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. 

Harmony Week Celebrations

Over the last fortnight, our school celebrated everything that makes USPS such an amazing community to belong to. For parents/carers who attended our Harmony Week celebration you would have no doubt been moved by the 'Acknowledgement of Country' which was written collectively by our student leaders. Our 70 strong school choir delivered some very important musical messages about acceptance, and we ended our fortnight of celebrations with a group of 50 students attending a "King Stingray" music concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (pictured). 

Please take the time to read and acknowledge each section of this newsletter, as we come together to celebrate what it means to 'belong' to the USPS community. 

Annual Report 2022

Each year, DET schools present an Annual Report to the community. This report provides an overview of the school's position from the previous calendar year. 

Once again, our Annual Report highlights the amazing achievements of our school. Sometimes, it can be easy to just 'expect' that all schools perform at the same high standard of Upwey South Primary School- however the academic and wellbeing highlights within the 2022 Annual Report illustrate just how proud we should all feel to 'belong' to such a wonderful school community. 

As a school, we are certainly looking forward to the future so that we may continue to build upon our current achievements. You just need to speak with our students about the exciting elective and specialist agency programs which are on offer in 2023, and you will quickly feel the 'buzz' of positivity and engagement about our future directions. 

A highlight from the 2022 Annual Report is the school's achievement of "Silver Accreditation" in SWPBS, which places our school in the top 4% of government schools across the state. 

Click below to access the 2022 Annual Report: 

Respectful Behaviours within the School Community- DET Policy

Positive school environments are important because everyone has the right to be safe and play a shared role in being respectful. Everyone at school, particularly staff and parents/carers, play a role in making school a better place for learning and work.

Respectful behaviours are important in building strong, healthy and thriving school communities. 

We are very fortunate at Upwey South Primary School that we are able to partner with parents/carers to support each other if challenging times arise for a child or family. This is a noted strong point of our school community, and one which we work hard to maintain. 

The expected standards of behaviours apply to different school settings. This includes at school events, camps, excursions, outdoor activities, online learning and other places online related to schools.

Parents/Carers are expected to maintain positive relationships within online spaces. Making comments about confidential wellbeing matters in online forums (such as Facebook chat groups) does not model the values and behaviours we are teaching our students. 

Please refer to the below link, which details the DET policy for Respectful Behaviours. 

Staffing Update- Business Manager

This week we welcome to our staff team Mrs Janet Young, who has been appointed as our school's substantive Business Manager. 

Janet comes to our school with a wealth of experience in leading the business, operational, and financial portfolios across a number of primary schools throughout her career. Most recently, Janet has held the position of Business Manager at Lysterfield Primary School. 

We also take this opportunity to acknowledge the services of Paula Lee, who fulfilled the role of Business Manager over the last two years at Upwey South Primary School. Paula was instrumental in overseeing recent VSBA facilities improvements, was heavily involved in the school review process, and managed the school through both remote-learning and the return to on-site learning. We thank Paula for everything she has helped our school to achieve throughout her journey with us. 

Celebrating Student Achievements

The following pages of this newsletter are full of celebrations of learning, within and beyond the classroom. 

Congratulations to Lily H. who was selected as the winner of a recently held community Easter colouring competition. . 

We have the most amazing students at Upwey South Primary School, and quite often their brilliance extends beyond the boundaries of our school fence. With community sport, artistic endeavors and other events back in full-swing we are wanting to use our newsletter as another chance to celebrate the achievements of our students beyond the school gates. 

If you know of a student who has achieved something beyond the school gates which should be celebrated, please email damien.kitch@education.vic.gov.au 

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 2023, and welcome your input: 

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

Janet Young (Business Manager) upwey.south.ps@education.vic.gov.au

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