Dear Parents/Carers,

WELCOME

Welcome back to the start of the 2021 school year.

I hope you all took the time to relax over the summer vacation period after the incredible challenges that you all faced during 2020. The beginning of the school year is always an exciting time, especially with Preps commencing their educational journey. Our students have settled in well and enjoying being back at school.

2021 will be a year where we focus on:

Learning, catch-up and extension in Literacy and Mathematics
Happy, active and healthy kids
Connected schools

MORNING TEA THANK YOU

Thank you Families & Friends for hosting morning tea on our first day of school. Despite the rain it was great to see parents chatting and catching up at the coffee cart.

WEARING OF MASKS

Following the Government’s announcements regarding new state wide restrictions that came into effect at 11:59pm on Wednesday 3 February, there is new guidance for schools regarding the wearing of masks. People aged 12 and over must wear a fitted face mask when in public indoor spaces unless there is a lawful reason not to. Children under 12 years of age and students at primary school or attending an OHSC program are not required to wear face masks.

School staff are not required to wear face masks while teaching or caring, but those who wish to do so, can. Visitors and parents on the school site must wear masks when indoors.

STAFFING UPDATE

Due to sudden changes in staffing beyond our control we are in the process of finding suitable replacement teachers for the 1/2 Y class and Visual Arts program. Our rigorous recruiting process takes several weeks to ensure we employ ‘the best of the best’. In the meantime, we have employed excellent Casual Relief Teachers who have worked with us at South Melbourne Park before, Ms Rachelle Frew is taking 1/2 Y and Ms Harriet O’Connor is the temporary Visual Arts teacher.

STATE WIDE TUTOR INITIATIVE PROGRAM

The 2020 school year was an extraordinary and challenging one for every school community. Our students spent much of Terms 2 and 3 learning remotely. We know that the remote learning experience was different for every student. While some students thrived, some students did not engage as fully with remote learning. For most of our students, regular high-quality teaching in 2021 will be enough to help them progress to the expected level of learning. Some students will benefit from additional intensive learning support.

As you may be aware, in response to this, the Victorian Government has invested in the Tutor Learning Initiative Program to enable schools to engage tutors to support students who need extra assistance with their learning. We have employed Ms Lisa Breen as our tutor, she is also our Library Technician. Lisa is familiar with our school and students and we welcome her to this new role. If your child has been identified as needing ‘catch up’ Lisa will be contacting, you shortly with regards to the learning program.

SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS

School Council nominations are invited for vacancies in both the mandated elected parent and the Department of Education and Training (DET) employee categories. Specifically, our School Council is comprised of seven (7) elected parent representatives, one (1) community member, three (3) elected DET employee representatives, and the school principal (ex-officio). All elected representatives are elected for a two-year period with overlapping tenure, so that not all positions are declared vacant in any one year. For 2021, we have three (3) elected parent positions vacant, one (1) community member position and one (1) DET positions.

Retiring members are as follows:

Retiring Members

(parent representatives eligible for re-election

Freya Owen, Kjetil Pedersen, Nicole Le Pou

Retiring Community Members

eligible for re-election

N/A

Retiring Member

DET employee eligible for re-election

Matthew Vines

If you are an enthusiastic parent interested in getting more involved in the school by representing the school community or know someone who is, we would love to hear from you. We are looking for people who are committed to improving the educational outcomes for all students.

Effective councils have a broad range of experience, skills and expertise. Face-to-face and online training is also available to help councillors develop the skills and knowledge for the job. Parents find their involvement satisfying and may find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

For more information on what is involved, see: School Council Information for Parents

In calling for nominations for the vacancies, please note that the appropriate nomination form is available, on request, from the school office or on our school website. Parents can self-nominate using School Council Parent Self-Nomination Form or you can nominate a parent using School Council Parent Nomination Form

In the event that we receive more nominations than vacancies in either category, a ballot will be conducted over a two-week period.

PLEASE NOTE THAT NOMINATION FORM MUST BE LODGED BY 4:00PM THURSDAY 25TH FEBRUARY.

INTRODUCING NEW STAFF

It gives me great pleasure in introducing our new staff to South Melbourne Park learning community. They are all outstanding educators and we welcome them to South Melbourne Park Primary School.

For your information we have published our 2021 staffing list.

Hello, my name is Brianna Stephens and this will be my first year at South Melbourne Park Primary School. I will be with multi-age this year, working in the wonderful Drill Hall with the year 3-6 students. I am excited to be teaching at such an amazing school to inspire the next generation of curious minds. I am very much looking forward to becoming a part of the SMPPS community and continuing to meet more students and their families.

Hi Guys, My name is Andrew Beattie and I am thrilled to be joining the South Melbourne Park family this year. I am certainly looking forward to my year ahead in the 1/2 team, and getting to know all my students and their families. I have been teaching at Blackburn Primary School for the last few years, and I am excited to be a part of such an innovative school this year. Outside of school I love to travel and be in the outdoors, whether that be down at the beach, out camping or hiking in the bush, or in my favourite place the snow!! I look forward to meeting you all and the many adventures ahead.

Hi everyone! My name is Kate Rhind and I am so thrilled to be teaching Prep this year and getting to know the South Melbourne Park Primary School community. I already feel so welcomed by everyone and am eager to see where 2021 will take us! This will be my second year of full time teaching and my first year with Preps, which I am very excited about! For me the best parts of teaching is connecting with my students, guiding them on their learning journey, and having each day filled with smiles, laughter and fun.

Outside of school, I enjoy playing volleyball, rollerblading along the beach, cooking and dancing my heart out to all kinds of music. I am a massive plant lover, and love learning about all my plant babies! I am very passionate about travel, as I have lived, studied and grown up in Scotland, Abu Dhabi, Melbourne and New York (and I can't wait until we can travel once again).

Thank you and I look forward to spending more time with you all!

¡Hola a todos! (Hello to everyone!)

My name is Señora MacKelvie (Mrs MacKelvie). Please call me Maestra (teacher) – this is how many students in Spanish-speaking countries address their teacher in Primary School. I hope you are as excited as I am to be starting Spanish this year. I am part of the Specialist Team at SMPPS and you can get to know me through our section is this newsletter. Gracias!

2021 STAFFING LIST

TEACHER	CLASS
Hasnaa Hamid	0PH
Kate Rhind	0PR
Noha Soulibe	0PS
Dave Webb	0PW
Andrew Beattie	1/2A
Cate Bain-Lowry	1/2B
Emily Kurts	1/2K
Nick Lovett	1/2L
Tiffany Pantana	1/2P
Laura Vallance	1/2V
Rachelle Frew	1/2Y
Bruce Huynh	3/4H
Brianna Stephens	3/4S
Paul Dobney	3/4D

Student News

WHERE CHILDREN LOVE TO BE

WALK | RIDE | SCOOT