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

‘New year of learning webpage’

To help parents, carers and students prepare for a new school year, please view A new year of learning | vic.gov.au 

Holidays

We have many families who are going on overseas holidays in the next few weeks and months. Please remember to send an email to the school office and your child’s teacher letting us know your child will be on extended leave.

Leaving/Exits

If your child will not be returning to Thornhill Park Primary School in Term 4, or in 2025, can you please make contact with the school via email Thornhill.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au with your child’s name, year level/class, their final day of attendance, and their destination school.
If you have any questions regarding exits, please contact the school office on 8764 3990.

Congratulations to Prep C who achieved the highest attendance for the week ending  13th December.

Congratulations to 12E who achieved the best attendance for all term 4.  They will enjoy a BBQ to celebrate with Mr Spiteri.

PRIMARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify school as soon as possible on the day of absence using one of the following methods:

1. Online: log the absence directly using Compass.
2. Telephone: the school office and let the staff know your child’s name, class, date of absences and reason.

Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility.

Why do I need to notify the school if my child is absent?

Schools need to know when and why a child is absent and you need to know if your child isn’t at school.

If your child is absent on a particular day and you have not contacted the school to explain why, the absence will be marked as unexplained.

This system also promotes daily school attendance. Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education, they learn new things every day – missing school puts them behind.

What is your responsibility?

You are legally required to ensure your child attends school every day or you must provide an explanation for their absence. You should let the school know in advance of any upcoming absences or let them know in the morning if your child won’t be at school. Avoid making routine medical and dental appointments during the school day or planning family holidays during the term.

Recognising great attendance and punctuality.

Our attendance target is 96%.  Each week, we reward the class with the highest attendance (which includes getting to school on time!), with our school mascot, Ripwell in their classroom for the week.

Wellbeing support for students during school holidays 

Physical Education 

In PE this term, the Year 3/4 students have been learning about how to speed up (accelerate) and slow down (deaccelerate) when playing a game or just when moving around with other people nearby. The skill of knowing when to accelerate and deaccelerate is important in games such as Teeball, Rounders, Tennis, Netball or even basic tag games. Understanding when accelerate and deaccelerate is necessary when approaching bases, cones, equipment etc in readiness for the next component of play in a game. Ask your child about the game called ‘Yoshi” which we played so that the students could demonstrate their ‘speeding up’ and ‘slowing down’ skills.

Congratulations to the following students who received awards during our assemblies!

Keep up the great work!

Students of the Week – Ending 13/12

Congratulations to the following students who are celebrating a birthday in December!

We hope you had a lovely day!

Katerina 56B

Lucas   PG

Aeran   12C

Blake    34C

Mason  34C

Ayaan   56B

Rehmat 12G

Caleb   34A

Aditya  56C

Myra     PD

Isaac    12A

Sophia 12D

Kultaaj 56D

Bereket 56B

Supreet PD

Idris PE

Victoria PG

George 12E

Pita 12F

Viyaansh 12F

Arabella PE

Aileen  12E

Mehtab 34F

Ryan     PC

Aroohi  34A

Gurleen 12G

Lavanya 12A

Melina 34A

Peter     12E

Geneva 56A

Zayed   PA

Taj 12D

Marziya 34A

Aaliyah 34B

Emmanuel PG

Emily 12G

Agam 34C

Soni 56A

Edith 56C

Menaal 34C

Ekam 34E

Jaxon 34E

Athena 34A

Ifechukwu PG

Isa 12E

Myra PB

Rehmat PC

Isak 12D

Richie 12B

Tina 56A

Zac 34A

Keerat  PD