creative Play area between the ELC and PA room is soon to go in, inluding new retaining walls, shade sails and creative games and activities. The VegePatch will have a protective fence built around it and the garden beds in and around the Level 4's will all be replaced. We also have a plan to have the interior of the gym re-painted and some creative education displays put on the wall. Mr Jenkins has some great ideas. Behind the scenes we will also be replacing all the really old photocopiers in the school - this will make the teachers pretty happy!!
Clearly one of our major issues is keeping up with the weeds and fast growing trees and shrubs. We are looking into getting a regular Garden Contractor to support the work of the Handyman in keeping the school tidy. We would normally run a Working Bee to do this, however attendance has dwindled over the last few years such that we feel we need to get someone in.
2025 Parent Contributions
All the Building and Grounds works above is a really good highlight of how we spend the Parent Donations to ensure the school is looking in great shape and is safe and well resourced for our students.
If you haven't done anything with the Parent Contribution for 2025 can I please ask that you consider if you can make some or all of the school contributions. These resources are vital to the school and are used to provide the extended curriculum here at Jells Park PS and we greatly appreciate your support. Pleae log into your SENTRAL account.
Communications Strategy
At the end of last year I introduced our new Communications Strategy. I encourage all Parents to read this and understand the expectation - for both school and parents. We will endeavour to be as pro-active as possible to ensure everyone is informed.
Student 'Stalls' - no longer!!
In previous years students have delighted in running small stalls up near the canteen, selling all different types of items to their peers. Unfortunately I have had to stop these stalls happening for the following reasons:
- the number of requests were getting out of control,
- the 'demands' on money from students was becoming unreasonable,
- staff on Yard Duty were unable to keep a close eye on proceedings, and
- 'profits' were being kept by students, rather than donated to a charity (which was the purpose of the stalls).
I applaud the efforts of students to want to run stalls for charity, however they became too much of an issue for them to be continued.
Kevin Oakey
Principal
Welcome to the 2025 school year
It's been a lovely start to the school year, the students and staff have enjoyed reconnecting after the summer break with plenty of stories and adventures to share. The students have been particularly settled this year, enjoying meeting and making new friends in their 2025 classes. A special welcome to all our new families. I hope you are enjoying and embracing the JPPS way and feeling welcomed by our community. Please come and introduce yourself to me, I am often at one of the gates before and after school.
A very warm welcome also, to our new Foundation students, they arrived on Wednesday morning looking fresh and super cute, ready for their big adventure at JPPS. Their uniforms were adorably oversized and were matched by the size of their smiles!
I hope the 2025 school year brings success, growth and happiness to all our students.
Please shut the gates
Can I please ask parents, carers and members of our community t be vigilent around shutting the gates when coming into and out of the school during the day. We have new signs coming to help remind and prompt visitors and hope that together we can keep our students safe by ensuring the gates are closed.
Free parent workshops
Anglicare Victoria are running 2 free parent workshops in the coming weeks you may be interested in. 'Tuning into Kids' and 'Building Better Behaviour' please refer to the information below for more detail.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kellie Stewart
Assistant Principal