Spring Gully Primary School - Be Awesome

Principal's Report

Be Awesome Day

Tuesday 15th of November will be our Be Awesome Day this year. For an added bit of fun, our students will be running show stalls in a student led ‘Show Day’.

 

In order for our kids to run stalls successfully, we need the help of our fabulous parent community! We require donations of various goods and prizes. In your children’s cohort newsletters this week (Prep, 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 pages in the newsletter), you will find requests for donations from each class. If you are able to help out, please bring donations into your child's (or any relevant class you can help) classroom(s) by Friday, 11th of November. 

 

Part of the day will be a sausage sizzle lunch! We will be looking for parent volunteers to help cook and serve the sausages on the day. Please leave your name and phone number with Wendy, Jayme or Sonia if you are able to help!

 

Details will come out via Compass shortly detailing ticket arrangements!

 

We thank you in advance for your support with this.

Grandparents' Day

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Grandparents' Day. As mentioned in a recent Compass alert, Grandparents (or special friends) are welcome anytime between 11am and 2pm. This will allow them to enjoy morning tea with their grandchild/grandchildren before joining them in their classroom to participate in an activity. Alternatively, they can visit the classroom at some stage between 11.30am and 1pm and then stay and enjoy lunch with their grandchild/grandchildren. If the grandparents pack their recess and lunch, they can stay for both!

 

We will provide tea, coffee and a light morning tea for our visitors in the art room.

SWPBS

I have really enjoyed the opportunity to have lunch in the staff room recently with Blake and Lenny. They have both been collecting lots of GuGu stickers, by working hard and showing all of our School Values. As a result of their hard work, they decided to 'cash in' 50 stickers so they could eat lunch with me. I felt very privileged that they wanted to do this but I also felt some pressure to make eating lunch with me feel like it was worth 50 stickers!

 

Blake and I had a great chat, while Lenny decided to take me on in a game of Uno, which he won!

 

I also had the pleasure of having Pearl and Hadley as my assistants for the day recently, having also used 50 stickers each for this reward. Although they had a rough start to the day (see picture below), it certainly finished well with a visit to the cafe.

 

Thanks to all of our students for demonstrating our School Values each day. Ask your child what they are hoping to 'spend' their stickers on.

Teddy

Teddy is enjoying spending each day at school, as evidenced by the photos below!

World Teachers' Day

Tomorrow is World Teachers’ Day. As many of you are aware, all Spring Gully teachers are very dedicated and they continue to provide great support to their students (and their families). Brett and I are very proud of each and every one of them.

 

Thanks to those families who have expressed their gratitude towards their child’s teacher/s. Your ongoing support and appreciation are always well received.

2023 Prep Information Evening   

We will be holding our Prep Information Evening on Wednesday 9th November at 6.30pm. This session is being held at school for the parents of our confirmed 2023 Prep cohort. The aim of the evening will be to provide information to parents that will assist in making their child’s transition into school life as smooth as possible.

2023 Placement Requests

Throughout the rest of October and November we will continue to work on our class structures and student combinations for next year. 

 

In the past we have worked to ensure friendship groups remain together in some capacity, however, it is equally important to recognise the need to establish productive environments that support learning, as well as maintaining or building new friendship groups. If there are any concerns about friendship placements for students in 2023, please let me know in writing or via email Francis.Trezise@education.vic.gov.au by Friday, 11th November.  No late requests will be considered.  Please note that it is not possible for parents to request specific teachers, as it would be impossible to accommodate all requests. Our process is to develop matched classroom groups, based on social and educational needs, and then we match teachers to each class.  In this way, all classes are developed equally. 

 

Currently we do not know who will be teaching which grades next year and several factors will determine how this is finally decided.  Our Prep teachers will be confirmed before the Prep Information Night on Wednesday 9th November.

Staffing News

We recently made the following teacher appointments for 2023.

  • Natalie Todeschini (currently teaching Grade 1/2)
  • Kelly Byron (currently teaching Grade 5/6)
  • Jade Patrao-Hurley (currently employed as an ES teacher)
  • Georgia Mortlock (currently employed at Carisbrook PS)

Congratulations to all of the above-mentioned people. This finalises our classroom teacher appointments for 2023. To finalise all recruitment for next year, we will soon be advertising the LOTE position and the Social Worker position. 

Our Sympathy

I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of David Meade. David was a former parent of Spring Gully Primary School, having had his two wonderful boys, Jack and Billy, educated here.

 

On behalf of our staff and the broader school community, I would like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to Paula, Jack and Billy.

REPEAT NOTICES

Final Curriculum Day for 2022

Our final curriculum day for 2023 will be held on Wednesday 16 November. I will contact Camp Australia and see if they can offer a service on this day.

Change of Plans for 2023

Accurate enrolment numbers are crucial when it comes to planning for 2023.  If your child/children will not be with us next year, please contact your child’s teacher or the office as soon as possible.