Welcome Back for 2025!

Welcome back to all families of FPPS for what I am sure is going to be a productive and positive year of learning for all. Students and staff returned to school well rested and excited about the year ahead with lots to look forward to. All classes are now beginning the process of re-establishing classroom routines for learning and our Foundation classes have enjoyed their first couple of days of school.

Next Friday 7th February, we have the coffee van booked and invite all our parents of students in Foundation to stay after the bell at drop off on Friday morning. I look forward to seeing you all for an opportunity to connect and meet new families.

For parents and carers of students in Years 3-6 we invite you to stay after the morning drop off bell and enjoy a coffee on Friday 21st February.

Our Year 1/2 coffee morning will be held on Thursday 27th February.

Emily, Rick and I look forward to meeting with you and further strengthening the home/school partnership.

** Below you will find essential information as we begin the school year, please take your time to read over this to ensure a smooth and informed start to the year for your child/ren.

Working in Partnership for our Students in 2025

COMMUNICATION WITH FAMILIES

Some of you may recall we undertook a survey late last year to gather feedback from families about communication at school. We had over 150 parents complete the short survey, and as a result, we have streamlined our communication to parents in the following ways for 2025.

COMPASS

All administration communication to parents will be communicated via Compass.
Should you need to contact your child’s classroom teacher, please see them in person to make an appointment or send a message via Compass.

SEESAW

Seesaw will be used to communicate student learning achievements via the Seesaw Journal and Curriculum overviews on a fortnightly basis will be shared via Seesaw as a Message on your child’s page. Look out for the first addition posted to Seesaw today.

NEWSLETTER

The school newsletter will be published fortnightly with the link sent via Compass beginning today and will alternate with our whole school assemblies on a Friday at 2.45pm.

STUDENT DIARIES

All students in Years F-6 have their own diary/reading log for use at home and at school. Each day all students will be completing their daily GEM (Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness) prompt, either as a whole class (P-2) or individually (3-6) and using their diary for communication with parents. Parents and carers are encouraged monitor and sign diaries each week.

ASSEMBLIES

Our end of Term Assemblies will take place at 9.15am in the final week of each term and parents and carers are most welcome to attend all assemblies.

Of course, along with these channels of communication, I can be contacted in person or by phoning the school office on 5221 3772 or via fyans.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au

I am confident that by streamlining our communication, we will ensure the best outcomes for all students and strengthen family engagement. As always, your feedback is most welcome.

Parent/Carer and Teacher Meet and Greet

Our teachers are enjoying getting to know the students in their grades and it will soon be time for us to learn more from parents and carers.

Prior to our meet and greets, we ask you to consider the following:

Your child’s strengths
Areas for support
Any other items you wish to share that you feel will help to support your child

On Wednesday 12th February we will be holding our Meet and Greet for families from 2.30pm – 6.50pm. Students will be dismissed from school at the normal time of 3.30pm.

All Meet and Greets will be taking place in our 1/2 Building.

From today, the Compass booking system will be open, and I encourage families to book in for a time that suits you.

For parents and carers of students in Foundation, we are giving our students a little more time to settle in and your Meet and Greets with classroom teachers is scheduled for Wednesday 12th March.

Look out for a Compass post shortly with more instructions on how to secure your appointment time. The teachers and I look forward to seeing you there.

Process for Parent Collection of Students – During School hours

To minimise disruptions to our school's teaching and learning programs, we request that all parents and carers collect students from the school’s office.

If your child has an appointment or requires collection for any reason during school hours. Please see below for our school’s process:

Parent/Carer to arrive at school front office and sign student out via the Compass Kiosk or directly via admin staff.
Admin staff will notify your child’s classroom teacher, and your child will make their way to the front office for collection.

We appreciate the support of all families with this revised process and in further strengthening our school’s child safe compliance.

Supervised Eating for Students and School Lunches

You may recall that from the beginning of the 2024 school year and after feedback from several parents, students and staff, we implemented supervised eating times for students at Recess and Lunch. In 2025, students have 5 minutes of supervised eating at Recess and 25 minutes of time in the yard and our usual 15 mins of supervised eating prior to students’ lunchtime play, without impacting on students’ valuable learning time.

At 10.00am each day, students have the opportunity for a small fruit snack break (eg. a small amount chopped fruit or veg).

At 11.00am Recess commences with 5 minutes of supervised eating, followed by 25 minutes outside. For any students who are still eating at 11.05am – they are encouraged by teachers to take their food (without wrappers) outside to one of our two designated eating areas (outside the 1/2 building for 1/2 students and the green surface for Foundation and 3-6 students). During this time, if students finish eating, students have the time to talk with friends or engage in a game with their teacher.

A reminder to all families to ensure that if students are bringing items that require cutlery, that this is also provided. If your child prefers to eat hot food at Recess or Lunch, please ensure this is brought in a thermos and pre-prepared as we do not have provision for the use of microwaves or boiling water for students.

Should you have any questions regarding these arrangements, please don’t hesitate to contact me or your child’s classroom teacher.

Take Home Reading at Fyans Park

Next week we will begin our ‘Take Home Reading Program, an integral part of our school homework policy. As partners in your child’s learning, your engagement in this program is invaluable and we are grateful for your involvement. Please find relevant information below to support your child’s participation.

Years Foundation-2 Department

Your child will be allocated a day of the week that will become their ‘swap over day’. It is important that your child brings their green reader satchel to school every day.

Each week, your child will get one or two ‘decodable’ texts along with two books on topics of interest to your child. The topic books are for you to read together with your child, they are not expected to read these independently. The decodable books are for your child to read to you (with support as needed). The words in these books have ‘codes’ (spelling patterns) in them that your child has been learning to read and spell in class along with familiar high frequency words.

We encourage at least 5 days per week of home reading across the week with this being recorded in student reading logs/diaries.

(Foundation students will commence their home reading program at the conclusion of the Assessment period in a few weeks’ time)

3/4 Department

Students are encouraged to read a minimum of 3 days x 15 minutes across the school week

5/6 Department

Students are encouraged to read a minimum of 3 days x 15 minutes across the school week

Students in Years 3-6 will be provided time to select a ‘Just Right’ text from our school libraries or can select an appropriate text/s from home.

Library

We have 3 libraries across the school to support and build your child’s love of literature. Each class will have a scheduled weekly library session, where they can borrow texts for home or classroom use. Library books will continue to supplement our reading program to help build your child’s love of literature.

Over the coming weeks, departments will communicate further advice and guidance for supporting reading at home. We would always welcome parent feedback and queries regarding home reading, please touch base with your child’s classroom teacher for any further information.

For your reference, please find the Fyans Park Primary Homework Policy at the link below:

https://fyansparkps.vic.edu.au/policies/

Annual Privacy Reminder for our School Community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website: https://fyansparkps.vic.edu.au/policies/

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy Privacy policy (education.vic.gov.au)

This information is also available in ten community languages:

Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese

School Council Elections

It is that time of year again, with preparations underway for School Council elections for 2025.

School Council elections will take place this term and I encourage parents to read the information below and consider expressing interest for school council membership in 2025. We have an active and engaged school council and welcome new members.

For existing members of School Council, if you are at the conclusion of your term of office and are keen to continue on School Council you are still required to self-nominate and complete a nomination form which are available at the front office.

Please see below more information about School Council:

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad directions of a school in accordance with their constituting Order and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the School Council?

For most Primary School Councils, there are three possible categories of membership: A mandated elected Parent member category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category.

DET employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.

A mandated elected DET employee member category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of School Council. The Principal of the school is automatically one of these members.

An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members. Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office for some of the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual School Council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help inform and shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a School Council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Code of Conduct for School Councillors

School Councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004. School Councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct – Employees issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

Act with honesty and integrity (be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty)
Act in good faith in the best interests of the school (work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds)
Act fairly and impartially consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to have a balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self interest.
Use information appropriately (respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available)
Exercise due care, diligence and skill (accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school)
Use the position appropriately (not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage)
Act in a financially responsible manner (observe all the above principles when making financial decisions)
Comply with relevant legislation and policies (know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law)
Demonstrate leadership and stewardship (set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable).

Indemnity for School Council members

School Councillors are indemnified against any liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by the Council or any other person in respect of anything necessarily or reasonably done, or omitted to be done by the Councillor in good faith in:

the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Councillor, or
the reasonable belief that the act or omission was in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Council.

In other words, School Councillors are not legally liable for any loss or damage suffered by council or others as a result of reasonable actions taken in good faith.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the School Council elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider standing for election as a member of the school council or encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The Principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All School Council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual timeline has been varied by the Minister. If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent member category.

DET employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work, are eligible to nominate for Parent membership of the School Council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the Principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt via email or by hand following the receipt of your completed nomination.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on Council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

I encourage anyone considering School Council to contact me at the office on 5221 3772 or in person, I would be happy to discuss how parents contribute to our School Council or answer any questions you might have.

School Council Election Process and Timetable

Name of the School: Fyans Park Primary School

Event	Date
Notice of election and call for nominations Please collect a nomination from the school office	Thursday 13th February 2025
Closing date for nominations/ballot	Thursday 27th February 2025 at 4.00pm
Vote count and declaration of Poll	Thursday 6th March 2025 at 4.00pm
First Council meeting to elect office bearers (the Principal will preside)	Office Bearers will be elected on the evening of Monday 24th March 2025 at Fyans Park Primary School The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Monday 24th March at 6.30pm prior to the first meeting of the 2025 School Council at 7.00pm – All parents welcome. 6.00pm – Finance Committee 6.30pm – Annual General Meeting 7.00pm – First Meeting of SC for 2025

*** Please see Jane or Alison at the office for the nomination forms for School Council membership. To make this easier for families our admin team can also send these via email to be completed.

Notice of Election and Call for Nominations

An election is to be conducted for members of the School Council of
Fyans Park Primary School

Nomination forms may be obtained from the school and must be lodged by 4.00pm on Thursday 27th February 2025.

The terms of office, membership categories and number of positions in each membership category open for election are as follows:

Membership category
Parent member

Term of office	Year
From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in	2025
to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in	2027

Number of positions:	2

Membership category
Community Member

Term of office	Year
From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in	2025
to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in	2027

Number of positions:	1

Following the closing of nominations, a list of the nominations received will be posted at the school.

If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be posted in a prominent position at the school.

Remember

Consider standing for election to School Council this year. Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do. We are more than happy to assist.

Inclusive Schools Fund Update

This week, I have met with the building contractors who will soon commence work to re- develop our green surface area to build an all-purpose undercover area for students and upgrade the surface. It is anticipated that the works will commence in the next couple of weeks and conclude during the Term 1 school holidays.

In the coming weeks, there will be temporary fencing erected to secure the site area and arrangements will be made to relocate play areas for students as the green surface and a small area surrounding will be out of action for students and teachers.

Pleasingly, it appears at this stage, students will be able to remain in their classrooms, during the site works with minimal disruptions and the Multi-Purpose Room will still be made available for Kelly Club.

We will also be planning for online assemblies during the works stage with more information to follow.

I am very pleased that this project will now be realised as it will benefit our entire community.

Welcome Kelly Club

I am very excited to confirm that Kelly Club have made a wonderful start with us at Fyans Park. Holiday programs were run successfully from 6 January and before and after school sessions have also proved to be very well organised and popular with students attending over the last couple of days.

Please see an introduction, booking information and also a profile for Luca, our Kelly Club coordinator, on the Kelly Club page further along in this newsletter.

Welcome back for another terrific year, together at Fyans Park

Mrs Cameron

Families & Friends of Fyans Park (F&F)