Teacher Professional Practice day - Monday 6th June

We wanted to let you know about an upcoming change to our plans for this term which will involve all students not attending school on Monday June 6th.

Teacher Professional Practice Days (TPPDs) are an entitlement for all teachers under the 2017 Victorian Government Schools Agreement and provide a day of non-face to face teaching each term for teachers to focus on school improvement work. These days were introduced in 2017 to help teachers cope with increasing workload demands.

Until now, these days have been provided to teachers by the school employing Casual Replacement Teachers (CRTs) to release teachers, allowing them this time out of the classroom. Due to the current huge difficulties in school staffing due to a number of factors, For Term 2, 2022 only, the Education Department recommends schools hold their professional practice day on the same day for all staff.

Running the TPPD in this way means that students will not be required to attend school on this day to allow us to provide teachers with their contractual entitlement without engaging CRT staff (who are almost impossible to find currently).

Please note, the following Tuesday (14th June) will continue to run as our originally planned Curriculum Day and students will also not be required at school on this day.

For families requiring childcare on these days, Team Kids will be offering a full-day program at the school which can be booked at https://teamkids.com.au/venues/st-kilda-park-primary-oshc/

We apologise for the last-minute nature of this information but the current situation and difficulties in school staffing have left us with little alternative option.

We thank you as always for your support,

Italian Day 9th June

Our annual celebration of all things Italian will be taking place this year on Thursday June 9th. We have chosen this date as it is close to the Italian National Day 'Festa della Repubblica'.

On the day students will celebrate through a short assembly, an Italian language performance from a visiting company, classroom activities and we will finish the day's celebrations with some delicious Italian gelato.

More information will follow in the coming days but we are asking all students to get in the mood by dressing in the following colours on the day;

Foundation Classes: Red
Year 1/2 & 3/4: White
Year 5/6: Green

Doing this will allow us to create an Italian national flag on the basketball court for a special whole school photo.

Staffing Update

It is with great sadness that we announce that we will be saying farewell this week to Kat O'Brien, our wonderful Office Manager and Receptionist. Everyone involved with the school has had the pleasure of interacting with Kat, from the first phone call or email to the school, through the enrolment process, to day to day visits to the office or calls to the school, to first-aid, to hundreds of other tasks and roles that she takes on with great skill, enthusiasm and warmth.

We have been so lucky to have Kat as the welcoming face of our school for the last 7 years and I am sure you will join us in wishing her well as she returns to Country Victoria to be closer to family and to take on an exciting new role at Go TAFE.

We are equally lucky to have somebody ready to step into Kat's role and who we are sure will also do a great job in this important job. Wendy Chan will move from her current role as an Integration Aide to working in the office full-time.

Swimming

Today saw the start of our 2022 swimming program at MSAC. All classes should be congratulated for how they managed the routines of travelling to the pool, changing, swimming and then returning to school. For all of our lower school classes, this would be the first time they have taken part in a school swimming program.

Swimming and water safety are a key part of the Victorian Curriculum and we see it as important that children participate and complete the program to build their skills and confidence in and around water.

Class teachers really appreciate having parents meet us at the pool to help with the often challenging job of getting children changed before and after the lessons. please email your child's teacher if you are able to help.

Please ensure that your child has their swimmers, a towel, goggles and a swim cap with them at school each day.

Tax-Deductable contributions to SKiPPS

For the first time in 2022, SKiPPS is operating two Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) funds which allow parents and community members to make tax-deductible donations.

As we approach the end of the tax year, we ask parents to bear us in mind if they are looking to receive the tax benefits that charitable donations can bring.

We have two funds - a School Building Fund (which is then used to maintain and upgrade our school buildings) and also a School Library Fund (which is used to build and maintain our school library). All donations would be gratefully received.

if you wish to donate please contact Nova, our Business Manager at nova.whitehead@education.vic.gov.au. To find out more about the tax benefits of donating to a DGR fund, please speak to your accountant.

2023 Foundation Enrolments & School Tours

With June almost upon us, we are holding regular school tours and starting to see Foundation enrolment forms for 2023 start to arrive at school.

As always, it is really important and helpful for us to understand likely student numbers as early as possible as this helps us to plan classes, teachers and many other things for next year.

If you have a younger child at home who will be starting school in 2023 then we ask that you collect an enrolment pack from the school office as soon as possible and return this. Alternatively, email us on st.kilda.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au and we would be happy to put one in your child's school bag.

Details of our upcoming school tours can be found at http://www.skipps.vic.edu.au/community/school-tours/

2022 Attitudes to School Survey

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of your school.

The Student Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist us to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer and family relationships, resilience, bullying, mental health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

This year, the AtoSS will be conducted at your school over the period 6th - 17th of June. Further details will be sent home to families of children in these year levels.

Thanks

Over the last couple of weekends, we have asked for your support in helping us to complete a working bee at SKiPPS and then to run the Federal Election sausage sizzle.

We need to thank the huge amounts of parents who got involved for either (or both) of these activities. I would like to thank the members of the Buildings and grounds sub-committee for their work on the working bee and the Fundraising Sub-committee (especially Rachael O'Connor) for their work on the sausage sizzle.

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