Dear Parents and Friends,

Welcome back to school and to our brand new iNewsletter! This new format will allow you to peruse our newsletter on any platform in an easy to read manner. Additionally, it can be translated by easily selecting your preferred language at the bottom of the page. We hope you enjoy it! We have had such a wonderful start to school, and we are so excited for the year ahead. Thank you for having your children ready to go from the very first day of term.

Xīn nián kuài lè! We would like to wish you all a happy lunar new year! We hope that our entire community has much joy, happiness and peace this upcoming year.

Welcome to our 2023 Preps!

It was so lovely to see our youngest students commence their school journey last Thursday. The very first day of Prep is an important time in a child’s life and a beautiful experience for the entire family. Our Prep students have settled into school extremely well and we could not be happier. Our Prep class will graduate from secondary school in 2034. We wonder how much school will change for them during this exciting journey. Please see some photos of our Prep students enjoying their first day at school below.

Welcome to our new staff!

We warmly welcome (L-R) Steve Coutts (Performing Arts), Christina Demetriou (Gr 3), Felicity Lim (Gr 2), Alice Kirby (Prep), Katie Godfrey (Office Administration), and Anne Sommerville (Gr 6) to the TPPS community. All new staff members have settled in very well and we are so pleased to have them on board.

We are extremely pleased that we have appointed Narelle Sime to the vacant Gr 4 position and a commencement date will be announced shortly.

Parents & Friends Association Family Twilight Night Monday, 27th February: 5.00 to 6:30pm

The PFA warmly invite all families to our Family Twilight Night on Monday, 27th February. Families can bring a picnic dinner and enjoy the company of our community on the front oval. The team from ‘Proactivity’ will be running sports activities for the children between 5:30pm and 6:30pm.

Please see the PFA section of this newsletter for more information. Please note – this is an alcohol free event.

Student Attendance – Every Day Counts!

In 2022 Templestowe Park PS had 15% of our 568 students absent for 30+ days and 22% miss 20-29 school days. This means that 37% of our students missed at the very least, four weeks of school in 2022. If this pattern continued over thirteen years of school, a student would miss over 1 year of schooling. Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading. Additionally, student relationships suffer and many children feel extreme anxiety if they are continually late or absent.

This is obviously a major concern for our school so we have made it a major part of our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan to reduce student absences and improve punctuality. TPPS will implement a new whole school initiative to improve attendance and punctuality in 2023.

Please see the Attendance section of this newsletter for helpful information about improving attendance and punctuality. If you require any assistance at all, please contact your child’s classroom teacher for advice.

We look forward to working closely with families to ensure that our students are attending school regularly and experiencing success in all aspects of school life.

Getting to Know You Parent/Teacher Meetings

Please keep free the afternoon and evening of Wednesday February 22nd for Meet the Teacher Interviews for Year 1 to 6 families. This is the opportunity for parents to meet their child's 2023 classroom teacher. Being so early in the year, this discussion is not based on academic progress, it is simply a chance for teachers and parents to learn more about each other in order to help your child settle in quickly to the new school year. All bookings for the interviews will be made on Compass for February 22nd, from 1.30 pm – 7 pm. If work commitments prevent families from attending onsite for these discussions, an online option will be provided. More information will be posted on Compass in the near future about when bookings can commence. Please note, making a booking on Compass will be required regardless of the conversation being face to face or online.

Term 1 Curriculum Overviews – Published via Compass: Friday 10th February (Today)

Term 1 curriculum overviews for all year levels will be forwarded to parents via Compass today. We have changed the format of our overviews to provide a more succinct document with recommendations of what you can do at home to support your child’s learning.

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

Prep 2023 Information Night for Parents: Monday 20th February 5-6pm

The Prep 2023 information night for parents is being held on Monday 20th February at 5:00pm in the school library.

At this meeting the Prep teachers will explain the teaching and learning program in Prep, the specialist teaching program and how to support your child at home. We will also provide an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have.

More information regarding the night can be found on the Prep Compass News Feed.

Parking Around the School – It is all of our responsibility to keep our students safe

As with all primary schools in our area and across Victoria, there are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of students and parents converging on a very small area within a twenty-minute period. There will always be congestion, this is simply a fact of life. The safety of our students and community is paramount so please follow all road rules and parking guidelines.

We are very lucky to have multiple entry points to the school and a very accommodating Greek Church that allows us to use their carpark throughout the day. All parking and drop off information can be found in the ‘Parking Around TPPS’ document. This document is permanently kept in the Community Section of Compass (choose School Documentation from the drop-down menu, then School Community Information, then click on the document).

2024 Prep Enrolments

For 2024 Prep enrolments, a new process is being rolled out across the State. Please click on the link below to see a guide to the new process, which commences at the beginning of Term 2. The new application forms will be available for download from this time and applications will need to be made by Friday 28th July. Existing TPPS families will have priority, but it would be extremely helpful if current families could enrol as early as possible next term, so that we can identify how many places will be available for new families. Given the nature of the new process, we would be very happy if families could simply call the office in the meantime and advise us if you have a child that will be commencing in 2024.

2023 School Council Elections

In the coming weeks all families will receive information about the possibility of nominating for our School Council. Participation in the School Council is open to all parents and members of the community. Membership of the School Council provides a great opportunity to be a part of future school directions and to assist in providing the best possible learning opportunities for our students.

If you would like further information about School Council and its processes, please do not hesitate to contact Mark Roberts.

Treats for Student Birthdays

At Templestowe Park we do allow students who are celebrating a birthday to bring in a small, individually-sealed treat to share with their classmates at the completion of the school day. If you wish to do this, please ensure that the treat is completely nut free and it is only a single small portion. Lolly bags or gifts are not permitted.

It is perfectly acceptable not to bring in treats and we will celebrate each child’s birthday in the class by singing 'Happy Birthday' to them. As a school we never supply food or drink as rewards for students. School-wide rewards systems include certificates, ribbons, class games, etc.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Single use plastics - banned in Victoria

The Victorian Government has banned the use of single use plastics. This includes the use of plastic forks and spoons. We are unable to supply this cutlery to students if they forget. If your child does require cutlery for their lunch, please ensure that you pack it in their lunch box.

Accident Insurance

The Department of Education (DOE) does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs. DOE (which includes the school) does not offer replacement of personal items which are brought to school and are lost, broken or stolen. Sentimental or expensive belongings and toys, including sports equipment and electronic devices, are normally best left at home.

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 in the School Documentation of Compass.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education 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 Workspace 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:

Amharic
Arabic
Dari
Gujarati
Mandarin
Somali
Sudanese
Turkish
Urdu
Vietnamese

Take care and have a great weekend!

Mark Roberts Brian Cleary Robyn Twyford

PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

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