I cannot believe this our last newsletter and our last Friday at school for 2022!
What an incredible year it has been. We started the Term Four newsletter by saying it would be an action-packed event heavy term. Looking back on the year we think this actually reflects the whole of 2022. This year we have all enjoyed: four camps (Year 3-6), a Year Two Sleepover, a whole school Colour Run, many exciting BBQs (welcome, end of term, end of year, election and Bunnings BBQs) three-way conferences, parent-teacher conferences, student-led conferences and Open Night, athletics and swimming days, Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day Stalls, a Year Six PYP Exhibition, a Junior School Concert and Soiree, a book week, a science week, RUOKDAY!, a number of excursions and incursions, and a tremendous Year Six Graduation and of course many more activities we cannot list all here. Now after this list we can say it is well and truly time for some rest and relaxation for all.
We extend our greatest appreciation on behalf of all the staff to our parents, carers and students and wish you all a wonderful summer break. We hope you spend lots of time with loved ones and look forward to seeing you back in 2023!
YEAR SIX GRADUATION
We were very excited to hold our 2022 Year Six Graduation Night celebrations with a beautiful ceremony on Wednesday 14th December at the Kingston Town Hall. This was the first time in a few years we were able to gather in this special space again and thank and farewell our graduating class of 2022. The students did a wonderful job of articulating and celebrating their successes and achievements at primary school. They reflected on their foundational years of schooling and farewelled their classmates. It was such a joy to welcome everyone together for this occasion. Students also celebrated with a trip to Luna Park and a special picnic day.
We would like to extend our appreciation and thanks to Carly Griffen who was also supported by a group of fellow Year Six parents who added some amazing decorations to the Kingston Town Hall. We thank you all so much for your support. There were many photos taken in front of these special decorations which made the event so much more memorable. These parents also woke up bright and early to decorate the Year Six Classrooms today! Please see photos below.
We would also like to thank some of our Year Six Parents’ Club volunteers who are leaving us with their last children at the school in Year Six.
We would like to thank:
Diane Zapedowski, Carly Griffen, Tanya Patterson, Wendy Burns
Susan Miles, Prakash Dhayanandhan and Ranjula Nanayakkara
A huge thanks to all of the above, as well as all those who have supported us as class representatives and at events throughout the years.
A special thank you to Brendan Lehmann, Diane Murphy, Claire Disseldorp, Melanie Kendrick, Sally Duggan and Jing Shan for their organisation and putting all of this together and for helping the students prepare reflective responses to share and ensuring the students were well prepared on the big day. We also thank the Year Six Teaching Team for their continual support and encouragement towards students throughout 2022.
The Year Six students attended their secondary school orientation programs on Tuesday 13th December. We wish them all the best as they enjoy their last few days at McKinnon Primary School.
END OF YEAR BBQ AND YEAR 3-6 SOIREE
The school was certainly alive with the sound of music on Thursday 8th December. The whole community was treated to an absolute feast of the senses with students from Year 3-6 performing using a range of different instruments, dances and singing and of course the McKinnon Choir. It was a joy to see and hear so many McKinnon talents on stage with over forty acts. The Performing Arts captains did an incredible job of hosting throughout the whole evening. A huge thank you to Sally Baldock for her work in coordinating and supporting all these performances.
There was also a wonderful buzz outside away from the Soiree with lots of McKinnon families and friends catching up, enjoying time together and a delicious feed from the BBQ. A big thank you to Robyn for coordinating the BBQ and to the volunteers made up of parents and staff who offered to cook and serve. The whole community loved the event and students were speaking about it for days after.
THANK YOU MORNING TEA FOR PARENT HELPERS & VOLUNTEERS
On Thursday 15th November, McKinnon Staff gathered to thank the many wonderful parent helpers and volunteers who have supported the school in so many integral ways this year. We have received tremendous support from our parent reading helpers who have continued to help our students share and gain confidence in their reading ability, volunteers at the many exciting events, the school BBQs, second-hand uniform-shop, stalls for Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day, coming into the school to speak to the students about their knowledge in a certain area, support on excursions, and the list goes on.
Thank you to all of these wonderful people. We appreciate your support which makes a huge difference to the lives of the students. We will be holding a volunteers’ training session early next year in February which will support the induction of lots of new parents to the school. We look forward to welcoming many more volunteers next year.
REPORTS
All students will have received their Semester Two reports on Friday 9th December via Compass. Hard copy reports have been made available to those who requested prior to this. If you have any questions regarding your child’s report, please contact your child’s classroom teacher.
STAFFING 2023
2023 Staffing
At the end of this year we will bid farewell to Trish White who has worked with us in the office since 2017. Trish is retiring and we wish her all the best and hope see her around in coming years.
We also farewell Adrianne Keys who has accepted a position at Geelong Grammar and Paul Pellegrino who has accepted a position at Kilvington. We also say farewell Lucy Curl who will be travelling later in 2023 but who will be supporting us early in 2023.
Sally Baldock will be taking leave in Term 1 next year but we look forward to seeing her supporting around the school from Term 2. We formally farewell Kieren Reith, however, he will continue to support us casually next year.
On behalf of the school community, we would like to thank all of these staff members for their enthusiasm and commitment in providing the very best education for our students and we wish them all well for the future as they embark on new and exciting endeavours.
We also welcome new members of staff to our school Coco Landes, Thomas-James Greenwood, Wasie Toolis, Annabel Buckley, Marjia Kusturic, Ryan Smythe, as well as welcoming the return of Shawnee Arranga and Natalie Stone. Please find attached below a list of 2023 staffing for your reference:
| 2023 Staffing | |||||||
| Acting Principal | Ms Suzanne Khatib | ||||||
| Assistant Principal | Mr David Zuker | Acting Assistant Principal | Mr Andrew Kearl | ||||
| Learning Specialist | Ms Amanda Young | Learning Specialist | Mr Cameron Azer | ||||
| Leading Teacher PYP |
Mr Chris Barker
|
Learning Specialist | Ms Sally Duggan | ||||
| Business Manager | Ms Jodie Geri | ||||||
| HOMEROOM TEACHERS (* TEAM LEADERS) | |||||||
| FA | Ms Shawnee Arranga | 2C | Miss Tania Costello | 4F | TBC | ||
| FB | Ms Katie Elsender | 2D*
|
Miss Stavroula Karabatos Team Leader | 5A | Mr Cameron Azer | ||
| FC | Ms Stefanie Henenberg | 2E* | Ms Marjia Kusturic | 5B | Ms Aine Ennis | ||
| FD | Mrs Polly Hislop | 3A | Miss Julia Bianchi | 5C | Ms Coco Landes | ||
| FE* | Ms Amanda Kumar
Team Leader |
3B | Ms Josephine Compasso | 5D* | Mr Aaron Smith
Team Leader |
||
| 1A | Ms Molly McKenna | 3C* | Mr Mat Smith
Team Leader |
5E | Mr Ryan Smyth | ||
| 1B* | Miss Nadia Pellegrino
Team Leader |
3D | Ms Bianca Tomaino | 5F | Ms Natalie Stone | ||
| 1C | Ms Molly Sweeney
|
4A | Ms Claire Disseldorp | 6A | Mr Thomas Greenwood
|
||
| 1D | Ms Wasie Toolis | 4B | Ms Angela Henry | 6B | Ms Catherine Hales
|
||
| 1E | Ms Amanda Young | 4C | Mr David Kefaloukos | 6C | Ms Melanie Kendrick
|
||
| 2A | Ms Emily Bolin | 4D* | Ms Peta MacGregor Team Leader | 6D | Mr Brendan Lehmann
|
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| 2B | Ms Annabel Buckley | 4E | Ms Diana Tuyau | 6E* | Ms Diane Murphy
Team Leader |
||
| SPECIALIST TEACHERS | |||
| PE | Ms Claire Brooks | PE | Mr Dylan Hislop |
| Language | Miss Jing Shan | Language* | Mr William Meng
Team Leader |
| Performing Arts | Ms Rachel Bowles
|
Performing Arts | Miss Jing Shan |
| Visual Art – main building | Ms Claire Brooks | Visual Art – outside LC | Ms Rochelle Ballard |
| STEM | Ms Julianne Power | ||
| Learning Support Team | |||
| Leader: Ms Amanda Young | Ms Amy Dove, Ms Marcia Paturzo, Ms Hannah Macklow
and Ms Jessica Bence
|
||
| EDUCATION SUPPORT STAFF – STUDENT | |||
| Integration Aide | Ms Deb Goncalves | Integration Aide | Ms Shraddha Apte |
| Integration Aide | Ms Violette McMahon | Integration Aide | Mr Kieren Reith |
| Integration Aide | Mrs Heather Saba | Integration Aide | Ms Khushboo Aurora |
| Integration Aide | Ms Yasmin Irani
|
Learning Centre | Ms Hannah Macklow |
| EDUCATION SUPPORT STAFF- ADMINISTRATION | |||
| Office Assistant
|
Mrs Gail Petta
|
First Aid Assistant | Ms Sabrina Vinning
|
| Finance and Office Assistant | Ms Vivianne Siu | Office Assistant | Mr Peter Adshed |
COMMENCEMENT OF 2023 SCHOOL YEAR AND DATES
All students in Foundation – Year Six will begin classes on Tuesday 31st January at 9.00am.
Foundation students will begin classes for half a day on Tuesday 31st January (staying at home on Wednesday 1st February) and then attend another half day on Thursday 2nd February. They will commence full days beginning Friday 3rd February at 9am.
If you would like to know any dates for the 2023 school year, please remember to check the Compass Calendar.
OTHER KEY DATES FOR 2023
Information Afternoons 2023
Please mark in your diary the dates for information afternoons next year as they will come up very quickly. We are trialling information afternoons next year instead of evenings; however, we will be providing handouts of all slides to any parents unable to attend. Key information will also be available and shared through the Three-way conferences held shortly after
| Date | TIME | Year Level |
| Monday 13th February | 3.45pm- 4:15pm | Foundation |
| 4:15pm-4:45pm | Specialist Areas | |
| Tuesday 14th February | 3.45pm- 4:15pm | Year 1 and Year 2 |
| 4:15pm-4:45pm | Year 3 and Year 4 | |
| Wednesday 15th February | 3.45pm- 4:15pm | Year 5 |
| 4:15pm-4:45pm | Year 6 |
3-Way Conferences are also planned for Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st February
END OF TERM 4- EARLY DISSMISSAL ON TUESDAY – 1:30pm
A reminder that all students will be dismissed Tuesday at 1:30pm.
Team Kids will offer care from 1.30pm on the final day of the term should supervision be necessary with the early dismissal of students.
SECURITY OVER THE SUMMER BREAK
If you are at the school over the holiday break, if you notice anything concerning, would you please contact Caulfield Police Station on 9524 9500 or 000.
Wishing everyone a safe, restful and enjoyable summer break. Look forward to seeing you all back in 2023.
Suzanne, David and Andrew