We have made it to the end of our second year as a school community. What a fantastic ride it has been so far. We have experienced a number of firsts again this year including our first Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 camps and participation in a number of interschool sporting events for our older students. Our school continues to grow and strengthen and it is truly a wonderful place to be with excellent students, brilliant staff and a very connected and supportive community of parents, grandparents and friends. School is almost finished for the year, so on behalf of all the staff here at Thornhill Park PS I wish all of you a safe and prosperous holiday. We will see all of our current students back on Thursday 30th January 2025 and our new Preps will start on Monday 3rd February. Happy Holidays!
End of Year Celebration, Awards and Raffle
A reminder that our End of Year Celebration will take place next week on Wednesday. Gates will open at 4.30pm. Food trucks will be on site for you to purchase food for the event. Students will learn a performance at the end of this week and present this with other students on the night. This night is also our official Awards Night where students receive awards for excellent work they have done over the course of the year. We will also be announcing our Student Leadership Team for 2025 on this night. We encourage everyone to come along and bring a blanket or some chairs. We would ask that you consider the view that others may have when you find your spot. There is plenty of room on the soccer pitch. We would also ask that you supervise your children if they move to the play equipment over the night. We expect our students to remain where they are seated for the duration of the night to acknowledge students from other year levels who may receive awards and to watch other performances. This is a No Alcohol event, so anyone with alcohol will be asked to dispose of it or leave the premises. We are looking forward to celebrating 2024 with you all. Raffle prizes will be drawn during the day and announced on this night. Tickets are still available if you would like to win one of our many fantastic prizes including a Nintendo Switch and an electric scooter.
Year 6 Graduation and legacy Item
We would like to congratulate our Year 6 students who will be having their Graduation ceremony this evening in the gym. We wish them every success as they move onto Secondary School and beyond. We will be keenly tracking the progress of our future Astronauts, Footy Stars and Doctors. We hope that their time at Thornhill Park has helped them on their way to achieving their dreams. The Year 6s have also finished the year off by providing a ‘Legacy Item’ that will remain at the school for many years to come. The new ‘Friendship Bench’ will be available for use soon and will be a constant reminder of our 2024 Year 6 cohort, just as the upright sleepers near the staff car park are a reminder of our Year 6 cohort of 2023.
Whole School Step Up Day
On Tuesday 10th December we had our whole school Step Up Day, where students visited their new classes and met their teachers. There were unfortunately a couple of teachers who are yet to join us, but they will be with us next year. These classes are subject to change as we have needed to adjust a few due to siblings and relatives being in the same classroom. There may also be a teacher change between now and the start of next year as we are still hiring in a very difficult environment in terms of teacher shortages. We will inform you through Class Dojo in January if your child will have a different teacher, so that you may prepare them for the change.
Teaching Roles for 2025
Please note that these are subject to change as we are still employing staff for 2025
Prep – Amy Layton, Maria Afxentiou, Ailbhe Mahoney, Darcy Wilson, Tanya Scott, Bella Trigueros, Damien Razmovski and Ashleigh Caulfield
Year 1 – Robyn Forsyth, Madeleine Thompson, Renee Andrews, Jazmin Bencich, Mackenzie Whiteside, Amber Leslie and Fiona Milburn
Year 2 – Lucy Bull, Casey MacLean, Victoria Thomas, Kathy Aliste and Matt Fenech
Year 3/4 – Sargon Barkho, Jasmine Shawel, Joshua Eldon, Jay Smith, Monika Hackworthy, Olivia Tedesco, Mark Micallef and Elizabeth McKay
Year 5/6 – Ange Soumbassis, Ann Fabbro, Claire Bennington, Scott Lindsay, Julian Cassano and Tiffany Matthewman
PE – Damien Ford and Marc Luca
Art – Sally Shoebridge and Kate Belovitch
STEM – Erica Andersen and TBD
Performing Arts P-2 – Pauline Falls
Multimedia 3-6 – Victor Pody
New Staff for 2025
Keep an eye on our socials for all the 21 new staff who will be joining us in the new year. We are a growing school and need lots of new people to ensure we are continuing to have a positive impact on students at Thornhill Park. We welcome all of these new people –
Andrea Pryslipski – School Nurse (started)
Claire Bennington – Year 6 teacher (started)
Darcy Wilson – Prep teacher (started)
Ailbhe Mahoney – Prep teacher (started)
Emma Stott – Leading Teacher Wellbeing
Joshua Eldon – Year 3/4 teacher
Damien Razmovski – Prep teacher
Amy Layton – Prep teacher
Ashleigh Caulfield – Prep teacher
Madeleine Thompson – Year 1 teacher
Renee Andrews – Year 1 teacher
Mackenzie Whiteside – Year 1 teacher
Fiona Milburn – Year 1 teacher
Elizabeth McKay – Year 3/4 teacher
Melanie Matsakos – Education Support
Steven Chalker – Education Support
Manju Garg – Education Support
Tina Iannunzio – Tutor Learning Initiative and classroom teacher
Afroditi Mackie – Education Support
Doris Ogliarolo – Education Support
Harjit Kaur – Education Support
Departures and Leave
Jeeven Singh will be leaving us at the end of the year to take up a position on the other side of the city. We wish Jeeven and her family all the best. Sinead Duffy will be on leave for 2025 and Chris Moed until Term 3. We look forward to welcoming them back after their time away from our school in 2025. Tamara Nicoll will be returning for the first couple of days of the year and will then be taking family leave for the birth of her first child. We look forward to meeting ‘mini Nicoll’ in the new year.
Last Day of School
The last day of school will be on Friday 20th December. We will have an assembly at 12.15pm and dismiss students for the holidays at 12.30pm. Please ensure you collect your children on time on this day.
We hope you have a great holiday and we will see you all back at our wonderful school in 2025.
Darryl Spiteri
Principal
Thornhill Park PS