From the Principal's desk

Last week our school council conducted its AGM; along with the usual formalities, we elected and welcomed our new school council representatives and key position holders. 

I am pleased to announce that our school council for 2022 is:

Carl Michael                   President 

Jeff Fang                           Vice president

Larissa Vesdrevanis     Executive Officer / Principal

Natalie Pike                     Secretary/ Business Manager

Kelvin Wong                    Parent representative

Nadiah Smith                 Parent representative

Jim Fang                          Parent representative. 

Andrea Sergi                  Parent representative

Rajib Chowdhury          Parent representative

Jim Fang                          Parent representative

Krystle Day                     Parent representative

Deepak Ganga              Co-opted member 

Carly Epskamp              DET Member leading Child Safety/ Curriculum 

Julia Bay                          DET Member Leading Policy

I would also like to acknowledge and thank Katherine Zingiris for her ongoing support, commitment and work on council over the years. Thank you once again to our council for your continuing support and commitment to the children of DPS. I look forward to a successful 2022.

Speaking of our DPS children, Miss Epskamp and I had the opportunity to spend some time in classes this week, and I must say I was so impressed with the level of engagement and student work. I was pleased that I could immerse myself in the learning environment and have the chance to talk to students about their learning. 

Some of the highlights included reading ‘The Day the Crayons Quit to 3G and talking to the students about perspective-taking and how the author depicted the character of each crayon. In grade 5K, I read and shared some analysis of the class novel about a refugee family fleeing Afghanistan on a boat. In 2C, I read the children a Canadian story about a very cheeky mouse. In 4SM, I observed a great Maths activity where the children had to use a series of single-digit numbers and choose any of the four operations to get as close to a ’code breaker‘ number. It was beautiful to see the children using different strategies to get to the code break number. And finally, in Prep, I had a most enjoyable time discussing the five people they can go to if they need help at school. It was an absolute pleasure connecting with the children in this way. 

I explained to the children that as a school Principal, there are many competing demands and priorities at any given time in my job. However, whenever I reconnect with students by immersing myself in the learning environment, I am constantly reminded of the importance of my work.

As we are approaching the end of term, I am very proud of our students and teachers for working hard to develop and embed classroom expectations and norms, all of which lead to successful outcomes for students both academically and socially. It is evident that your work in this area is paying off and will continue to pay dividends for the rest of the year. 

Please enjoy a restful break with your families so that you can return to school ready to embrace the learning challenges as planned by your teachers in Term 2. I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.