From The Principals

Welcome back to school and to Term 3! We are half way through the year now, and as we head in to Semester 2, there are so many things on the horizon for the students and community of Vermont Primary School. 

Over the holidays, we have had news of some changes to our school. Mrs Yvonne Smith, our Indonesian teacher has decided to finish up her time at Vermont Primary School. We thank Bu Smith for her many years of service to our school and its community, and for her work championing the Indonesian language and the benefits of engaging in learning that expands our cultural understanding. We wish her well with her future endeavours. We will be using the start of this term to undertake a recruitment process to find another LOTE teacher for the remainder of 2023, and look to make more permanent decisions about the language program in 2024.

We have also had the sad news that Carly Cassidy, our Chaplain is also finishing up her chaplaincy work in the next few weeks. Carly is taking up a position with Global Missions to work alongside others to co-ordinate support for communities, a cause that is so close to Carly's heart. We thank Carly for all her outstanding work with our students, staff and community and wish her all the best as she takes on this next exciting chapter of her life. 

Changes to assembly

This term, we have decided to trial a new format for our assemblies. We will be alternating our whole school assemblies with Sub-School assemblies, with students from Foundation - Year 2 one week, and Students from Years 3-6 on the other. The purpose of this is to allow us to tailor our messages for students to be more age appropriate, to speak about things that are of particular interest to different areas of the school and to provide more students with an opportunity to build their leadership experiences. It will also allow us to celebrate students who are receiving Student of Month awards more enthusiastically. 

Below is the fixture for Term 3s assemblies. As always, we encourage parents to come along to any of them. 

 NAPLAN

Ahead of NAPLAN results for students being released from Monday 17 July 2023, I’m writing to inform you of some changes to this year’s reporting. These are changes being introduced nationally by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

NAPLAN will continue to measure student achievement in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation but the results will now be presented in 4 proficiency levels:

These are:

· exceeding

· strong

· developing

· needs additional support.

This change will give schools, parents and carers clearer information that details student achievement against new proficiency levels.

Students’ NAPLAN reports will continue to show how they are tracking against their peers and provide an indication of their skill levels against national averages and where we would expect them to be in order to get the most out of schooling. This provides valuable information to teachers about how we can continue to support your child.

Each set of NAPLAN results is an important milestone but it’s also important that students know that one result does not define them – these results are about making sure every student gets the support they need so they can continue to get the best from their learning.

When we provide you with your results, you will also receive information about what the new proficiency levels mean.

As ever, you’re welcome to speak to me, or your child’s teacher with any questions about these changes.

2024 Enrolments

As we begin to start making plans for our 2024 arrangements, we remind families who may still be waiting to enrol students for Foundation next year to submit their application as soon as possible. Offers of enrolment will be commencing soon, so it would be great to have received all incoming enrolments in the next few weeks. If you have any questions in regards to enrolling your child, please contact Krystal in the office, or email at 1022-vpsenrolments@schools.vic.edu.au 

Pyjamaflix 

On the last day of Term Two, the Student Council Representatives organised a special day called Pyjamaflix. it was a sea of colour as the children, teachers and the principals wore their pyjamas to school and watched a movie of their choice with the whole school. Special thank you to Miss Strachan, Mrs Fuller, Mrs Battle and Mrs Lumley and the Student Council representatives for organising such a terrific day!

NAIDOC Week - Assembly

Our first assembly this term was a very special one. We celebrated NAIDOC Week with some presentations and examples of some tasks our Foundation, Year 2 and Year 4 children completed.   In addition Carly and Miss Fletcher created, directed and helped the Year 5 and 6 Drama Group to deliver a very entertaining and informative performance to the whole school. 

Thank you to Mrs Moore for her coordination of this assembly and the teachers in the Humanities team for their efforts involved with the planning. Here are some photos of events and presentations from the assembly. Well done to everyone involved. 

Interschool Winter Sport

Yesterday, the Year 5 and Year 6 students participated in their Interschool Winter Sports. There were so many excited students and teachers ready to have some fun with their peers whilst representing Vermont Primary School. A HUGE thank you to our Sport Teacher Clinton Walsh for all of his meticulous organisation before and on the day and for providing this opportunity for our students. Thank you to all the teachers that attended. It was a cold day, but smiles all round! We look forward to their next sporting adventures. 

Parent Teacher Interviews

Important dates to add to your diaries are Monday 4th of September and Tuesday 5th September. These are the dates set for the next official Parent Teacher Interviews. Once again you will have the choice of meeting face to face with your child’s teacher or online over Zoom.  We will be sending home details in a few weeks of how and when you can book a suitable time and day via the Sentral Booking System.

Community Network Update

The members of our Community Network have been busy. Not only have they been enjoying time meeting with the Principals, they have been organising coffee meetings after assemblies, coffee vans and the upcoming Father's Day Stall.

Please note that we have a coffee van CAFE2U visiting Vermont Primary School on Friday the 4th of August. It will be there from 8:15am till approximately 9:15am. The members of the Community Network would love you to come along, purchase a hot drink, or frappe or smoothies of choice and have a  chat. The aim is to meet more of our amazing school community. 

If you thought the Mother's Day stall was great, wait till you see the Father's Day Stall. it will be held over two days on Thursday the 31st August and Friday the 1st September. 

In addition, we invite all father's, grandfathers or special friends to join your child for lunch in our playground on Friday the 1st September. Lunch is at 1:10pm, but this may vary, so closer to this date your child's teacher will confirm their eating time.