The Talk Around ... TPS 

2021 TEACHERS AND ROOMS 

Final Farewell to 2020

To all students and families, 

On behalf of the staff of Trafalgar Primary school I wish each student and their families a safe and very merry Christmas, and new year.   My Christmas wish is that you find some time for togetherness and a sense of wellbeing that might comes from this.  I hope that you will enjoy some well deserved recreation with family and friends, perhaps with a renewed sense of appreciation for the time we can spend together. 

Sincerely,

Cameron Nicholls

PRINCIPAL

Letter to staff from School Council

Dear Trafalgar Primary School Staff,

It goes without saying that 2020 has been one of the most challenging years in recent history. From devastating bushfires, a global pandemic and the unprecedented response to this crisis, maintaining the delivery of quality education to the students of Trafalgar Primary School under the circumstances has been nothing short of a herculean effort.

As we slowly return to something closer to ‘normal’, it’s easy to forget the magnitude of what has been undertaken this year by all members of the school community as they strived to simply keep-on keeping-on.

During our final meeting for the year, School Council took time to reflect on the many obstacles which have been overcome throughout the course of the school-year, and while on previous occasions we have expressed our thanks and appreciation to all members of the school community for their efforts during this time, on this occasion we would like to make a particular point of paying tribute to the outstanding and tireless efforts of the Trafalgar Primary School staff.

We as a council are so proud of what you have achieved. While we may have high expectations, these have been surpassed. Staff have worked through holidays, weeknights and weekends to ensure that they could continue to engage with students in the fullest and most effective way possible, and the results which have been achieved speak for themselves. As not only School Council members but also parents we say thankyou and sincerely hope you enjoy a well-earned break over the holiday period.

Paul Zelenewicz

School Council President

Staffing Changes

Farewell and thank you to the following teaching staff who have been valued members of our school community this past year. We wish them well in their future endeavors: Kate Boyer, Ashley Hallihan and Jessica Prime.

We also farewell our 2020 Trainees: Taylah Summersgill  and Sophie Farrell . We look forward to hearing about your future pathways. Thank you for all of your hard work supporting our staff, students and families. 

Farewell also to Declan Brehney who has been assisting in the music room as part of his VCAL placement. 

We would also like to welcome back Amy Brown and Stacey Cleversley from maternity leave in 2021. All staff, students and school community members are looking forward to having you back on board. 

Welcome to Ricky Allan who takes up the position of Music Teacher from 2021.  Ricky is a Multi-instrumentalist and professional musician who lives in Moe South with his partner and three dogs.  After working as an electrical fitter and mechanic until his mid-30s Ricky decided on a radical career change.  Ricky studies for his Bachelor of Music at Melbourne Polytechnic and then his Diploma of Primary Education at Monash Churchill. Ricky has worked as a Music (Classroom and instrumental) teacher for the last 8 years.

His musical passion is for old time blues from the early 1900’s.  Ricky uses vintage instruments and a bottleneck slide to attain the tone of the original blues players.  He enjoys performing as a singer-guitarist solo and attending live music and music festivals.  Ricky is looking forward to bringing the knowledge and skill he has gained throughout his musical journey to this new challenge at Trafalgar Primary School.

Principal Awards and Farewell to our Grade 6's 

Last Friday we met together as a whole school for our final farewell to our graduating 

Grade 6 students.  After this assembly students formed a guard of honour through which our Grade 6's ran as they headed out our gates for the last time. 

At this assembly we also celebrated the significant achievement of a number of our students.  We recognised our highest academic achievers- the students who received the highest marks on their reports which are now released to families and available on Compass.   We also recognised our GPA 'Perfect 4' students.   These are the students that have consistently display our school values: Be Safe , Be Respectful Be Learner.  

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Finally we announced the names of our 2021 Student leaders. Congratulations to all our new leaders and award receipients. 

 Continue here to read more...

Graduation 

Congratulations to all our departing Grade 6 students.  On Monday evening we celebrated their Graduation together at the Trafalgar High School Hall.  Congratulations to all the award winners.  We wish every student the very best as they continue with their schooling.

List of award recipients

A special note of thanks to our sponsors:

Alto Motors

Bendigo Bank

Decodable Readers

Home Grown Design

Jomani Cleaning

Lions Club Trafalgar

Matthew Franke Building Design and Drafting

Rotary Club of Trafalgar

Select Office Supplies

Sharper Electrics

Sport 2 Street Trafalgar

Strzelecki Reality

Studio 534

Trafalgar Dentist

Trafalgar Golf Club

Trafalgar Hardware

Trafalgar Medical Centre

Trafalgar Primary School Parents and Friends

School Reports

School Reports were published to Compass last Friday.   While some students found the remote experience more difficult than others, overall, our school was able to meet all our learning growth targets.  This was certainly not the case in many other schools and we thanks students and parents for your effort and support. 

First Day for Students 2021

The first day for students in 2021 is Friday 29 February.  The Office will be open from Wednesday 27 February 9-4pm. Fondation students will not attend  Wednesdays until after Labour Day long weekend, week of Monday 8 March.

Farewell to departing families

Some of our families will be returning with younger siblings in 2021, however we would also like to make special mention and farewell to our departing families who are as follows:

Ride Nation Ministerial Launch Event

On Thursday, our school hosted the Ride Nation Ministerial Launch.  This is an exciting program and was great promotional opportunity for our school.  News crews were in attendance.

For more information see the link below:

https://www.ridenation.com.au/promo/schools

Formal proceedings commenced at 10 am with the normal speeches from dignitaries and ribbon cutting.   After the formal proceedings approximately 25 of our students had the opportunity to participate in a BikeEd coaching program on the oval during recess. 

Drama

The students in the 2020 drama classes performed their plays for a packed audience of 1! Luckily it was Mr Nicholls videoing them. I hope you enjoyed their performances. They have worked hard this year to improve their confidence, line learning and dramatic skills. 

Links to these performances are availabe here:

Cinderella Revisited

The helpful mother-in-law

Wally and the Director

Forms are available from the office for Drama in 2021.