2022 Staffing news

It is scary to think that, by the end of this week, we will only have five weeks of school left this year.

The disruption of lockdowns this year has seen this creep up on us and we have now switched our attention to planning for next year.

If you know that your family are moving on from SKiPPS at the end of this year we ask that you please call or email the school office as getting our numbers right for next year is incredibly important.

We do have a few bits of news to share with you about how our staff team are coming together for next year.

Earlier in the year we received the great news that the school will be receiving substantial additional money next year as a part of the new 'Disability Inclusion' funding model. This is to help support our wide range of students with additional learning needs. To lead the work on this new model Michelle Bove, our Assistant Principal, has chosen to move to a part-time, three day a week role as our new Assistant Principal - Inclusion.

We have therefore appointed Matt Cook as our new full-time Assistant Principal - Curriculum and Instruction. Matt's role for next year will be to work closely with our teachers and leaders across the school on the work identified during our recent school review to help improve the learning taking place in classrooms across the school.

We are temporarily saying goodbye to Tom McKenzie who will be taking leave for a year in 2022. Tom intends to spend this time focusing on his second career as an artist, something that is incredibly challenging to do as a full-time teacher. We wish Tom all the best with this exciting new chapter. Sharayah Lansdown is also taking a further year of leave to continue living in the Northern Territory and working as a class teacher at Yirrkala Bilingual School. These experiences are wonderful opportunities for Tom and Sharayah and will benefit them as teachers and people when they return to teach at SKiPPS. We also say farewell temporarily to Katie Gilchrist who has commenced maternity leave prior to the arrival of her second child later this year.

We are therefore excited to announce the appointment of two brand new class teachers for 2022. Jessica Bethune will be joining us having recently finished her Masters of Education at the University of Melbourne. As a part of these studies, Jessica completed a teaching placement at our school in 2020 working with 1/2PR. She impressed us so much that we are thrilled to have the chance to welcome her back as a class teacher. We have also appointed James Troutbeck. James comes to us from Glenferrie Primary School where he has worked for three years teaching years 5 and 6. James brings a lot of experience as well as a great passion for student wellbeing and sustainability and we know he will be a great match for our staff team and our school community.

Jessica and James will be joining us during our upcoming transition program to enable them to meet their 2022 classes before the end of this year.

Curriculum Day - Monday 29th November

Our school will be using our final curriculum day of the year on Monday 29th November.

Teachers will use this time to collaborate together to finalise and analyse assessment data to help us make accurate judgements of student performance and progress after such a challenging year.

These discussions will allow us to start writing accurate end of year reports to parents and set important academic goals for the rest of the year and 2022.

Students will not be required at school on this day and we will work with TheirCare to provide a full day childcare program for families on the Monday.

2022 Class placements

As we plan ahead for 2022, class teachers are also starting the process of creating class groupings for next year.

In doing this, our staff work very hard to create a perfect balance of gender, personalities and strengths within each class to allow for the best possible learning to take place.

Later in the term students will be asked to select friends who they would like to be in a class with next year and our teachers always do their best to ensure at least one of these choices are placed with them.

Occasionally parents have requests for class placements for the following year. Whilst we are unable to accept requests for a particular teacher, we are happy to try and accommodate reasonable requests.

If you have a request, please email me at neil.scott@education.vic.gov.au

Green Team Winners!

Earlier this year during remote learning we sent a Konnective out encouraging students to get involved in a competition run by the City of Port Phillip Council. Children had to design a fun and educational poster on the theme of recycling. Posters had to help people to understand what could and could not be put into our yellow recycling bins.

Winning designs would then be shared across the community.

https://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/about-the-council/news-and-media/primary-school-artists-wanted-for-national-recycling-week

We are so excited to hear that two of our students were winners in the competition. Jessica G (5/6M) was the first winner. Jess is a great member of our school 'Green Team' who are working to improve our sustainable practices at SKiPPS and help us achieve 'Resource Smart' accreditation. The poster involved hours of research at home as well as the time spent making such an attractive design.

The runner-up in the competition was Chloe S (1/2PR). Like Jess, Chloe is commited to sustainability and spent a long time producing a beautiful poster to help people understand what is suitable for the recycling bin.

Congratulations to Jess and Chloe and look out for their posters around the local area in the coming months!

Pavilion Update

As communicated earlier in the year, Parks Victoria will soon be commencing construction of a new pavilion building on the edge of Oval #1, immediately adjacent to the school.

The new facility will sit on the north-west edge of the oval, near our school playground and will feature;

Four change rooms
All abilities access
Umpires’ room
Community space
A covered deck

The project is due to be finished and fully operational by mid-2022. The pavilion will be pre-fabricated off-site to minimise the time and disruption caused by the on-site construction period, however there will be some minor disruption to school operations whilst this takes place.

We are excited that the school will be able to make use of the facilities in the new pavilion which will help address some of our lack of space in our current school buildings for things like music lessons, therapist appointments, staff and community meetings and change facilities and showers for staff.

As part of this project, Parks Victoria will be removing eight trees to allow for the pavilion to be built and will be planting 24 new native trees as offset. The plan below shows where this will take place;

For more information about this project and to sign up for the latest information, visit www.parks.vic.gov.au/projects

Or get in touch with the Albert Park Office at 23 Aughtie Drive, Albert Park VIC 3206

Email: Albertparkreserve@parks.vic.gov.au

Phone: (03) 8427 2010

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