Hello Parents and Friends,

This is the final newsletter for 2025. It has been quite a year and we are so proud of our students, staff and school community. As you have read in the newsletter throughout the year, there have been so many great achievements in 2025. To commemorate this magnificent year, families that have ordered the 2025 Yearbook will receive it next week. We must say, it looks amazing and it is one of our best ever!

Thank you for our joyous Christmas Concert on Wednesday night. It was so much fun sharing the evening with you all and the children did a magnificent job. A huge thank you to Ms Huber and our Performing Arts leaders, Sofia and Isabella, for doing such a marvellous job hosting the event.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe holiday break!

The 2026 school year commencement dates are below.

Grades 1-6 – Thursday 29th January
Grade Prep – Friday 30th January

Farewell to the Class of 2025!

Our fantastic Grade 6 students will spend their final week at primary school next week. This special group of students have been a wonderful cohort and we could not be any prouder of them. It was a pleasure to be a part of their Graduation Ceremony last Thursday. The auditorium was filled with such great excitement and joy as we celebrated their primary school journey and their outstanding achievements.

It is an exciting time for any young person to move from the sanctuary of their primary school and take the challenge of entering secondary school. We are so optimistic that our Grade 6 students will make a very successful transition to secondary school based on the personal attributes and the education that Templestowe Park has provided them over the last seven years. Best wishes Grade 6. We thank you for your outstanding contributions to the Templestowe Park PS community.

Parent Payments for 2026 - Please Make Your Payment by Friday 12 December

You will notice on your Newsfeed under Course Confirmation that the 2026 Parent Payments are now available to be paid on Compass.

The process on how to pay the charges is outlined in the letter and guide on the Compass Newsfeed.

Once again, the student charges for Prep and Grades 1-6 are different. Our Grade 1-6 students use student textbooks while our Prep students do not. Please see more information on what these levies cover in the attached letter.

As well as Curriculum Contributions that cover all stationery, books and subscriptions, in 2026 the school will be undertaking a major project to build a shelter over our basketball court and lay synthetic grass over our asphalt courts. This is a large project that will be fully funded by the school. The shelter will provide a covered space for PE lessons and whole school events. Parent contributions assist us to undertake major projects such as this one.

Thank you for your vital contribution to our voluntary levies. Without your contributions we would not be able to offer our extensive and diverse learning programs, purchase the excellent resources we have and improve our facilities.

If you have any further queries please contact Sanober in the school office.

A huge thank you to all the families that have already made the payments. It is greatly appreciated.

Parent Payments – Curriculum Contributions – What does it cover?

Victorian Government Schools provide students with free instruction and ensure students have free access to all items, activities and services that are used by the school to fulfil the requirements of the Curriculum.

Curriculum Consumables: covering stationery items including but not limited to: scrapbooks, exercise books, display books, art folio, document wallet foolscap, pencils/ pens (depending on grade), pencil case, colour pencils/wax crayons, white board markers, wooden ruler, sharpener, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, etc. ($55)
Consumables for Art ($45)
Consumables for STEM ($40)
Consumables for Literacy ($40)
Consumables for Mathematics ($40)
Consumables for Language ($25)
Consumables for Food Tech ($15)
Consumables for Wellbeing ($20)

Student Workbooks ($50 – also subsidised by the school)

Spelling Mastery Student Workbook
New Wave Mental Maths Student Workbook

Online Subscriptions

Maths Online Subscription ($15)
Literacy Online Subscription ($15)
Other subscriptions ($15)

Without the contributions of families, the school would only be able to purchase simple resources that allow the delivery of free instruction. This would essentially be a pencil and a piece of paper for each lesson. This would greatly impact the quantity and quality of classroom and specialist consumables/resources that each student could use. It could also mean the cancellation of the excellent online subscriptions and spelling/numeracy workbooks that we provide all students. Additionally, we could not maintain our grounds to the level that we do and we would possibly need to request the community to undertake working bees.

We thank the community for making contributions that allow the school to offer such an engaging, diverse and empowering learning environment. Without your contributions, our learning programs, grounds and school library would be vastly different and inferior to what we currently offer.

Covered Outdoor Learning Area (COLA) – Proposed completion date set!

We are pleased to inform our community that the contract for our COLA has been signed and we have had our first site meeting with the Builders. At the meeting we discussed the requirements to prepare the site and to establish a proposed timeline. We are excited to inform you that we are working towards a completion date of May 7th, 2026. We know this is still a little while away, but this project has been going since the beginning of 2024, so we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

The COLA is going to be an exceptional addition to our school. It will provide a covered space for PE classes, assemblies, playtime and whole school activities. This is a project that has been fully funded by the school and has been six years in the making. It is quite astounding that we have some of the best grounds and facilities of any primary school in the state and yet we have not received any additional major capital works funding in our forty-eight-year history. Some schools have had multiple complete rebuilds during this time. Thank you for the support of our School Council that assist us greatly in providing such fantastic facilities for our students, staff and community.

Final Assembly and Farewell to our Graduating Grade 6 Students

Our final assembly for 2025 will take place next Friday 19th December at 9:15am. It will be an outdoor assembly and hopefully it is a beautiful morning to say our official goodbye to our graduating students. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Thank you to Marcellin College

We would like to thank Marcellin College that once again allowed us to use their stadium for our Grade 6 Graduation. Marcellin allow us to use their facilities free of charge and we are so grateful for their generosity. Kind acts like this are so greatly appreciated. We also pay this forward by allowing our local kindergartens to use our school hall free of charge for their graduation ceremonies. We are very fortunate to live and work in such a supportive community.

2026 School Leaders!

This week, our 2026 student leaders were informed of their positions. I am very pleased to inform the community that Elli C and Lucas T have been selected by the Grade 5 students and staff to be our school leaders for 2026. They are both outstanding young people and they exhibit all the RRIPO values that make our school the fantastic school community that it is.

All other leadership positions were also announced this week and we will have the official badge presentation assembly early next year. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of our Grade 5 students as they were all worthy candidates for these positions. Unfortunately, there are only limited positions and many outstanding students missed out. We consider all Grade 6 students as leaders in our school and there will be many opportunities for our Grade 6’s in 2026.

School Structure for 2026

We are pleased to announce the Leadership, Class, Specialist and support/extension structure for 2026. We will have twenty-one classes in 2026.

There will be some change in our staffing profile next year as some teachers return from Family Leave and others will move onto new schools or different careers. We look forward to the following teachers returning to or joining us at TPPS in 2026.

Mr Neil Mitchell (returning from Leave)
Mrs Megan Bell (returning from Family Leave)
Mrs Brooke Carlile (returning from Family Leave)
Ms Megan Chen (Kingsville Primary School)
Ms Tara Sela (Casual Relief Teacher in 2025)
Ms Emily Dobe (Graduate)
Ms Natalie Yip (Graduate)

The following teachers will be taking leave or leaving TPPS in 2026.

Mrs Stephanie Tasmoen (Family Leave)
Mrs Elena Karabatsos (Family Leave)
Mrs Cara Barry (Long Service Leave)
Mr Ben Ahern (career change)
Ms Amy Yang (career change)
Mr Jonny Pepi (Hampton PS)
Ms Alice Kirby (Camberwell South PS)
Ms Felicity Lim (Donvale PS)
Mr Brad Jones (Lalor East PS - returning to previous school in a part-time position)

We would like to wish both Stephanie and Elena the very best as they make new additions to their families. As Ben and Amy step out of teaching, we thank them for their contributions to education in Victoria and to Templestowe Park PS. Ben has been an outstanding member of staff at TPPS for many years and has had a huge impact on our students and community. While Amy has only been at TPPS for one year, she has been an outstanding teacher in Grade 2 year.

Both Alice and Felicity have contributed to TPPS for a number of years and they are both exceptional young teachers. Brad and Jonny have contributed greatly to our senior school in 2025. We thank all of these teachers and wish them the best at their new schools.

The school will continue to significantly invest in curriculum development and the implementation of the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0) with Mr Oliver Konakoff and Mrs Irene Lucas out of the classroom for three days a week. Irene and Oli will work closely with Mrs Robyn Twyford (Head of Learning and Teaching) to design learning programs based on the research based ‘Science of Learning’ practices and assist teachers to improve their practice.

The Department of Education is launching a new position for all primary schools in 2026. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader will be a 0.6 (3 days per week) position and will be filled by Mrs Narelle Sime.

The role of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader is to:

build capability of the whole school about mental health and wellbeing (identification, promotion and prevention)
provide support to staff to better identify and support students with mental health needs
establish clear pathways for referral for students requiring assessment and intervention and monitor and evaluate student progress.

In 2026, we will continue to offer a substantial support/enrichment and EAL programs. This includes Maths extension classes, MacqLit and MiniLit systematic reading intervention program for students from Grades 1-6 and the Reading Tutor intervention program for individual students from Grade 3-6. We are also very pleased to announce the introduction of the QuickSmart numeracy intervention program. QuickSmart is an evidence-based basic skills intervention program designed for upper primary school students who experience persistent difficulties in numeracy. The award-winning programs provide a framework with short and targeted lesson components. The aim of QuickSmart is to enable students to become automatic (quick) in their basic skills in order to move onto more complex problem-solving skills (smart).

Our outstanding specialist programs will continue in 2026.

Please see the 2026 school structure below.

Principal Class

Mark Roberts

Principal

Brian Cleary

Assistant Principal

Robyn Twyford

Assistant Principal

Learning Specialists and Leading Teachers

Irene Lucas

Learning Specialist

Oliver Konakoff

Learning Specialist

Mrs Narelle Sime

Leading Teacher Disability Inclusion, Mental Health & Wellbeing

Prep

Marnee Tobin (4 days)

Sarah Groth (1 day)

Julie Foudoulis (4 days)

Sarah Groth (1 day)

Alex Michael

Grade 1

Emma White

Sue Ferrari (3 days)

Brooke Carlile (2 days)

Tasnim Dalal

Grade 2

Tammy Moschoyiannis

Debbie Pettolino

Grade 3

Jared Kitney

Megan Chen

Jo Daly

Grade 4
Belinda Cambareri (3 days) Oli Konakoff (2 days)	Natalie Yip	Kellie Fletcher

Grade 5
Michelle Abrey (3 days) Irene Lucas (2 days)	Tara Sela	Anne Somerville

Grade 6
Neil Mitchell	Franca Esketzis (3 days) Narelle Sime (2 days)	Emily Dobe	Christina Demetriou

Specialists

Brayden Van Der Pol

(Phys Education)

Nicole Sumner

(Visual Arts)

Alex Augello

(STEM)

Maddie Huber

(Performing Arts)

Vivien He

(Mandarin)

Lori Conn

(Sustainability)

Extension/Support

Megan Bell (2 days)

High Ability Teacher, Maths Extension

Hayley Boucher

English as an Additional Language

Lindsay Burrows

MiniLit & MacqLit Reading Program Gr 1-6

Louise Craggs

MiniLit & MacqLit Reading Program Gr 1-6

Julie Thornton

MiniLit & MacqLit Reading Program Gr 1-6

QuickSmart Numeracy Program

To be announced

Class Placements and Transition between Classes – Meet the Teacher Days

Our students will have the opportunity to meet their new teacher and classmates next week. These sessions are vitally important to build initial relationships and to alleviate any worries that our students might have. Our teachers participated in two formal class handover meetings this week where important information about each student was shared.

The two class transition sessions will take place at the following times:

Monday, 15th December 10:45-11:30am; and
Tuesday, 16th December 10:45-11:30am

A great deal of care goes into the formation of classes. Here is a link to the Class Formation Policy, outlining the process undertaken, to ensure we provide the best learning environment for all our students.

https://www.templestoweparkps.vic.edu.au/source/BUILD/class_formation_policy_2024.pdf

We received a substantial amount of additional information from parents through the Class Placement Form for 2026. Submission of this form did not guarantee the parent request, as multiple factors were used to make placement decisions, however the information was certainly considered.

Starting in a new class can be challenging for some students and it is important that the school and parents help them with this transition. Children take their cues from trusted adults and it is our job to set them up for success for the coming year. We have provided some advice from Dr Judith Locke (clinical psychologist and former teacher) to assist parents whose children may be anxious about their new class.

Tips for Parents of Anxious Students

If your child is anxious about starting a new class with unfamiliar people, do listen to them talk about their fears, but normalise them (‘A lot of people feel worried about starting something new’), and then talk about their past strengths in facing tricky things and your confidence that they will cope with this challenge.
When they come home from their first transition day, keep your questions broad, ‘How was it?’ not, ‘Did you make a friend today?’ or ‘Is Sam in your class?’ This won’t put unnecessary pressure on them or suggest things in which they should be disappointed.
Keep your and your child’s expectations realistic. It is highly unlikely that they will form close friendships in the early days of a new school year, particularly in early primary. How often have you started a new job and come home from your first day to announce, ‘I made my new best friend today’?
There are things you can say if your child is not in a class they want to be in:

Listen to them. Then reflect back what you hear. ‘You’re upset because some of your friends are not in your class. That is a completely understandable feeling’. Or ‘Sounds like you are upset because you didn’t get the teacher that you wanted.’
Then state the potential benefits of facing this challenge, i.e.: making extra, new friends; learning skills to make new acquaintances; being able to focus more on schoolwork in class than talking to their current best friend; and learning how to work with a different type of teacher than the one they had last year.
Maybe tell them a story about how you learned a lot from a teacher you had who was a bit tougher but taught you a lot, or a time you went somewhere where you didn’t know anyone but learnt how to get on in unfamiliar environments.
Let your child know they can still see their other friend/s at lunchtime or at playdates and parties.

Semester 2 Student Reports

The Semester 2 Student Reports are available to download from Compass today. Just click on 'View Academic Reports' on your Compass home page to access them.

Thank You - Helpers Afternoon Tea: Wednesday, 17th December: 2:15pm

Our Helpers Afternoon Tea will take place on Wednesday, 17th December at 2:15pm in the Staffroom. This afternoon tea provides us with the opportunity to thank you, our community, for the invaluable assistance you have provided to us throughout the year in the classroom, on excursions and camps, with the PFA events, helping covering books, as classroom representatives and in so many other ways.

An invitation was sent to all helpers earlier this week and we look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday afternoon.

Farewell to Departing Families from TPPS

We would like to wish a very fond farewell to all our parents and families who will be departing Templestowe Park PS at the end of 2025. We wish you all the very best for the years ahead and I thank you for the contributions you made to our learning community.

Goodbye and best wishes to the following families:

Agca, Bommakanty, Caddy, Cardinale, Celik, Celik, Chuang, Dawes, Dimopoulos, Fernando, Fisher, Georgakopoulos, Gladman, Guy, Hallov-Hew, Hoang, Iosifidis, Jogi Naidu, Kim, Kokkolis, Kraljevic, Lewis, Liacopoulos, Moksadi, Morgan, O’Connor, Pahuja, Pana, Parker, Pirnia, Porqueddu, Proudfoot, Scuderi, Slattery, Sluiter, Stephens, Taylor, Thompson, Triantafylidis, Viney-Clark, Warnakulasuriya, Whitehead, Xanthoulakis, Young

Mark Roberts Brian Cleary Robyn Twyford

PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

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