Principal's News
Reflections
A very busy fortnight throughout the school with plenty happening on the back of some warmer weather. Congratulations to our Prep students who celebrated their first 100 days of school last Friday, a wonderful achievement. There were plenty of celebrations, costumes and happy faces in our Prep classrooms as the children celebrated the day, also importantly, it was the first 100 days of ongoing onsite learning for many of our students, a great achievement and one that I am sure our whole school community can see the obvious benefits from.
Many of our students in all year levels have re-established routines and developed strong peer relationships which was often challenged over the last few years due to lockdowns, home learning and the pandemic.
We also greatly enjoyed the opportunity to meet with our families during our Parent-Teacher Interviews on Wednesday and Thursday. I have received positive feedback from families and staff, identifying how nice it was to have the chance to meet, celebrate and acknowledge achievements and clarify any questions they might have. Establishing a school-home partnership is an important building block for our students and I thank our staff and families for making such a strong commitment to this last week.
Child Safety and Wellbeing at Caulfield Primary School
The Victorian Government has announced new Child Safe Standards to further strengthen child safety across organisations, including schools. The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Caulfield Primary School are in the process of reviewing and updating our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. We aim to have our updated policies available by Week 7. We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices.
Reconciliation Action Plan
A renewed commitment to the revised Child Safety Standards is a further focus on the importance of Cultural Safety leaning on the Marrung Aboriginal Education Plan 2016-2026 to guide the school’s support for inclusion and Aboriginal self-determination. As a part of this commitment our school is proud to be developing a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to strengthen relationships, respect and opportunities in the classroom, around the school and within the community.
To learn more, visit: Reconciliation in Education. The Reconciliation Action Plan actively seeks community input and involvement, if any families or parents would like to share their voice on this important process please reach out and make contact with me.
School Fete 2023
As a new Principal to the school, I wanted to learn more about the significance of our celebrated School Fete, and given the impact of the pandemic where we haven’t had an opportunity to host this for a number of years, we would like to get this back up and running.
I spent some time with some of our Year 5/6s who fondly recalled their memories of our last school fete. Liam, Lincoln, Adam, Noah, Jessie, Milla, Ishani and Clara were all excited about recalling their memories and the importance of the school fete to our community.
They recalled enjoying the rides, dunking teachers on the water dunking competition, enjoying the cake and toy stall, having time with their friends and family, wandering through the butterfly enclosure, performing in the choir and Taiko drumming concerts. They enjoyed the opportunity to spend the day with their friends, have fun and socialise together as a school community. Underpinning those highlights, they importantly recognised that our school fete drew ‘positive public attention to the school and allowed us to raise money’.
We want to find a way to renew this community event and allow our students to enjoy these highlights once again.
The success of our school fete has relied upon the work of our Parents and Friends Club and families that volunteer their time and efforts. The School Office can offer some support for this day, but it cannot go ahead without a group of volunteers to lead this work. The Parents and Friends Club cannot do any of this without a working party or a group of volunteers. As an initial step, please express your interest in a voluntary role on an organising committee for the School Fete in 2023 by completing the form link here.
We look forward to providing our students with the opportunity to once again enjoy some memories of a very fun and engaging Caulfield Primary School Fete in 2023.
Principals’ Day
The 5th August is recognised throughout Victoria as Principals’ Day, it is an opportunity to recognise the leadership of Principal Class members in all schools. I would like to acknowledge the wonderful leadership that our school enjoys from our Assistant Principal, Miharu Morioka. Miharu is a passionate school leader and extremely knowledgeable and committed to our bilingual vision for Caulfield Primary School.
She enjoys wonderful respect from staff, students and the broader school community and is leading our school with great capacity. I acknowledge and thank Miharu for her leadership and the wonderful support she offers our school and myself!
Miharu and I were presented with a wonderful lunch and presentation from our School Captains this afternoon. As I reflect on my first year at our school, I feel incredibly fortunate to be working in such a wonderful school community with a very tireless and hardworking group of staff. Each and every day, I very much love my work as Principal at our school.
Parent Payments
On behalf of School Council we would once again like to draw attention to the voluntary payments processes in the school, we refer you to the recent article written in The Age on the collection of voluntary payments
Parents Warned State School Programs Face Chop (Click to Follow Link)
Across the school, of the $180,000 in annual voluntary contributions, we have a shortfall of approximately $80,000 which is a much higher figure than in prior years. CPS is committed to continuing to provide a supportive and outstanding bi-lingual education environment for all our students, and we fully understand that the last few years have been extremely challenging for families. However, when considering the ongoing impacts of COVID and other issues on staffing (expenditure on casual relief teachers is already $40k above budget), this shortfall is placing additional financial pressure on the school and our ability to continue to provide the rich and varied educational and learning opportunities that make CPS a fantastic school.
Voluntary contributions are exactly that - voluntary - and parents can also decide whether they are in a position to pay the full amount or a partial contribution, however consistent with all other government schools in Victoria these amounts form an important part of the overall financial budget of the school and low contribution levels impact our ability to provide planned programs now and into the future. We appreciate your ongoing support as a means of continuing to allow us to provide a unique and outstanding bilingual education for all students.
We invite you to support our school by making a voluntary contribution, so that we can continue to provide the best opportunities for all students.
ThinkUKnow Parent Session
We have previously provided some information about an upcoming parent information session delivered by ThinkUKnow. This program is provided to support families to make informed decisions around protecting your child from harm, aiming to support our school community in preventing and managing online safety challenges that your child may face, as well as guiding your child to understand these and feel empowered to take action.
Details of the session are:
- When: Tuesday 6th September
- Time: 6pm
- Where: Caulfield Primary School
- Duration: 60mins + Question Time
- Cost: Free event
To support us with planning for this event could we please encourage registration by completing the following link - ThinkUKnow Parent Registration. A confirmation of attendance will ensure that we have the minimum number required to host the session on the night.
Working Bee
A date for the diary, we have scheduled a working bee for Saturday 10th September, this will be built around preparing the school for the delivery of our exciting Undokai Japanese Sports Day scheduled for the 15th September. A day that will be formally opened with an opening ceremony attended by the Consul General from the Japanese Consulate and our local state member, David Southwick. More information will be shared over the coming weeks about both these events, but we would welcome any support for a few hours to assist us in completing some maintenance and tidying up of our school grounds.
Enjoy a great weekend and we thank you for your support,
Edward Strain
Principal