From the Principal's desk

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Last Friday we had the Grade 6 Class of 2021 Graduation ceremony. It was a terrific acknowledgment of the efforts, achievements and resilience of this group of students as they embark on the next stage of their education.

I congratulate all of our Grade 6 students.

This year we introduced three new awards. One was for excellence in Mathematics which was won by Charlotte Chua, one for Excellence in English went to Stella Choi. We also introduced a new von Schramm Axios Award which was won by Adrian Alimohammadian.

This award is so called in recognition of the von Schramm family who founded DPS in 1863 and we added the word "Axios" which means worthy of recognition.

We have many outstanding students at DPS who do very well and they often achieve above expectation. We did however think it was worth recognising the best of our best, so I congratulate Stella, Charlotte and Adrian on their achievements.

As the year comes to a close I would like to firstly acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our staff. They managed to adapt quickly when needed throughout the ever changing expectations of 2021. Whatever I asked of them, they stood up, trusted me and soldiered on with students central to all we did. We maintained our mantra of Care, Supervision and Connection, even at times when it seemed difficult to do so.

I must thank our School Council for their ongoing support and commitment to DPS. Our council have guided our school for many years but never has there been a time like the last two years when most meetings were virtual and communication restricted to electronic correspondence. I thank our Councillors lead by our School Council President Carl Michael and hopefully in 2022 meetings will be back onsite.

Thank you to our supportive community, you have been amazing as you learned more about education and technology  which enabled our students to access education remotely. I'm sure there were moments of frustration and challenges but you raised to every challenge and should be proud of your efforts. We thank you for your support.

Finally, thank-you to our students who in many cases managed to achieve beyond our expectations, and I don't say this lightly - but we were surprised by how well they did remotely! 

I heard many stories throughout 2021 of people struggling but I can honestly say that the positive attitude our staff,  and the support from our community made for a (mostly) positive outcome for kids under the circumstances.

In January I will be heading to the north west of Victoria where I will be working for 2022. I feel DPS is in such a good position now with our exceptional leadership team of Larissa Vesdrevanis, Carly Epskamp, Cinzia Fava, Niky Corfios and Julia Bay which gives me confidence that DPS will go onwards and upwards! I trust they will enjoy the same trust and support afforded to me. I am going for one year and I will return. In some ways I miss DPS already and I haven't even left! I'm sure the year will go fast!

Staffing Profile 2022

Principal – Larissa Vesdrevanis

Assistant Principal - Carly Epskamp

Learning Specialist Numeracy - Cinzia Fava

Learning Specialist Literacy - Julia Bay

Head of Junior School (P,1) – Cinzia Fava

Head of Middle School (2,3,4) – Julia Bay

Head of Senior School (5,6) – Niky Corfios

Office Manager - Rebecca Rolfe

Business Manager - Natalie Pike

Education Support Staff - Wendy McGeary, Wendy Fairley, Joan Tan-Lawson

In 2022 we welcome Lillie Powell who will be teaching a Grade 1 class. Lillie comes to us from Livingstone Primary School with a very strong literacy background. She is a highly regarded educator who we are excited to appoint as a new member of our staff at DPS. We also welcome Rana El-Bay who many of you would know as she has been a relief teacher at DPS and taught most classes across the school. While not completely new to DPS, Rana is pleased to have secured a position with us and she will be teaching a Grade 5 class in 2022.

We will welcome back some staff who have been on leave. I speak of David Kay who will return part time into a Grade 2 class, Jayne Hill will take the tutoring role in 2022 and in Term 2, Teresa Flatman who has been on family leave for 3-4 years will return part time.

The end of 2021 is time to bid farewell to Cathy Wu, Celeste Pettinella and Carolyn Bunston all of whom are moving to other schools and we wish them well and thank them for their efforts and commitment to DPS staff, students and community during their time with us.

I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas. Stay safe and enjoy the break.

I look forward to seeing you all in 2023! :)

Regards

Jim Hill

Principal