School Leadership Message 

 

Reports

The Student End of Year Reports are now in the final stage of review and these will be ready for release on Friday, 14th of December. Each student’s report provides great detail about their individual learning growth throughout the year. Please take time to share the many successes in the report with you child.

Staffing News

The end of each school year is a time of significant staff movements in all schools as teachers seek promotion, relocation or a new challenge. For some teachers, the movement is related to their growing family. While the movement out of Mount View will be seen by some parents as a concern I believe that movement brings opportunity for renewal and invigoration. As new teachers come into Mount View they bring their enthusiasm and experience to our school. This enables the school to continue to innovate and improve while building on the established and highly regarded International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme.

On behalf of the Mount View community I would like to thank the following people for their wonderful contribution to our school over many years. Congratulations to those who have gained promotion positions in government schools.

Alison Rees has been promoted to the Principal position at Templestowe Valley PS. Alison has been an Assistant Principal at MVPS for nearly ten years and she can be very proud of her work leading the school to becoming an IB World School. I am certain that Templestowe Valley will thrive under Alison’s leadership.

Kellie Stewart will be taking twelve months leave to be the Acting Assistant Principal at Jells Park PS. Kellie has been teaching at MVPS for eighteen years in a wide range of roles. Since taking on a Learning Specialist/Team Leader role this year Kellie has sought and achieved a significant advancement in responsibility in education. This is a wonderful opportunity for Kellie to build her leadership skill set to benefit government education.

A number of teachers have been recruited to other IB schools in recognition of their high level expertise in IB PYP pedagogy. I have granted twelve months leave for each of these teachers to experience teaching in other school settings.

Eamon Halliday and Kate Osborn will take up opportunities to teach at Caulfield Grammar in Malvern. Brianna Lee will take up a teaching position at St Leonard’s College. Each of these teachers have been valued and highly effective teachers at MVPS and we wish them every success as they broaden their experiences in education within the IB PYP network. Tracey Diedrich will take up a classroom teaching position at Wesley College. Tracey has made a wonderful contribution to MVPS as both a classroom and PE teacher.

A number of teachers will be taking the opportunity to craft their specialist teaching expertise in other government schools. Jude Insole will be taking up the Visual Arts position at Hartwell PS. Jude can be very proud of the manner in which she has taught and inspired the students to do their very best in Visual Arts. The high quality of work displayed by students at all levels is testament to Jude’s great work. Simon Orenshaw has completed a very successful first year in teaching and he will take up the Physical Education role at Bayswater PS. Rebecca Lim will take up an opportunity to extend her time fraction teaching Mandarin at Waverley Christian College. We thank Rebecca for her enthusiasm and energy in teaching Mandarin at MVPS over many years.

Teachers who will each commence a period of family leave from Mount View include Kayleigh McCabe and Vanessa Ng. We wish them both all the very best as they begin a new phase of family life. Their contribution to MVPS has been of great benefit to so many students and we look forward to seeing them with their babies during 2019.

Some teachers will be leaving Mount View having completed the 2018 school year in order to take up a range of teaching opportunities as they arise in 2019. On behalf of the Mount View community I thank you for a fine year as part of the MVPS team and wish you all the very best as your careers develop through a range of schools and experiences. Teachers leaving Mount View to take up a range of roles include Kate Kenna, Helena Gong, Monica Liang and Mark Coulston.

New Teachers

Those teachers who are beginning their teaching careers are supported in a number of ways in order that they are able to readily meet the high professional standards required at our school. Each of the graduate teachers are supported through:

• Assignment to a Year Level Team
• Provision of an ongoing mentor
• Participation in the Victorian Institute of Teaching registration program
• Dedicated weekly planning time
• Collegiate coaching provided by John Kennedy
• Participation in the ‘Making the PYP Happen’ Program

We are very pleased to welcome a group of teachers who are new or returning to Mount View:

• Cheryl Reynolds – Returning from Milgate PS (IB PYP)
• Stephanie Loh – Transferring from Murrumbeena (IB PYP)
• Joshua Hewett – Transferring from Parkdale PS
• Maureen Wai – Returning from Family Leave
• Nikita D’Olivera – Previously completed an internship at Mount View, First appointment
• Ferial Davis – First appointment
• Mikayla Rayside – Previously completed an internship at Mount View, First appointment
• Austin Denys – First appointment
• Nishani Sooknanadan – Transferring from Al Siraat College - Epping, Visual Arts
• Lena Hallion – International School – Singapore (IB PYP)

Teaching Roles in 2019

Classroom Teachers

Prep

Sarah Sakellaris (Learning Specialist) 0.8/Bec Connolly 0.2, Rachel Judd 0.6/Terri Klein 0.4, Jennie Schwab, Joshua Hewett, Rebecca Newman, Rebecca Brown, Christine Locke

Year 1

Kasia Warykowska (Learning Specialist) 0.8/ Samantha Brooks 0.2, Farah Irani, Louise Barrett 0.6/Maureen Wai 0.4, Samantha Karakinos, Bianca Gibbs, Nikita D’Olivera

Year 2

Annalei O’Connor (Learning Specialist) 0.8/ Kylie Browning 0.2, Chris Brown (Literacy Co-ordinator) 0.6/Georgina Forbes 0.4, Kate Hansen, Amelia Thomas, Damon Burns, Ferial Davis

Year 3

Felicity Hall-Shulman (Learning Specialist/ Numeracy Co-ordinator) 0.6/ TBC 0.4, Frances Braithwaite (Literacy Co-ordinator), Rhiannon Hill, Bridie Stillman 0.6/Rebecca Koh 0.4, Nina Chen, Oliver Johnson

Year 4

Jennifer Tran (Learning Specialist) 0.8/Emma Vanin 0.2, Natalie Wynd, Libby Russell, Jessica Deer, Jack Blyth, Lena Hallion

Year 5

Chris Cheverton (Learning Specialist) 0.8/Georgie Kennedy 0.2, Stephanie Loh, Adam Foster, Cheryl Reynolds, Joshua Kamoen, Kieren Hall, Annie Sioras

Year 6

Andrew Levey (Learning Specialist) 0.8/ Avril Burke 0.2, Kate Baxter, Nathan Dunn-Simpson, Liz Anthonisz, Austin Denys, Mikayla Rayside

Teachers of the Deaf

Prep

Jo Daffy, Karen Van Buuren

Year 1

Louisa Mc Kenzie, Lynne Robertson

Year 2

Sara Kenfield (Leading Teacher – Facility Leader)

Year 3

Sharon Dart

Year 4

Jackie Dowling

Year 5 & 6

Jackie Dowling, Kristen Knight, Chris Ketts, Ali Walker

Specialist Teachers

IB PYP Co-ordinator

TBC prior to 21st of December, 2018

English as an Additional Language

Yvonne Allen, Sue Fisher, Deb Osborn

Learning Support

Pam Wilson, Anne Blaser

Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)

Mandy Petch (Leading Teacher – ICT/STEM)

Mandarin

Zi Qing Liu, Yan Ping Xue, TBC

Performing Arts

Laura Dimattina, Caroline Barron

Physical Education, SMP

Merryn Ashcroft, Wayne Schultz, Chris Goldstraw

Visual Arts

Nishani Sooknandan, Angela Pulbrook

Collegiate Coaching

John Kennedy, Chris Goldstraw

Educational Support – Integration Aides

Prep

Sarah Ross, Raelene Turpin

Year 1

Lorraine McLennan

Year 3

Farahana Ekanayake, Lakshmi Guruparan

Year 4

Dina Christou, Lorraine McLennan

Year 5

Megan Kydd, Raelene Turpin

Year 6

Marlene Carson, Jannette Norman

Educational Support – Administration & Resources

Administration

Sharyn Asquith

Business Manager

Joanna Meehan

Human Resources

Lesley Shipston

Finance

Carolyn Goldsmith

Library

Helen Styles

STEM Resourcing/Staff Support

Ursula Czaikowski

Teacher Support

Helen Barry, Claire Pask (TBC)

Student Services

Speech Pathology – Debbie Brewster, Genevieve Price

Social Worker - Ellen Kennedy

Health Centre

Nurse – Carol Pickford, Alison Tong

ICT Support

Phil Tang

Chris Despotidis

Facilities & Grounds Maintenance

Tony Lee, Nigel De Kauwe

Executive Leadership

Principal

Glenn Butler

Assistant Principals

Christian Holdsworth

Bianca Gatherum

Classes for 2019

Thank you to all parents who took the opportunity to notify me of any concerns regarding student placement for 2019. From these communications I created a brief summary and directions for the teachers to use when they formed the classes for next year. The teaching teams take into account student academic achievement, friendship, compatibility specific needs and then use the ‘Classmaker’ software to carefully formulate class groups. These class groups are now being reviewed by teaching teams, specialists and school leadership prior publication on Monday, 17th of December.