Yarra PS eNews 16.12.21

translator

Principal's Report

End of Year Principal’s Message

I sense there is not much more I can add to summarise the year that was 2021. Suffice to say it has been ‘epic’ and time will give us perspective. What we do know is we have persevered and learned that showing vulnerability takes great courage. Kindness is key and this often brings to my mind the famous quote:

I thank you for your kind messages of support this year. I also appreciate challenging discussions that are imbued with shared responsibility and commitment; to want and do our very best for our kids. We will continue next year to explore decision-making processes at Yarra. Good decision-making is about meeting the needs of the collective. So, next year we test the hypothesis:

“What is best for we, is ultimately best for me We intend for this to become a mindset and regular way of making decisions to maximize effective and sustainable improvement.

Year 6 Leavers Ceremony

On Monday evening we hosted our Year 6 ceremony. Given the last two years, it was wonderful to gather in real life to reflect and celebrate. I was so impressed with the strength of the students’ speeches. From my perspective, every student held their audience’s attention as they spoke with eloquence about their primary school years. I reflected this years’ students are high in gratitude and love as they collectively thanked their teachers and parents for their care and support. Preparation for the evening was a mammoth task and I thank the team, Yasmin, Cynthia, Justine and Sam Lucas for all their hard work as well as the Year 5 wait staff – Kris, Josh, Sophie, Miri, Jude, Anna, Aston, Anthony, Lucy and Eliza.

Whole School BBQ

On Wednesday night our whole school BBQ was a great success. We acknowledge the generous donation of sausages, burgers, and bread by the Iozzi family - Brenta Meats https://brentameats.com/  Also, a big thank you to Em and her team for their contribution – Kim, Jessie, Jo, Brandi, Sophie, Belle, Maggie and Lachlan, Eliza, Barbara and Alex and Alexandra. Thanks to our school community for raising approximately $600 for the Kitchen Garden program.

Farewell and Welcomes - Staffing 2022

In this final newsletter for the year, we take the opportunity to acknowledge the amazing work of and celebrate the contributions that Kira Groves, Ben Vaux and Hannah Robbins have made to Yarra Primary School.

In 2022 Kira is moving back home to the country and teaching at Bright P-12 College. As previously communicated in the last newsletter, Ben is travelling up north and relocating to Queensland for a ‘sun change’. While Hannah’s final year of university means practicum placements are her priority. We wish them all the best with their future endeavours.

This means we will welcome staff in the New Year, and I will keep families informed as to the outcomes of our recruitment processes.

Finally, I wish all our families safe and rejuvenating holiday break. Stay safe and see you on Monday January 31st, 2022!

School Leaders - Reflection of the Year!

This year has been full of ups and downs but although in the moment it may not seem like it, we’d learn so much from this rollercoaster of a year. In home learning, we were given the opportunity to expand our technical knowledge as well as putting our leadership abilities to the test when tasked with leading out virtual assemblies. Of course the highlight of learning in leadership this year has to be our attendance at The Grip Leadership Conference. We learnt so many interesting things that we have taken back to the school grounds. We learnt about TIME (a helpful acronym that tells us when it is our time to lead) and what happens to something when you don’t revisit it. I love how all these learning experiences show that no matter what happens learning still goes on.

Julia 

I am overjoyed to have been able to persevere with my duties over home learning, as well as my school work. I love how well we leaders have been able to work together, during these hard times, and how well we have adapted to the differences and changes. This has been a, shall we say, difficult year for many of us, and I thought it would be hard to keep up with our role with so much other stuff going on, but I am pleased to say we rose to the challenge, and not only dealt with it, but enjoyed it. By trying our best and working our hardest, we travelled past expectations, and I am proud to say, we did it as a team.

Charlotte-Sometimes I wish I could go back and give myself advice, but since time travel seems quite hard, I have chosen to pass the advice onto our future leaders of Yarra.

Edwina 

  1. Don't start something then never finish it! Yes, I know I have done that before, but it doesn’t help you achieve your goals. Put in your best work to get the best results.
  2. Ask questions! If you are confused or find leadership challenging, Ask someone! Don't hold back. It may not be your ideal situation, but you will get the help you need.
  3. Know the meaning of leadership! Do not mistake leadership as something only one person can do at a time. Everyone has their own time to lead, and you should know exactly when your presence is required with the right practice.
  4. Keep an open mind! Stay positive towards your work in Leadership. You will never get anything done while saying “I can’t do it” or “this work sucks”. That won’t get you anywhere, and if it does, it won’t bring back the best results.

Charlotte

A rollercoaster of events and emotions have been with us this year. But this year, our school has been able to achieve a lot of things again even in covid times. We have done virtual assemblies in lockdowns and when the restrictions wouldn’t let us to do live assemblies, which was a success and now we’re back to doing live assemblies, and we get to see everyone again! We have put our ideas to make the school better for the future of Yarra. We have also put a lot more student voices in Yarra, it has helped all the students think about what the future of Yarra should look like and feel like. 

Emma

Environmental Leaders Letter


Please click on the picture to read our entire newsletter!

Art News


Many thanks to the Art Leaders, Isabel, Bella and Ella, for assisting with painting the school mural last Friday. Their patterns and designs will be enjoyed by the community for years to come! The finale for the mural will be all the thumbprints from everyone in the Yarra school community. Many thanks to everyone who has shared their positive comments as I have painted! Thank you!

Justine Moore

Visual Arts Teacher

Nude Food Tuesday

NUDE FOOD TUESDAY

This fortnight’s winners are:

5/6B and Prep B – each with an outstanding 92% of rubbish free lunches.

These classes have earned themselves a class privilege!

Thank you to all the families who have embraced Nude Food Tuesdays. It is a valuable conversation starter and empowers students to identify environmentally friendlier lunch options.

Community Information








Please click on the image to enlarge the Finbar Newsletter.