From the Principal

Welcome to IPS

Term 1 has flown by. During this time, students have settled in to their new classes, new buildings, made new friends, built positive relationships and learned a great deal. 

As I reflect on the first ten weeks of school, I am heartened to see IPS School Values of Respect, Independence, Confidence, Resilience and Persistence being applied and promoted in every classroom as well as in the playground. 

Here are some of our Year 2s talking about school values and why their school, Ivanhoe Primary School is special.

This term we have asked senior school students to step up and assume positions of responsibility and leadership. Next term the student leaders will play a greater role in the planning and running of the school assembly.  

It was a privilege to listen and witness some of their "Asia" presentations today. One of the students used google earth to walk us down the street and see the outside of his grandmother's house in Indonesia.

Other students shared statistics and information on the new touch screen while another student showed food his mother had prepared that was local to India.

Open Day at Kew High School

 Kew High School is holding an Open Morning on Monday 10th May. The Open Morning will consist of a range of tours where families may see the learning and teaching program in action. The tours commence at 9.30am from the Kew High School Gymnasium which is accessed from the Burke Road entrance. The Information session will commence at 11.00am in the Kew High School Theatre which is accessed from the High Street entrance. The Open Day is not restricted to Year 6 families as many families with younger students are carefully considering their options for secondary education and here is an opportunity to see the school before making any decisions. Flyer below.

Settling in

At the other end of the school, 80 Foundation students have settled into school and  are showing a developing maturity.  It is interesting to observe the children who missed out on kindergarten and other preschool activities are taking longer to assimilate into the classroom and school routines. Many of our Year 1s also missed out on a year's worth of socialising. Please work with us to re enforce the school rules in you conversations at home. Stress the importance of sharing, being a friend and listening to the teacher.

Italian - Carnevale

After a busy term learning to tell the time and all about our classroom, it was wonderful to celebrate the beautiful city of Venezia and its famous Carnevale. Here are some students from 4F and 5B looking molto bello in their maschere di Venezia! Buone vacanze a tutti! Signora Rodriguez

Signora Rodriguez and Signor McKay have been celebrating aspects of Carnivale culminating in the making of masks.

Year 1 and Year 2 Concert on the oval

It was lovely to see so many parents enjoying the morning concert on the oval. The children performed extremely well as a result of being well prepared. Thank you to our wonderful music teachers and those who helped set up. Read more on the music page. 

Open Invitation to "The Beehive"

On  Wednesday the 28th of April at 9.30am a Member of Parliament will officially open our Senior School Building. 

Students, staff and community will assemble on the soccer pitch in front of The Beehive for the ribbon cutting event.. All welcome.

Year 6 fundraiser is a huge success

Canberra Camp is an expensive investment in your child's education but probably the most educational and the most interesting. In order to offset costs Year 6's run fundraisers throughout the year to reduce the cost burden. The recent Hot Cross Bun fundraiser raised a whopping $944. On behalf of the Year 6 team I thank you - in particular Cat Atkinson and Glenn Anderson for all their organisation and work.

Classroom Helper Program

Usually a large number of parents would have completed the Classroom Helper Program by now and we hope to get this up and running later in the year. The Classroom Helper program teaches parents how they can be of assistance in the classroom.

Capital works in the break

A large part of the school's ancient sewage system will be replaced.

The oval drainage will be addressed and a new sprinkler system will be installed.

Sections of the oval will be re sown with grass.

By the way. These works are made possible through families contributing the Section C of the voluntary contribution. Thank you to those families who have gone above and beyond with their generous contribution to the school. 

School Photos

There are still some group photos to be completed and these have been scheduled for April the 30th in the morning. If your child is part of a leadership group or choir these photos will be taken then. If you are unsure then please call the office.

Emergency Management Planning and drills

In the interest of everyone’s safety, each term we test our emergency management plan for either, lock down, lock in, evacuate off site or evacuate on site. This week we  completed an evacuation onsite drill. Please talk to your child about the importance of listening to and following the instructions of staff when the emergency siren sounds.

Seven minutes to move almost 600 students to the oval is the best yet. Well done!

What to do in the holidays 

The Premiers' Reading Challenge is back. See the PRC page of this newsletter and register through the school.

Visit the activity program at Heide Gallery. TOP 5 TIPS FOR FAMILIES

1. Take on our Heide Detective challenge; a great way to entertain kids in the gallery.
2. Make the most of our facilities: cloakroom and changing facilities can be found in the museum and Café Heide has yummy treats for kids.
3. Bring a picnic and let the kids run around the sculpture park.
4. Get involved in one of our programs for kids and families such as Heide Art Kinder, Art Babies or get creative in a school holiday activity.
5. Walk around the kitchen garden and see what veggies our gardeners are planting.

What’s on in the holidays in Melbourne? 

Entertain the whole family over the school holidays with these kid-friendly events and activities. There's plenty of free, low-cost and virtual events and family attractions to choose from.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ https://whatson.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Whatson/school_holidays/Pages/default.aspx

Finally

Remember that drivers on our roads will not all be aware that it is school holidays and that there are children around at times when they would usually be in school so please remind your children to be extra careful when out and about. 

As restrictions ease remember there are still some rules:

Only parents / grand parents of students receiving awards or special acknowledgement will be able to attend school assemblies in the hall on a Monday morning.

Please, children must not come to school before then as they will not be supervised unless they are attending strings lessons with Liz Bonetti or choir with Mrs Morrow.

Parents can only enter classrooms with an appointment and must sign in at the office for Covid tracing purposes.

While we encourage students to enter and exit through their current gates we acknowledge that this has proved difficult for some families so entry and exit will be family choice. Rather than have a staff member on most gates  there will be 2 or 3 roving staff on duty from 8.45am. 

Students are supervised after school until 3.45pm at which time they will be enrolled in the OSHC program and a fee may be charged.

Have a fabulous holiday break.

Mark Kent

Principal