Principals' Message

Dear Parents and Friends,

Welcome back to Term 2! We hope you all had a relaxing and very happy Easter!

TPPS has been a hive of excitement over the first week back at school. The rich and challenging learning taking place in our classrooms and specialist classes have been complimented with many different and engaging events. Below is just a snapshot of some of these amazing learning opportunities:

A touching ANZAC commemoration ceremony took place that was led by our Grade 6 students and our talented Grade 6 teacher, Ms Somerville.
House Cross Country was held last Tuesday with all students having a great time and performing extremely well. Thank you to Mr Van Der Pol for his outstanding organisation of the Prep-2 and Grade 3-6 events.
Our Grade 1/2 students have visited Edendale Farm as part of their inquiry titled, ‘How do living things survive?’, and they had a wonderful time. They have also welcomed chicken eggs and chicks to the school and have loved watching them hatch and grow.
Our Grade 5/6 students commenced their Winter interschool sports in our brand-new sports uniforms!
A selection of very enthusiastic and talented Grade 5 students attended the Sir John Monash Science School to participate in Little Scientists, Big Science and Mini Mathematicians sessions.
Our Lawn Bowls team competed in the State Bowls competition.
Over thirty of our highly able Grade 5/6 students have participated in the Victorian High Ability Program in Literacy and Numeracy.

We are so excited about the term ahead. There is even more in store and you can read about it within this newsletter.

Finally, we wish all mothers and special people a very Happy Mother's Day for the 14th. We receive so much support from all parents and carers at TPPS and we appreciate everything you do. We hope you have a great day!

2023 TPPS Writers’ Festival – Library open from 8:30 – 8:50am and 3:30 – 3:50pm every day

The 2023 Templestowe Park Primary School Writers’ Festival will take place from Monday 8th – Friday 12th of May in the Library.

The Library will be open to the community from 8:30 – 8:50am and 3:30 – 3:50pm every day next week so you can read the amazing stories, reports, poems and letters that our students have written in 2023.

The bi-annual Writers’ Festival first took place in 2017 developing into a very popular event on the Templestowe Park PS calendar. The Festival provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate the talented writing of all students and to acknowledge the outstanding young authors we have at our school. Every student, from Grades Prep to 6, submits their very best piece of writing to the festival with all pieces being displayed in the school library for the students and community to read and celebrate.

A selection panel has the opportunity to read all shortlisted student pieces and then select the very best ones to be published in the collected works of the festival. This provides our talented authors with their very first chance of having their work published. Each winner receives a copy of the collected works; we also provide copies for all classrooms, the school library and for the community to purchase.

As part of the Writers’ Festival, all students from Prep – Grade 6 will participate in a writing workshop with author/illustrator, Martin Chatterton. Martin’s workshop will include interactive 'live drawing' and audience participation. He will cover different styles of writing, the telling of tall tales and the elements needed to publish a text. Additionally, some of our talented writers will also participate in a session with internationally acclaimed author, Adam Wallace. Adam is a New York Times, USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author of the 'How to Catch' series.

It is going to be an amazing weeklong celebration of writing at TPPS. Happy 2023 Writers’ Festival!

ANZAC Commemoration

Last Friday, we held a special ANZAC commemoration ceremony. It was wonderful to see many members of our community in attendance. Our Grade 6 students spoke so beautifully about the ANZAC spirit and the sacrifices that so many Australian and New Zealand men and women made so we can live in a free and peaceful country. A special thank you must go to Ms Somerville, who played a beautiful rendition of the Last Post.

Education Week and Open Night – Move, Make, Motivate!

Education Week is an annual celebration of education in Victoria. This year Victoria will celebrate Education Week from Sunday 14 May to Saturday 20 May.

This year’s theme is ‘Active Learners: Move, Make, Motivate’, which celebrates physical activity, hands-on learning and student voice in education. We will once again, have a very special Open Night where we will celebrate hands on and active learning in mathematics. Students will collect an Open Night passport and collect stamps as they visit all the different class and specialist rooms across the school.

More information about these days will be forwarded to you next week.

Open Morning: Wednesday 17th May (9:30am to 10:30am)
Open Night: Wednesday 17th May (5:00pm to 6:30pm)

Baby News

We have had some very exciting news recently. Mrs Sarah Groth and husband Oli, along with big brother Tommy (who just turned 2), have welcomed Layla into their family. We wish them all the very best as they transition to life as a family of four.

I am also pleased to inform the community that Mrs Karabatsos, Mrs LeCerf, Mrs Young and Mrs Cambareri are also pregnant and due to give birth later in the year. There must truly be something in the water at TPPS…

Term 2 Positive Education focus – Gratitude, Empathy and Positive Emotions

As a school we will be focussing on Gratitude, Empathy and Positive Emotions in Term 2. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and having the ability to show appreciation for and return kindness. Having gratitude helps students further develop their positive emotions, resilience, social skills and academic outcomes.

Gratitude can be demonstrated in many ways. It can be shown with merely a simple, verbal “thank you” or it can be indicated by more elaborate practices, like gratitude letters or visits. We will use some of these practices in our newsletters throughout the term.

Gratitude, Empathy and Positive Emotions will be incorporated into our regular classroom programs. Explicit teaching around Gratitude and Positive Emotions will be undertaken once a week in the classroom and during our RRIPO cross-age mentoring sessions.

Term 2 Overview

Term 2 curriculum overviews for all year levels have been forwarded to parents via Compass. Within these overviews you will find out what your child is learning in all curriculum areas, the Positive Education focus for the term, homework requirements, Specialist days and the teachers’ contact details.

All term overviews are permanently kept in the Community Section of Compass (choose School Documentation from the dropdown menu then School Community Information then the year level folder that you wish to access).

Arrival at school – Students can arrive from 8:30am

This is a reminder to all parents that students cannot arrive to school before 8:30am. Yard duty teachers commence supervision at 8:30am. If your child arrives earlier than this, they are not supervised, and the school can take no responsibility for their safety or wellbeing.

Parents are welcome to supervise their child before 8:30am at school. Students can also attend basketball training before this time if it has been organised and there is parental supervision. Thank you for your support with this important child safety issue.

Tricky Talks Interrelate Relationships Family Evening

We had a fantastic online turnout for the Tricky Talks Family Evening last Tuesday night. Over 50 families virtually attended the Grade 3/4 ‘Where did I come from?’ and Grade 5/6 ‘Preparing for puberty’ sessions. In the coming week our Grade 5/6 students will participate in the Interrelate relationships program with their peers.

We would like to thank our community for their enthusiasm and support for such an important aspect of a young person’s education.

Mother’s Day Stall and Coffee Van

A huge thank you to Kirsty Reilly and our PFA who held the Mother’s Day Stall today. Our students had an amazing time choosing that one special gift for their mum or special person. We really appreciate the work that goes into this event. It brings so much joy to our students and families.

Thank you to TeamKids for providing a coffee van on Friday 12th May as a special Mother’s Day gift to our mums and special people.

A Taste of School (Preschool Program)

Our first of two ‘Taste of School’ session for children commencing Prep in 2024 will take place next Tuesday 16th May. These sessions are fast paced, fun and exciting experiences that are specially designed for preschool students. Our young visitors will experience a Visual Arts session with Ms Sumner or a Sport class with Mr Van Der Pol.

We have one more ‘Taste of School’ session in Term 2 on Tuesday 23rd May.

To register your interest in these sessions. Please click on the link below.

https://forms.gle/Jrf5DiPNeSehdssb7

2024 Prep Enrolments Now Open!

Enrolments for Prep 2024 are now open. Please call us at the office to receive an enrolment form or click here to download one online.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to call Katie or Brenda in the school office on 9846 2700.

Facilities Update

Over the school holidays, we laid synthetic grass on our new outdoor seating area in front of the oval. It looks fantastic and will provide a pleasant space to sit during the introduction to Physical Education lessons, during recess and on weekends for our community. We also completed paving, erected new seating, mulched all garden beds, placed sand in our sandpits and undertook a range of general maintenance jobs.

Planning for our brand-new Grade 1/2 playground is underway and we are looking forward to this project being completed in Semester 2. We are extremely proud of our excellent facilities and grounds that our students and community enjoy.

Student Free Day – Monday 22nd May

This is a reminder that Monday 22nd May is a student free day. Our teaching staff will be undertaking professional learning on improving vocabulary in student writing. TeamKids will be providing care on this day and you can book via the link below.

https://www.teamkids.com.au/venues/templestowe-park-primary-oshc/

Coats for Kids

Our PFA have organised a very special collection to assist families in need in Melbourne. The Coats for Kids initiative collects warm coats / jumpers / jeans that your child has outgrown in sizes 2-16. All items need to be freshly washed, in good condition with working zippers, no rips or stains.

We will be collecting them from the school office from May 15th - 26th. A Compass reminder will be published just before this date.

Mark Roberts Brian Cleary Robyn Twyford

PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL