From Our School Leaders

Staffing For 2022

The workforce planning has almost been completed for 2022, and we will be running with 9 grades. Scoresby PS has seen families moving out of the area to places far and wide over the past 2 years, and this has resulted in a drop in numbers across the school.  This week, however, we have had 4 new enrolments, so it is an ever-changing landscape. 

The 2022 staffing structure will be as follows:

Foundation           Sophie Lyon – Team Leader

1/2                          Kylie Brennan / Kate Matthews 

                                 Elizabeth Dinakis

3/4                          Kellie Symons - Team Leader / Kate Fox 

                                 Carolyn Sheaf

                                 Shantelle Bellingham

5/6                          Jordyn Whittington - Team Leader

                                 Merran Maguire

                                 Caroline Foenander

Tutoring                 Kate Matthews

Art                            Karen Coster - Team Leader

Music                      Jarren Boyd

Phys Ed                   Rachel Crofts

LOTE (Mandarin)  Han Hung

Chaplain                 Lyndal Lyle

In 2022 we happily welcome back 3 staff who are returning from family leave in part-time positions.  Kylie Brennan, Kate Fox and Rachel Crofts will all be coming back to work with us at Scoresby PS in various roles. We are looking forward to having them back on staff next year.

At the end of the year, we are saying goodbye to two much-loved and highly regarded staff who are moving on to other schools. Maddy Collins will be heading to Rowville PS after spending 3 and a half years at SPS; Meaghan Edmondson will be working at Great Ryrie PS in 2022 after spending her first year with us.  We would like to sincerely thank Maddy and Meaghan for their hard work and efforts at Scoresby PS. It has been a pleasure having you at Scoresby, and we wish you well as you start the next exciting chapter in your teaching careers. 

Also at the end of the year, Anne Neame will be retiring. Anne has had a long and dedicated career teaching in primary schools over 35 years.  Anne has taught most year levels and has guided many students along the path of their educational journey. We wish Anne all the best as this new chapter in her life begins and thank her for the hard work and care she has brought to the many roles she has filled at Scoresby PS.

As you can see there is a bit of staff movement this year across the board, with staff returning to SPS and some leaving. We will now turn our attention to formulating classes. Children are placed in classes with great care and consideration.  Class formulation is a complex and time-consuming task.  All students have had an opportunity to prepare a sociogram (friendship list) stating which friends they would like to be in class with next year. Please note - parents are not able to choose teachers for their children, as this is only one factor of class formation. Parents may make requests based on educational needs.

FUN Returning To Scoresby PS!

It’s lovely to be able to have incursions and excursions once again. This week we have a double banger! 

Tomorrow our 5/6 cohort are heading to Philip Island for their Big Adventure Day. This is in lieu of their camping experience being cancelled. It will be a BIG day but, after the trials of this year, we are glad we could manage to fit in this experience for our senior students. Our students will be visiting the much-loved tourist attractions found at Phillip Island and will finish the day off with a trip to see the Little Penguins and watch the nightly penguin parade. The bus will be back late, and staff will post the approximate return time via COMPASS on the day. 

Also tomorrow is our first whole-school incursion for the year. Adam Wallace - author/ illustrator and cartoonist - will be coming to Scoresby PS to share his talents with our F–4 students. This incursion is free, and flyers for the option to purchase Adam’s books will be sent home with all attendees. 

We are thrilled to have Adam come to SPS and we are looking forward to the fun-filled presentation.  The children have been asked to bring paper and pencils to the session, so he will be sharing his drawing and animation skills with them all. What an inspiring event for our F-4 students. Thank you to Alison Lancashire for coordinating this event for our students, and thank you to the Clark family for the suggestion of the local author visiting. 

Website Photo Shoot 

Yesterday our website development crew, 'On Point Digital Solutions', came and completed the photoshoot for the new Scoresby PS website. It was actually a lot of fun! We have a lovely school to showcase, terrific students who are passionate about their learning and it was pleasure working with them yesterday. We will let you know when we are launching the site.

A big thank you and shout out to Anita Schwarzbauer and her mum Resi, who tidied and cleaned up the outside garden beds (and gutters) in preparation for Wednesday’s photography. It is very much appreciated Anita. Thank you so much!

Uniforms

Sue met with a representative from our uniform company - PSW - on Tuesday and, due to delays, we will be rolling out the new uniform options mid-late next year. If you need to purchase uniform for the start of the year, then the current gold top is still available and will be a uniform option for another 2 years. 

The new school logo on our school uniform will not occur until at least mid-2022. The windcheater will be phased out completely, with the bomber jacket and fleece jacket remaining the winter options.  After Term 1 2022, all Scoresby PS uniform goods will be moving to the PSW Glen Waverley store; it is currently located at PSW Croydon.

Christmas Concert

This year we will be holding our Christmas Concert on our stage area on Thursday 9th December, with a picnic at 5.00pm and then the concert from 5.30 – 7.30pm. There will be a BYO picnic dinner prior to the concert. We would like families to consider supporting a local business on the night, and PFA has approached That Fish Shop in Scoresby. Families can place an order through the school, and pay and pick up on the way to the concert. Details of the ordering system are in the PFA section of the newsletter. 

School Times

We have a large number of students arriving at school late in the mornings, and needing to be picked up early in the afternoons. This is a friendly reminder that school starts at 9.00am for all children and concludes at 3.30pm.

Literacy is the first block of the day in most classes and, if you arrive late regularly, then you are missing a portion of the learning. In the afternoons, when an early pick-up is required, we are finding that children are engaged in activities and it is difficult to pull them out in the middle of their task. It is also disruptive. On Wednesday we had 10 children leaving  before 3.30pm as we were trying to do our drone photo shots.  If you could please, where possible, make appointments around school hours that would be most appreciated.

SUE HARTLEY AND NICOLE RHEUMER

Scoresby Primary School Leaders