Staffing Updates for 2024

We are well aware of the challenges that many schools face with teacher shortages across Australia. We are very lucky at Surfside that we are a sought after destination and we are grateful to have finalised our staffing profile for 2024. We do see some changes due to staff travel, relocation or staff starting or extending their families. We want to welcome our new staff for 2024 and look forward to meeting them throughout the coming weeks as part of our transition and planning days. We are very thankful for the experience and skill sets that they bring to the Surfside team and I am sure everyone will make them feel very welcome.

In 2024 we look forward to welcoming the following new staff to Surfside and we know that their skills and experiences will compliment such a strong and passionate teaching and learning team at Surfside.

Leah Canale – Leah comes to us from Fyans Park PS and has had experience in the areas of Foundation, Year 3 and Year 4 while undertaking her current role of Learning Specialist
Caitlin Foster – Caitlin will make the move from Armstrong Creek PS with experience across a number of year levels as well as unit leader roles. Caitlin has already participated in our Foundation transition team as she joins our 2024 Foundation team.
Fleur Kilpatrick – Fleur does an amazing job in our Kitchen and is so well respected by staff, students and families. Fleur is looking forward to stepping back into the classroom and will be supporting one of our shared classrooms 1 day per week.
Mel Lonergan – Mel comes with a number of valuable experiences and skill sets from Point Lonsdale Primary School. Mel is a current unit leader and Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader at the school while undertaking a Disability Inclusion degree at Melbourne University
Mandy Lord – Mandy is looking forward to returning to Surfside as she had some experience here in 2019. Mandy is currently teaching at Barwon Heads PS and has a strong sense of community connection and skill sets in supporting students, staff and families
Courtenay McLaughlin – Courtenay is returning from Maternity Leave and has had previous experience at Holy Spirit Primary School in Geelong. She comes to us with a strong base in teaching and learning and community and student connections.
Natalie Taylor – Natalie has recently undertaken her final placement at Surfside with Mrs Manning and has received amazing feedback from students, staff and families. We have been thankful for Natalie's passion through volunteering and supporting so many of the Surfside events in 2023. We know that she will be well supported in her first year of teaching but comes to us with such strong skills and experiences

We look forward to welcoming back the following staff to Surfside following recent leave. This is an experienced group who again will value add to our dynamic and passionate staff.

Adrian Chapman – We welcome back Adrian and his family following 3 terms of travel around Australia. We have enjoyed seeing the Chapman experiences through photos and class updates.
Tara Hudgell – Tara will return to Surfside 2 days per week following the birth of her son Louis.
Laura Myers – Laura will return for 4 days per week following the birth of her daughter Lila. Both Tara and Laura bring strong experiences and leadership capacity to the Surfside teaching team with a great knowledge of the students, staff and families of Surfside.

At the end of the year we will farewell the following staff through either interstate relocation, travels or new adventures. We look forward to celebrating their achievements, supporting their transition or wish them a safe journey. We thank them for their amazing contribution to the Surfside team throughout 2023:

Ryan Baker – We farewell Ryan for 12 months as his family relocate to Tasmania to be with family. Ryan has been successful in picking up a 12 month PE position at Dominic College near Hobart and we wish him all the best on his transition
Brenton Barnes – Brenton and his family will be relocating to Western Australia for the next 12 months and we wish the Barnes family all the best for their move and look forward to hearing many updates - hopefully the surf will be pumping for Mr Barnes
Pete Davis – We wish Pete and his partner all the best as they embark on the trip of a lifetime traveling around Australia on a working holiday. We look forward hearing about all of the amazing places you visit and all of the wonderful people you meet
Trevor Hilton – Trevor has been successful in picking up a position at Western Heights College in Geelong. Trevor will take his high level mathematics teaching knowledge in the secondary area and will most possibly be teaching some former Surfside students. We wish Trevor all the best and thank him for his contribution to Surfside and the year 6 teaching team over the past couple of years.
Jamie-Lee McPherson – Jamie-Lee is embarking on an international travel experience across Asia, India and Europe that will see her visit some amazing places for travel and maybe some international working experience. We wish Jamie-Lee safe travels and look forward to her returning in 2025 and hearing about her life changing experiences.
Andrea Ried & Rochelle Snowdon - both Andrea and Rochelle are excited to announce that they will both be expecting their second child and therefore will take 2024 for family leave. We congratulate both Andrea and Rochelle and look forward to seeing many baby updates in 2024
Jake Wilkie – Jake has been enjoying a range of different experiences in the UK and will take a further 12 months leave to extend his travel and working experiences. We love hearing from Mr Wilkie and his wonderful working experiences and travel adventures

We look forward to announcing our teaching teams in our next newsletter and we look forward to our 2024 teams supporting the transition process for our students throughout week 10 and 11.

Tuesday 5th December - Year Level 2024 Transition Rotations 9-1am
Tuesday 12th December - Year Level 2024 Transition Day 9-11am

A Massive Thank You to the Lions Club - Donation of $5000

Lions Club members Greg Spaull and John Claringbold made a presentation to Surfside Primary School this morning.

The Ocean Grove Barwon Heads Lions Club donated a $5000 cheque as a contribution towards playground upgrades for the Prep playground to match fundraising efforts from Surfside.

The Lions Club continues to support education in the local area and will also be sponsoring Surfside students to attend camps at Lions Licola Wilderness Village and supporting our Year 6 Encouragement Awards. A big thank you to Lions Club of Ocean Grove Barwon Heads for your amazing support.

Australian Mathematics Competition

In early August we had over 70 Surfside who students competed in the Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC). The AMC is Australia’s longest running, largest and most well-known maths competition for school students comprised of a middle primary division (Years 3 and 4) and an Upper Primary Division (Years 5 and 6). The competition was completed in the library and students had 60 minutes to complete 30 online questions (25 multiple choice and 5 integer questions). The topics in the compeition included basic arithmetic, fractions and ratio, algebra and pre-algebra, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability and problem solving. We were blown away with students resilience in applying themselves to the challenging problems! Not a single student gave up on trying their best to complete the questions and was a great representation of our school value of achievement. Congratulations to all our students who participated, you should all be so proud of your achievement!

A big thank you to Mrs Patterson for coordinating the program and assisting our students the competition.

Surfside's Got Talent

Wow - what a show at the Fresh Food Fair and such an indication of the talent we have at Surfside in so many different areas. A big thank you and well done to all of the students who tried out and congratulations to those who participated at the Fair. From whip cracking, to singing to stand up we saw a bit of everything. We look forward to seeing this as an annual part of term 4 and our Fresh Food Fair. A big thank you to all of the staff who supported the kids and coordinating the try outs and our community for their support on the night.

Biolab Excursion - Year 5

Our year 5 students visited Biolab on Thursday and Friday and enjoyed the experience of engaging in a range of mathematical sport based activities. BioLAB programs are intentionally cross curricular and are designed to cater for more than just Science and Mathematics classes! The programs have been successfully integrated into learning areas such as Physical Education, Health, Design & Technology and English. They are able to emphasise various learning areas in each of the programs to engage kids in a different way.

Sporty Maths is all about mathematics in action. Students participate in physical activity to generate mathematical data sets utilising state-of-the-art technologies.

Students are hands on with the latest Fitlight Reaction Time Technology. Using their own primary data results, students learn how to round decimal numbers using an open number line. The program encourages students to take a more fluid and flexible approach to solving problems, while developing a better number sense. Students enjoy developing a deeper understanding of the logical reasoning behind rounding decimal numbers, rather than blindly following an abstract ‘rule’.

Below are some snapshots from the days as well as a video of Eli breaking the all time Biolab record on the fitlight reaction time - Go Eli!

Junior Sports Day

What a perfect day to be out and celebrating movement, fitness and all things active. Our Junior Sports Day was a great opportunity to showcase our school values of teamwork and achievement through a range of fun and engaging activities while representing house colours along the way. A big thank you to Mr Baker, Mr Morzinek and our year 6 helpers who did a great job preparing and engaging the kids on the day - there were so many smiles!!! Thank you to our Surfside community with a big turn out to cheer the kids on and encourage them throughout the activities while enjoying some great tunes from Mackenzie and Jane!

Year 1 Collendina Visit

The Year One students walked down to Collendina beach this week to undertake the Litter Learning Program with Marine Park Ranger Monique Bregman. The students took part in identifying types of litter found on the beach, how and if certain litter breaks down and what effects litter has on our local environment. This was a great learning experience to support our local environment.

What's happening in our classrooms

Each fortnight we will provide all of our parents a snapshot of what is happening in our classrooms:

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6