Principal's Message

Please take the time to read each page of our newsletter, as we provide you with information updates across each curriculum area. 

It can be safely said that the dual purpose of the Upwey South Primary School newsletter is to: 

a) provide our community with an overview of what is occurring across the school

b) celebrate student achievements through words and pictures. 

In this edition, we pay attention to a third aspect of what makes our school such an amazing place to belong... and that is the staff of our school. 

Acknowledgement of Staff Professional Trust and Commitment

Whilst we are immensely proud of our students, we begin this newsletter with acknowledgement of, and gratitude for, the highly professional and dedicated staff of our school. 

We know that the staff of our school are committed, professional, predictable, consistent, and well-informed. All of these characteristics and more were recently highlighted as we underwent the final stages of our School Review. As you may be aware from previous communications, school reviews occur every four years in schools, and involve external panel members unpacking the culture, curriculum, and climate of a school community. 

We will receive our formal panel report in early Term Four, following which our staff have dedicated two curriculum days to deep analysis of the report findings. We will certainly share more of this with you over the coming months, however one thing we can share is that our school's continuous improvement journey is well underway; as evidenced by recently released 2022 NAPLAN results which reflect just one small aspect of our school's improvement journey. We have just entered the "top 5" achieving schools across the Outer East (that's out of over 100 schools) for Year Three NAPLAN results...when you add this to our strong Year Five results... now that's impressive! But more on that in future newsletter editions. 

The acknowledgement of our amazing staff is best recognized in the words below which have been provided by our School Council: 

To all of our amazing USPS staff,

The USPS School Council wanted to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of the USPS staff for the immense effort, time and dedication that you have all contributed to our students and community in Term Three, much of it 'over and above' normal working commitments. It has certainly been a busy term and despite the challenges along the way, particularly in recent weeks, you have all continued to 'show up' for the kids. 

From the hours and hours of rehearsals, preparation and execution of another amazing school production, to numerous sporting endeavours and VSSS. All the 'extras' do not go unnoticed and we feel immensely grateful that our students have such a dedicated group of passionate teachers and support staff that inspire, challenge and encourage them to take risks, push themselves to grow and to feel proud of their achievements. 

We hope that you can all enjoy some precious down time in the school holidays with family and friends to rest and recharge- for what will, no doubt, be an exceptionally busy and exciting Term Four!

With deepest thanks from,

USPS School Council 

Sunsmart Hats and Schools

As we enter Term Four, we bring your attention to the importance of our school's Sunsmart Policy. 

Please take the time to read over the attached policy, and be aware that in Term Four all students are required to wear a school branded sunsmart hat when outside. 

or visit the policy directly at: 

http://www.upweysthps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/Sunsmart-Policy.pdf 

Gifted Insights Select Entry Enrichment Program

Gifted Insights Mentoring Gifted Kids at Upwey South Primary School  provides small group enrichment experiences for selected students. Classes are held each Tuesday morning, based in our school library. 

The next unit being held is "Hands-On Equations: Making Algebra Child's Play". 

For further information, or to register for a program, please contact Jennifer 

E: jennifer@giftedinsights.com.au 

M: 0414642560

Further details are below: 

Spotlight on School Policies

Each Department of Education and Training (DET) school is mandated to hold a minimum of eight School Council meetings per calendar year. At each of these meetings, the School Council members oversee the governance of the school; part of which is the updating and publishing of policies which are aligned with DET legal obligations. As these policies are updated, they are distributed to the community via school websites. 

In order to bring these updated policies to the attention of our school community, we will be including a "spotlight on policies" twice per term through our newsletters. 

All School Policies have been updated and are now available on the following link: 

http://www.upweysthps.vic.edu.au/about/upwey-south-ps-policies/ 

Keeping Aware of Information Relating to School

As a school we work hard to keep our families informed of happenings across the school. We acknowledge that receiving information in a timely and consistent manner can help to alleviate the pressures which come from managing a busy family calendar. 

Communicating via Compass

All of our school notifications are sent via the Newsfeed within the Compass app. There is also a calendar of events within the app, which sends push notifications to users to remind them of school events. 

We continue to utilise Compass for families to consent and pay in order for their children to take part in school events. 

In order to filter notifications which are received, you will notice that we send out notifications which are year level specific. This means that sometimes not all notifications are sent to all year levels. 

Administration Reminder

Please be reminded that if you need to collect your child/ren early, please contact the office when you are five to ten minutes away so we can have them at the office for collection.

Communicating with the School Administration Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, and welcome your input: 

Damien Kitch (Principal)  damien.kitch@education.vic.gov.au 

Paula Lee (Business Manager) upwey.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Janette Clarke (Office Manager) upwey.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au