Acting Principal's Message

Its’ been a great couple of weeks at TPS with our Foundation students commencing fulltime, our annual Yr 3-6 swimming carnival and amazing work being completed in the classrooms.

NAPLAN commences on March 15th.The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students are held in March each year. In 2023, the NAPLAN test window is between Wednesday 15 March and Monday 27 March. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The results of the tests provide information for students, parents, teachers and principals and can be used to improve student achievement. NAPLAN tests are delivered in an online format. This delivers many benefits including:

• a ‘tailored test’ design that adapts to correct and incorrect student responses providing a more precise understanding of student achievement;
• innovative use of technology, including a more engaging test design and a wider range of item types;
• an extended and more flexible test window, allowing schools greater opportunity to schedule the tests at times that suit them best and increasing student participation.

A public demonstration site is available for schools, teachers, parents, carers and students to familiarise themselves with the online tests.  Shortly our Year 3 and Year 5 students will complete their practice online NAPLAN tests. Year 5 students will be completing their writing component online. Year 3 students continue to complete their Writing assessment with physical pencil and paper. Click here for further parent information.

Improving our school Grounds for our Students

Yes, our playground is being developed. Which part you ask? The building and Grounds subcommittee of School Council have had plans created for the garden areas of the school and the redevelopment of the onsite playground, near the sustainable gardens. This will be a major project of the school over the next year. The school will be consulting students and parents around the design and a student group will be formed to inform the working group. To make this all happen we will need much needed locally raised funds. At present we have $50,000 with our goal being $150,000 to $175,000. Playgrounds are expensive but your children will experience years of fun and physical development. 

If you would like to help make this happen, please reach out to David Clarke (Felix 1C) - (Events, Marketing and fundraising leader) or our school administration. Many hands make light work!

Need to know more about online safety?

As the reliance on technology increases, as parents and educators it is important to ensure that we are fully informed about the digital world that our students participate in or will participate in. I encourage our parent group to engage in the Parent and Guardian Webinars, advertised in the General News section of this newsletter, to be proactive in this space. The practical steps, tools and advice that you gain might keep you a step ahead of your children, which is always beneficial!

Our school Leaders

This Friday I’m looking forward to our annual assembly when we present the leadership badges to the Junior School Council, Green Team, Wellbeing Leaders and Class Captains. It is always a pleasure to present the badges and see the young leaders of our school commence their leadership journey. All students, whether they wear a badge or not, are a leader of themselves first. Toorak PS has a comprehensive program to support our school leaders and the leadership team look forward to working with them to give them a voice in our school.

The TPS Spirit of encouragement 

Last week it was great to see our students participate in our annual successful swimming carnival at Prahran pool, organized by Mr. Chapman and the house leaders. It was fantastic to see the TPS spirit of sportsmanship and the encouragement of others throughout the day.  Thank-you to the parents who supported our staff by assisting with walking to the pool and joining us on the day to cheer their child/children on. Our school values were clearly on display throughout the day and many staff and parents commented on the exemplary behaviour of our students. 

Want to be part of our school then read on…

Our new School Council will meet for the first on Tuesday 28th March followed by subcommittee meetings. Expressions of interest, from our parent community, are sought for our subcommittees in 2023. The subcommittees are Finance, Building and Grounds, Student Learning and Wellbeing, Events, Marketing and Fundraising and Policy Review and Development. These subcommittees are not exclusively for school council members and are open to all members of the community.  Please contact the school at toorak.ps@education.vic.gov.au if you are interested in supporting our school.

Kind regards,

Sharon Wildermuth

Acting Principal