Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to our school community as we commence another school year. Over the past weeks, we have seen our wonderful students connecting with old friends, creating new friendships and displaying and adhering to the school’s values. The staff and I have been impressed by the warm welcome and support given to our new staff and students, to ensure they have a successful start to their new school. During my visits around the classroom, I have seen the wonderful support and learning experiences that we offer here at TPS. The staff have been working hard to ensure that our very successful ‘Start Up’ program is implemented and that students are successfully integrated into their new learning spaces and the school.

Parents can help by encouraging every child to have a go at new things and to not be afraid of making mistakes. We all learn through mistakes, and it is having the confidence to try new things that we move out of our comfort zone and build new knowledge and skills.

I look forward to a very successful year for our school community.

At TPS we greatly value the strong partnerships that parents have with our school. Today, at the ‘Meet and Greets’, or at other events such as our community coffee mornings, the welcome picnic, organized meetings, and open mornings/afternoons, are some of the ways to connect with our staff to begin and maintain an effective home/school partnership. Information shared by parents, during these opportunities, assists us to plan for and work as effectively as possible.

Your first point of call for all communication is always your child's classroom teacher, followed by the year-level team leader, then the assistant principals then myself.

In 2023, TPS will continue to be focused on each student’s point of need, building on their current skills and understandings to ensure that every child is successful and grows as a learner. We will look to build on these foundations, with all staff undertaking ongoing evidence-based professional learning in literacy, numeracy and well-being approaches to ensure our work reflects the most up-to-date research.

Staffing and New staff to our school

Please see a full list of staffing for 2023.

Acting Principal	Sharon	Wildermuth
Assist. Principal - Teaching & Learning	Suada	Dzaferovic
Acting Assistant Principal- Wellbeing	Leila	Sheehan
Business Manager	Toni	Hillyer
Office Admin	Edwina	Crossing
Office Admin	Roxana	Brito
00A	Rebeca	Rundell Gomes (Leader)
00B	Katie	Smith
00C	James	Thomas
1A	Ashleigh	Smith (Leader)
1B	Madeline	Paslis
1C	Jonathon	Pepi
2A	Caroline	Walters (Leader)
2B	Cassie	Wilson
2C	Alison	Sparks
3A	Lauren	Ely (Leader)
3B	Vanessa	Stimar
3C	Caroline	Morrison
4A	Sam & Luke	Pallas (Leader) & Fletcher
4B	Aiesha	Shawani
4C	Jo	Rechner
5A	Jess	De Angelis (Leader)
5B	Jen	White
5C	Vanessa	Martelli
6A	Grace	Ratcliffe (Leader)
6B	Emma	Heron
Learning Specialist (Numeracy)	Luke	Fletcher
Learning Specialist (Literacy)	Sam	Pallas
Learning Enhancement	Margaret	Whitford
LOTE	TBA
ART	Michelle	Reynolds
PE	Brent	Chapman
Music	Elizabeth	Exintaris
Netbk Tech	Kevin	Vu
Speech Pathology	Jo	Gimas
OT	Sasha	Wakelin
First Aid	Scarlett	Beaton
Welfare/Wellbeing	Sara	Harris
Library/Teacher Aide	Anu	Velamakanni
Teacher Aide	Tib	Gebreyohannes
	Bianca	Durrant
	Fraser	De Silva
	Tracie	Houston-Walker
	Zack	Roberts
	TBA
Grounds Maintenance	Michael	Redmond

I'm pleased to announce that Leila Sheehan has been appointed as Acting Assistant Principal - Wellbeing and Inclusion for term 1. Leila brings a wealth of knowledge and skill in the area of inclusive practices and well-being and she is looking forward to working with and alongside staff and parents, to ensure that all children achieve their educational and wellbeing at their point of need.

We welcome Education Support staff member, Zac Roberts to our school. Zac loves working in schools and is looking forward to helping students reach their goals. Zac also has a passion for everything that is sport!

We also welcome Fraser who is excited to be joining the Toorak Primary School community!

Fraser's interests include drumming, football (soccer), basketball, AFL, shoes, writing and movies. Fraser loves to have a chat so if you see him in the schoolyard feel free to say hi!

Tutor Program (Learning Enhancement) to Continue in 2023

We are delighted to confirm that our Learning Enhancement Program (previously named Tutor Program) will continue in 2023 because of the state government extending the funding for this program. Many students certainly benefitted enormously from this program last year thanks to the terrific work of our tutors. Mrs. Whitford is continuing to implement this program with the analysing of student data from 2022, to identify small groups of students, already completed. Relevant documentation has been forwarded to relevant families confirming the details of the program. A further intake of students will be selected in term 2 and beyond.

School Council Elections

Information regarding the 2023 School Council election process will be sent to families via Compass in the coming week. I would encourage any interested parent to read over the information and then contact the school for more information, if needed.

The objectives of a school council are to:

assist in the efficient governance of the school
ensure that its decisions affecting students of the school are made having regard, as a primary consideration, to the best interest of the students
enhance the educational opportunities of students at the school
ensure the school and the council complies with any requirements of the Education and Training Reform Act, the Education and Training Reform Regulations, a Ministerial Order or a direction, guideline or policy issued under the Education and Training Reform Act

The School Council election process provides an opportunity to attract members with the skills to assist with school governance. Please look out for this if you think you may be interested in nominating or being nominated.

Playground supervision

Student safety at Toorak PS is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school.

Before school: School grounds are supervised from 8:45 am to 9 am

After school: School grounds are supervised until 3:45pm

Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a before or after-school care program or supervised extracurricular activity). Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after-school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity (i.e., sports practice).

Families are encouraged to contact OSHClub 0n 0423777185 for more information about the before and after-school care facilities available to our school community.

For a copy of our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy is available on our school website. This policy includes our school’s student supervision arrangements across the school day, including before and after school.

Mobile phones and Smart Watches

A reminder that with the introduction of the state-wide policy on Mobile Phones in Victorian Government Schools which was introduced a while ago, all students are required to turn off and hand in mobile phones and smart watches to prevent usage during school hours and so students can focus on their learning. Devices will be placed in a locked cabinet/cupboard at the start of the day and handed back at the end of the day by the staff. A copy of this policy is available on our website. Please discuss this with your child/ren to assist us in following this policy. We thank you for your support in this area.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website (Privacy Collection Policy)

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use technology safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages.

Accident Insurance, Medical Expenses and Ambulance cover

Please note that the Department (which includes our school) does not have accident insurance. Items of personal property that are lost, stolen or damaged at school is not the responsibility of Toorak Primary School or the Department. Staff and students are reminded not to bring items of value to school.

A reminder that parents/carers are responsible for any medical expenses (including ambulance costs) incurred if their child is injured or requires medical treatment or an ambulance, while at school or participating in a school activity.

I also inform you that parents/carers may not be called if an ambulance is required, until after an ambulance is called, depending on the situation. I encourage parents/carers to have up-to-date ambulance cover and medical insurance

Thank you for your continued support and for working with us, to ensure we achieve the best outcomes for your child/children.

Kind regards,

Sharon Wildermuth

Acting Principal

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