Principal's Report

Pakenham Springs Primary School acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the land on which the School stands.

Welcome back to Term 2. 

I hope you all enjoyed a restful school holiday and Easter break and an unusual start to the term with two public holidays in week 1. 

On Friday all our staff participated in Cultural Understanding and Safety Training and also completed some work towards our whole school review.  2019 is our 'review' year as we complete our strategic plan and set new goals for the next 3 years at Pakenham Springs. This is a great opportunity to reflect on our achievements and plan to continue to strengthen and improve our school. 

Some of you may have seen our school mentioned in the Herald Sun over the holidays.  Pakenham Springs made the media for our exceptionally high growth in reading in the 2018 NAPLAN results. This is great news and acknowledgement as we head into the 2019 NAPLAN testing.   During weeks 4 and 5 students in Year 3 and Year 5 will participate in the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).  

These tests are a great way to track how we as a school are travelling and inform our future priorities.  Classroom teachers are preparing the students in the lead up to give them the skills to undertake the tests.  This will hopefully relieve any uncertainty some children encounter and set them up to do their best – especially if it is the first time that they have encountered the tests.  It is important to remember that the NAPLAN assessments are a measure of the skills developed over a student's time at school, not just in the weeks leading up to the tests.  Tests will be administered by the grade teachers in normal classrooms. 

Parent Teacher Interviews

As you will be aware, Parent Teacher Interviews will be held on Tuesday 7th May.  We have had a great response to our booking system in Compass.  If you haven't booked a time, please do so on Compass as soon as possible or phone the school office if you are having difficulties making a booking on-line.

Yakkerboo

Thank you to our Community team who organised the Pakenham Springs Primary School float in the local Yakkerboo  Festival.   This was a great opportunity for some of our students to get involved in this community event.  The students represented our school and did our school proud. 

An event like this can only be done with staff going above and beyond and giving up their time.  We are so lucky to have teachers who are more than willing to do this to provide opportunities for our students. 

Don't Miss Out!!

Please make sure you keep an eye on the 'Upcoming Events' page of the newsletter for all the important dates, including Parent Teacher Interviews, Camps and our final Curriculum Day for 2019.

Kerryn Baillie

Principal