Principal's Report

Welcome to the final newsletter of Term 1, hasn’t this term flown by? This week we conducted parent-teacher interviews at a different time of the term (late Term 1, instead of the beginning). The purpose of this, driven by feedback from both our community and staff, was to focus more on learning and wellbeing feedback, rather than the ‘you tell us’ style of interviews of yesteryear. If you have any feedback, both of its successes and challenges, please write to me here. 

Welcome Picnic and Cake Stall

Our PA have been busy as always, with our first two events of the year occurring this week. Our re-scheduled Welcome Picnic was a huge success, with many of our families bringing along a picnic blanket and some dinner, enjoying the company of friends on a perfect, sunny Melbourne night. 

Our Year 1 cohort, led by Dana Rochwerger, have collated an amazing range of baked goods for our first ‘Cakes for a Cause’ stall this afternoon. With funds being raised to supplement the junior school home reading program, we look forward to trialling all the tasty treats later today! 

As always, a huge thank you to Melinda Reid, our PA President, and the broader PA for all their support with our events. Thanks too to the wonderful Stephanie Sim, who leads community engagement in our school and works tirelessly to ensure these events work smoothly. 

Home-School Partnerships

As we continue our focus on home-school partnerships in learning, I would like to remind families of some platforms we use to enhance learning and wellbeing at our school. This includes Seesaw, which our teachers use to share the learning of your child and their class with you on a regular basis. Our junior school students have access to ‘Decodable Readers Australia’, supplementing their home-reading program with a variety of phonics-based books. Students in Years 2 to 6 also access Mathletics, an online numeracy program, as an element of their weekly homework. 

We hope that each of these platforms supports the learning and wellbeing of your child, and builds stronger connections for you in better understanding the learning that is undertaken at our school. 

Staffing

We would like to wish Locky Simpson all the very best, as he commences a period of leave from the beginning of Term 2. Naomie McLeavy returns to the classroom in Locky’s place and has already participated in a detailed handover, including attending parent-teacher interviews this week. 

We are also looking to conclude the appointment of a music teacher for the beginning of Term 2. We thank Naomie for her work in this program and look forward to sharing more information with you on this early next term. 

Two of our students approached me recently regarding a fundraising event that they are participating in. Shelly and Ron Yomtovyan are participating in the ‘Run for the Kids’ event, a fundraiser for the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Thanks to Shelly and Ron Yomtovyan for reaching out to me, letting me know that they are running this event and sending through their fundraising links (Shelly and Ron). Best wishes to you both and all others running this fantastic event. 

Please remember that Term 1 concludes next Friday 4th April, with a casual clothes day for our students, and an icy-pole as well! This is part of the ‘PA Multi-Event Fundraiser’ drive, which you can pre-purchase for all four events across the year via Compass. 

Our final-day whole-school assembly commences at 2:00pm, with students being dismissed at 2:30pm. 

If I don’t see you before, have a safe and happy school holiday period. Week 1 of Term 2 begins on Tuesday 22nd April (due to the Easter Monday Public Holiday) and also encompasses another Public Holiday on Friday (ANZAC Day). 

Thanks for your ongoing support and keep doing your best.

Rohan Cooper

Principal