Principal’s Message
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Welcome to Term 2. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and took the opportunity to unwind and prepare for the new school term.
We have a lot happening this term, with our main focus on starting the process for enrolments.
Enrolments
We currently have an enrolment of 315 students and we will continue to grow over the next 2 to 3 years with an expected enrolment of over 1100 by 2026. I have been very impressed with how well our students have adapted to their new surroundings and have no doubt that this will enable us to continue to build a strong culture as we move into the future. Having 5 childcare centres and kindergartens within walking distance will undoubtedly ensure that we are pretty busy for a while yet.
We ask for your help to advertise our great school within the Thornhill Park community and to ensure we are able to enrol all of our new students for 2024 before the end of term 3 to ensure we will have enough teachers to teach our student cohort. We are in the midst of a teaching shortage at the moment and it can be very difficult to acquire new staff, which is why we need to be organised and ensure that people are enrolling as soon as possible.
Prep Information and School Tours
I will be running 3 Prep information sessions and School Tours for prospective Prep parents on Monday 8th May at 9am, Tuesday 16th May at 2pm and Wednesday 24th May at 5pm. Each session will be identical, so parents only need to attend one of these. So far we have about 25 people coming to these events. We want to get that number up to about 50 to ensure we are getting our message out to the community in a consistent way. During these sessions we will discuss what it means to get your child ready for Prep, how you go about the process and take parents on a tour of the school. We look forward to seeing parents on these days and helping to guide you through the process.
Parent Forum
Next Friday 12th May, I will be running a Parent Forum at our school at 9am. This is an optional event and provides parents an opportunity to find out about how our school is going and to provide feedback for future improvements. We would love to have as many parents as are able to participate in this session. More forums will be organised in future terms to ensure we are listening to the community and everyone is feeling informed about the progress of our school.
Uniform
Being a member of the Thornhill Park Primary School Community you are making a commitment to wear our colours with pride. It is therefore important to ensure that students are always wearing their uniforms in a way that shows they are proud of their school. If we notice that this is not the case, teachers will ask students to correct this immediately or they may send a message to parents on Class Dojo to align with our uniform policy.
I have noticed that several students have been wearing their uniform incorrectly at school. Can I please remind you that we require students to be in polo shirts, windcheaters, hoodies, bomber jackets or vests that have the school logo on them. Students may wear a coat or jacket over their uniform on cold days, but must only wear these outside. School beanies are available from the office for $15 and are the preferred items to keep children warm in winter. It is essential that student names are on all items of clothing.
Please be aware that jeans, tracksuit pants with sporting logos, shorts of a different colour and sports branded tracksuit tops are not uniform items and student will be asked to remove these if possible during a school day. Hijabs and turbans, also need to be either light blue, navy blue or grey. Black is not one of our school colours and should not be worn.
Assembly
We love seeing lots of parents at our assembly every Friday afternoon. I would ask that to avoid the chaos that can happen at the end of the assembly that parents move into the gym as far as possible and sit on the bench at the rear of the gym. You are also welcome to walk along the back of the students and stand on the side. Can I please remind everyone to be careful when collecting students as this will become more difficult to manage as we get larger and we need to ensure student safety at all times.
Canteen
We are currently on the lookout for a canteen provider to enable our students to access food for recess and lunch time each day. If this is something that you are interested and have experience in, I would ask that you fill out the Expression of Interest attached to our Social Media, Class Dojo and Compass posts. The successful applicant would need to provide a full and comprehensive plan about what they will provide including a menu, staffing and pricing. Food needs to be aligned with the DET Healthy Eating Policy. We hope to have this up and running within the next couple of months.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Darryl Spiteri
Principal
From the Office
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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 Privacy Collection Notice, also available on our website.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy – information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages.
CAMPS, SPORTS, AND EXCURSIONS FUND APPLICATIONS
Introductions
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Introducing the School Leaders
Hi! We are your School Vice Captains for 2023
Jaskiran K
Hi, my name is Jaskiran, and I am 11 years old. I am the Vice School Captain at Thornhill Park Primary School. In my free time I enjoy drawing and painting. At school, my favourite subjects are Maths and Art. It has been a fun first term as Vice School Captain, I am enjoying doing assembly’s and I am looking forward to term 2.
Melody Y
Hi, my name is Melody and I’m in grade 6. This year was a great opportunity for me to apply as vice captain and fortunately I got the role. One of my favourite parts of having this role is speaking in assembly because it is very fun. I’m looking forward to giving my ideas and thoughts to make this school a better place and hope this will be a great first year of this brand new school.
School News
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INTERSCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY EVENT
Wow, what a great day the Cross Country runners had on Tuesday 2nd of May. The sun was shining and it was a glorious day.
We travelled to Mason’s Lane Reserve in Bacchus Marsh to compete against the other Melton Schools.
24 students were selected to represent Thornhill Park at our very first Interschool Event.
The students were exceptionally well behaved and they did the school proud, showing the school values of Integrity and Persistence. 3km was a long way to run!
There were approximately 18 schools competing with close to 400 students. We competed in Division one of the Melton Primary Schools Sports and finished 8th in Division 1. There were 10 schools in our division.
We had a bit of success with Skyla winning the U10 girls race. Simon finished 7th in the U11 Boys and Chiqueeta finished 10th in the U11 girls. These three students will progress to the next level and compete at the Division Championships. They will be competing on Thursday 25th May back at Mason’s Lane, we wish them every success and I am sure they will do our school proud.
Congratulations to all the students who made the team. You all should be very proud of your efforts.
ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL SURVEY – STUDENT LINK
The Attitudes to School Survey (ATTS) is for all students in years 4 -6 to provide feedback on how you are feeling about your learning, your wellbeing, your teachers and your school.
To complete the survey, you will need your ATSS Student ID and Password. Your teacher will give this to you.
All survey information is confidential and not linked to you as an individual.
Once you have finished the survey, please ensure you submit your responses by selecting “Finished!” before closing your browser.
The link to the survey is: https://www.orima.com.au/atoss
Support information for students:
INTRODUCING OUR NEW SCHOOL MASCOT – RIPWELL THE DRAGON!
After asking our students to come up with a name, Rian in Year 3/4 came up with the chosen response. Ripwell is a name created through a combination of our school values.
R is for Respect.
I is for Integrity.
P is for Persistence.
Well is for Wellbeing.
Well done to Rian for creating history and helping to give our mascot an identity. He was also very proud and brave when he presented the new name of our mascot to the community during our last assembly of the term.
Our Learning
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PREP LEARNING
Last week in Prep we were learning about Anzac Day and, why it is important to pay our respects to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought in wars. We watched video clips and listened to stories about this special day, with a focus on the poppy and a teddy bear named Ted. Here are some photos of the poppies students made by tearing and pasting coloured papers onto the flower.
Mental Health & Wellbeing
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UNPACKING POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Positive mental health and wellbeing is important for your child’s healthy development and learning. It supports them to manage the normal challenges of life.
Environments, experiences, relationships and individual characteristics all contribute to mental health and wellbeing.
For children and teens, wellbeing is supported when they:
- feel valued, loved and safe
- have their basic material needs met
- have physical, mental, emotional and social health
- can learn (in and outside the classroom)
- participate in decision-making
- are connected to their community
- have a positive sense of identity and culture.
MENTAL HEALTH EXISTS ON A CONTINUUM
It can be helpful to think of mental health and mental ill-health as existing along a continuum.
We all move along the continuum as we face challenges and situations that test our capacity to cope and change our mental health. Our mental health can change slowly or quickly.
Most people will experience changes in their mental health at some point during their lifetime. Social, emotional and environmental factors all influence our position along the continuum. Learn more about the mental health continuum.
Even if someone isn’t experiencing mental ill-health, that doesn’t mean their mental health is flourishing. Alternatively, it is possible to be diagnosed with a mental illness and still feel well and function effectively in many aspects of life.
Students of the Week
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Congratulations to the following students who received awards during our assemblies!
Keep up the great work!
Students of the Week – Ending 07/04
| CLASS | TEACHER | STUDENT |
| Prep A | Mrs Nicoll | Serenity M |
| Prep B | Miss Belovitch | Habil M |
| Prep C | Miss Thomas | Ambar K |
| Prep D | Miss Leslie | Saroop S |
| Class 12 A | Mrs Scott | Enayat I |
| Class 12 B | Miss Afxentiou | Siera J |
| Class 12 C | Mr Lindsay | Momcilo B |
| Class 12 D | Miss Duffy | Ayesha T |
| Class 12 E | Miss Trigueros | Richie W |
| Class 34 A | Mr Micallef | Marziya A |
| Class 34 B | Miss Baba | Danielle R |
| Class 34 C | Mrs Cornock | Chinaza K |
| Class 56 A | Ms Fabbro | Mary S |
| Class 56 B | Mr Soumbassis | Beniam W |
| STEM | Mrs Andersen | Prep D |
| ART | Mrs Shoebridge | Class 56 B |
Congratulations to the following students who received awards during our assemblies!
Keep up the great work!
Students of the Week – Ending 28/04
| CLASS | TEACHER | STUDENT |
| Prep A | Mrs Nicoll | Tarj S |
| Prep B | Miss Belovitch | Celina W |
| Prep C | Miss Thomas | Ahemjot S |
| Prep D | Miss Leslie | Sakina H |
| Class 12 A | Mrs Scott | Lucas D |
| Class 12 B | Miss Afxentiou | Gurneet K |
| Class 12 C | Mr Lindsay | Amayra K |
| Class 12 D | Miss Duffy | Melina Y |
| Class 12 E | Miss Trigueros | Manroop K |
| Class 34 A | Mr Micallef | Aroohi A |
| Class 34 B | Miss Baba | Gurneet K |
| Class 34 C | Mrs Cornock | Grace F |
| Class 56 A | Ms Fabbro | Shadrach D |
| Class 56 B | Mr Soumbassis | Simon A |
| STEM | Mrs Andersen | Class 56 A |
| ART | Mrs Shoebridge | Class 12 B |
| PE | Mrs Payton | Class 12D |
| Music | Mr SantaLucia | Prep B |
Congratulations to the following students who received awards during our assemblies!
Keep up the great work!
Students of the Week – Ending 05/05
| CLASS | TEACHER | STUDENT |
| Prep A | Mrs Nicoll | Prince N |
| Prep B | Miss Belovitch | Asees K |
| Prep C | Miss Thomas | Arwa J |
| Prep D | Miss Leslie | Riyaazpreet K |
| Class 12 A | Mrs Scott | Mehtaab |
| Class 12 B | Miss Afxentiou | Jezreel G |
| Class 12 C | Mr Lindsay | Ebubechuka K |
| Class 12 D | Miss Duffy | Dhriya M |
| Class 12 E | Miss Trigueros | Sai M |
| Class 34 A | Mr Micallef | Liem W |
| Class 34 B | Miss Baba | Holy L A C |
| Class 56 A | Ms Fabbro | Sophia M |
| Class 56 B | Mr Soumbassis | Jashan S |
| STEM | Mrs Andersen | Class 12 C |
| ART | Mrs Shoebridge | Class 34 A |
| Music | Mr SantaLucia | Class 34 B |
Celebrations
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Congratulations to the following students who celebrated a birthday in April!
We hope you had a lovely day!
Important Dates
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School Term 2
Monday 24 April 2023 – Friday 23 June 2023
May 11th – Mother’s Day Stall
May 14th – May 20th – Education Week
2024 Preps Enrolments – School Tours & Information Sessions
- Monday 8th May 9am-10am
- Tuesday 16th May 2pm-3pm
- Wednesday 24th May 5pm-6pm
School Term 3
Monday 10 July 2023 – Friday 15 September 2023
School Term 4
Monday 2 October 2023 – Wednesday 20 December 2023
Community News
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Martial Arts School
Specialising in kids karate classes for primary age children. Our aim is to increase personal confidence, and improve the physical and mental health of the children.
For more information:- https://artofdefence.com.au/karate/kids-karate/
AINTREE GIANTS
If you have a little champion looking to join a local sporting club.
Aintree Football Club are looking for little Giants to fill our Under 8s and 10s teams!
No experience is necessary, just an enthusiasm to join a team!!!
Please contact Aintreefc@hotmail.com or Nathan 0402 785 957 with your interest.
#MightyAintreeGiants #Giants #AintreeFC #Aintree #Woodlea
Aintree Football Club | Facebook
