Victoria Park State School Newsletter - Week 3, Term 1, 2025
Principal's Report
Welcome to our very first newsletter of the school year. You'll receive a copy of our newsletter electronically in odd weeks of the school term. Our newsletter provides a platform to celebrate the successes of our students, provide longer-term updates for our families and includes information from organisations with close partnerships with our school. You can access our newsletter (and archived editions of it) via email and using the SZApp. It will also provide you with quick access to some helpful tools such as our live calendar, inbuilt translator and links to our social media pages.
Welcome
Welcome back to what promises to be another great year at Vic Park! If your family are new to Victoria Park State School this year, I'd like to extend you a very warm welcome. We are excited to have you join our school community.
In addition to new families, we have a number of new staff joining us this year. We have welcomed;
- Mrs Lindsay Daly teaching 1C
- Miss Kirsty Thomas teaching 3C
- Mrs Jordan McNeill co-teaching 5/6S with Mrs Schmalkuche
- Mrs Martina Nacev Susserova teaching Music
- Mr Troy Patti teaching Instrumental Music (brass, woodwind and percussion)
We additionally welcome back Hester Coomans who returns to us from a student support role in regional office and Ms Jen Gravino from maternity leave. We are also excited to acknowledge Mrs Kristi Elworthy's promotion to Deputy Principal (and Prep and Year 2 phase leader) this year in addition to Mrs Sharney's Schmalkuche's promotion to a curriculum coaching role that will see her working across the school in addition to her teaching fraction with 5/6S.
Finally, in response to feedback from our school community, we have arranged for Ms Melissa Mackedie to move from her teacher aide position to a new role focussed on co-ordinating communication across the school. She has become the central point of contact for all things communication at Vic Park - though she operates largely behind the scenes, you might have already noticed her work evident across our communication platforms (and particularly via our videos on our social media pages).
School Leader Induction
In the coming days, families of students who have earned a student leadership position will be inducted at a special parade to be held on Monday March 3, 2025 at 2pm. We welcome all members of the Victoria Park State School community to join us for the special event in recognition of our new student leaders.
Victoria Park State School P&C Association
Victoria Park has a committed and dedicated P&C association who, amongst many other things, keep our tuckshop and uniform shop thriving.
This week we acknowledge the wonderful Tiffany Riseham and she departs her role as our Uniform Shop Convenor - a role she has dedicated immense time and energy towards in addition to volunteering in our tuckshop. As a school, we've been lucky to have Tiffany to go above and beyond to help with all of our uniform needs. Thank you for everything you have done for the Vic Park community, Tiffany!
As of this week we welcome Laura Lyons to the role of Uniform Shop Convenor, having been successful appointed as our new P&C Operations Manager. Our uniform shop is open on Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. Laura's appointment coincides with the end of her tenure as President of the P&C. We encourage our school community to consider joining our P&C team - it is only with the support of the P&C that services like our tuckshop and uniform shop are able to continue.
Sarah Mutton,
Principal
Celebrating Success
This week our student leaders attended the GRIP Leadership forum. Here they were able to carve out the themes and ideas that they will use as a platform to develop their unique brand of leadership for the 2025 school year. They very much enjoyed their day!
Highlight photos this week show some of our newest learners in Prep celebrating lots of excellent behaviour by counting their Gotcha cards with our senior students. Gotchas are awarded to all students across the school for excellent behaviour. Students total them at the end of the week to spend on rewards negotiated with the classroom teacher at "Sid's Shack".
Photos of the Week
Date Claimers
Don't forget that you can find key dates in our live calendar linked below in addition to our weekly 'what's happening' card on SZapp.
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)
PBL Goals of the Week
Below you'll find links to videos that illustrate our two PBL goals for this fortnight;
- Move Appropriately Around the School
- Maintain Play and Eating Time Expectations
School Improvement
Our Strategic Plan 2023 - 2026
Our 2023-2026 strategic plan challenges us to R.I.S.E. to the challenge;
R – Responsive Curriculum. We want to ensure that our curriculum is relevant to our local kids, is responsive to modern educational trends and is interesting for our students.
I – Innovative Instruction. We want to capitalise on being Mackay’s first school with laptop classes to ensure that through the use of engaging teaching approaches and clever use of digital technology, every lesson is exciting and engaging for our students.
S – Strengthened Systems. Our 2022 school review revealed that there are strong systems in place with regards to how we operate at VPSS. In deference to the great work that has come before, we want to ensure that we strengthen these to continue our great progress.
E – Expert Educators. We want to ensure that our kids at Victoria Park are learning from the very best educators and have committed to facilitating this.
2025 Annual Implementation Plan
2025's Annual Implementation Plan operationalises the goals we set out in our strategic plan - in a way it's like an improvement checklist of all of the actions we've committed to achieving to meet our intended goals for student achievement and engagement. In this segment of our newsletter each fortnight, we'll unpack a piece for you.
Attendance Awards
Each week we celebrate the classes with the highest attendance. Classes compete to win our coveted Attendance Trophies and Sid the Pig mascots. Attendance awards will commence on Monday with the winners listed here in the following newsletter.
Students of the Week
Week 2
Prep B | Perry | For outstanding effort and behaviour. |
Prep B | Zarli | For being a Classroom Superstar! |
Prep C | Daenerys | For being awesome at following instructions |
Prep C | Gianna | For beautiful listening and amazing manners. |
Prep C | Luke | For being a class super helper and listener. |
Prep C | Melakai | For trying his best to be an amazing learner. |
1A | Ebony | For always working to the best of her ability and helping others around her. |
1A | Sebastion | For always working to the best of his ability and helping others around him. |
2A | Constance | For being a responsible member of our class. Keep up the great work, Constance! |
2A | Kaylee | For a great start to Victoria Park State School. Well done, Kaylee! |
2B | Cairo | For always following our school rules. |
2B | Lexi | For always completing her classwork quickly and quietly. |
2C | Charlotte | For being an active participant in classroom discussions. |
2C | Fatima | For being always being ready to learn |
2C | Maui | For trying hard in Grammar lessons. |
2C | Zeke | For always being ready to learn. |
2/3 | Elowen | For trying her best and being an excellent role model in our classroom. Congratulations Elowen! |
2/3 | Grace | For showing inspiring resilience in the classroom and playground. Congratulations Grace! |
2/3 | Noah | For amazing effort and focus in our maths lessons. Congratulations Noah! |
2/3 | Tyrone | For fantastic effort in his learning and making responsible choices. Congratulations Tyrone! |
3A | Alby | For giving all tasks a go to the best of his ability. Well Done |
3A | Brodie | For giving all tasks a go to the best of his ability. Well Done |
3B | Lacey | For your excellent effort in all learning tasks. |
3C | April | For delivering a great Class Captain speech with confidence |
3C | Darcy | For making a really positive start to Term 1 |
3C | Jasmine | For always making positive choices and following classroom expectations |
3C | Ruby | For putting 100% effort into her work and staying on task |
3/4 | Freya | For attending school each day with a bright smile and happy attitude. We are stoked to have you! |
3/4 | Kamahli | For having a bright and bubbly smile every day and being a kind class member. |
3/4 | Kayde | For making fantastic choices before school and giving 100% effort with your school work. |
3/4 | Phoenix | For being an attentive and polite student and completing all tasks with an extremely high level of effort. |
4A | Chad | For a great start to the year. Keep it up! |
4A | Lennyn | Well done for being a great helper! |
4B | Ariah | For demonstrating excellent behaviour at all times! You're a star Ariah! |
4B | Lillian | For demonstrating excellent behaviour at all times! You're a star Lilly! |
4B | Tererei | For sharing his great vocabulary knowledge with the class! |
4C | Aylah | For following rules consistently and acting responsibly at all times. |
4C | Sean | For being a kind and responsible class member, who always tries his best. |
5A | Kooper | For an outstanding start to the school year showing exceptional effort and enthusiasm. |
5A | Olivia | Making thoughtful choices and leading by example. You set a standard of excellence for your peers. |
5A | Sophie | For showing exceptional resilience throughout the first few weeks of Year 5. |
5B | Elijah | For bringing impeccable manners and an abundance of enthusiasm to class every day. |
5B | Matthew | The figurative language you used in your cold writing recount was amazing, I can't wait to read more of your work. |
5B | Rinoa | For writing a detailed and interesting cold write recount about your first week of school. |
5B | Scarlett | For always listening to instructions and being the first person ready to learn! Well done |
5/6M | Manx | For writing entertaining pieces of work! |
5/6M | Raven | Consistently giving 100% effort in all areas! |
5/6S | Charlotte | A fantastic effort on her first weekly spelling pre-test! |
5/6S | Peter | For an outstanding contribution to the classroom during the first week of school! |
5/6S | Savannah | Settling well into her new class and putting in a fantastic effort on her reading tasks. |
6A | Ava-Leigh | Always listening and following instructions promptly. |
6A | Scherrie | Super focus in class and great writing. |
6B | Hayden | For working incredibly hard during your first week of Year 6! |
6B | Jayce | For being a consistently hard-working and respectful student. |
6C | Tiffany | For being a respectful and responsible student |
Week 3
Prep A | Bridie | For being a reliable and responsible group leader. |
Prep A | Edgar | For being a reliable, responsible and respectful learner. |
Prep B | Ivy | Outstanding behaviour and effort in all areas of Prep. |
Prep B | Riley | For being a kind and considerate classmate. |
Prep C | Baylee | Being super quick to follow instructions. |
Prep C | Cairee | For being quick to answer questions in learning times. |
1C | Angus | For being a persistent and motivated learner. You are amazing Angus! |
1C | Augustus | For being positive, happy and motivated to take on new tasks and challenges. Well done Augustus! |
2A | Cazaylia | For having a great start to the year. Keep up the great work, Cazaylia! |
2B | Huxley | For contributing great ideas during class discussions. |
2B | Kia | For always trying her best and always following our school rules. |
2C | Dominic | For actively participating in class discussions. |
2C | Emmaleigh | For always modelling positive behaviours |
2/3 | Jack | For demonstrating our school expectations at a high level and always giving his best effort in class. |
2/3 | Kalais | For consistently trying her best during lessons and always looking out for her classmates. |
3A | Kylo | For being a polite member of our class and following the universal expectations. |
3A | Lilly | For always being a helpful member in the classroom. |
3C | Chloe | For always doing her best work in class |
3C | Rosie | For consistently following and listening to teacher instructions |
3/4 | Gwen | For being a kind friend and valued member of our class. We are so happy to have you at VPSS! |
3/4 | Oscar | For being an engaged and enthusiastic learner and always contributing great ideas to class discussions. |
4A | Kingsley | Well, done for settling in and completing expected tasks to the required standard. |
4A | Ruby | For joining in class discussions and being more confident in class. |
4B | Alaina | Excellent work with symmetry! Great work Alaina! |
4B | Katherine | For bringing a positive attitude to class every day! |
4C | Caultin | For contributing great ideas and has an excellent attitude to all learning tasks. |
4C | Logan | The persistence you showed to complete this week's Reading on the same page tasks. |
5A | Augustine | For an amazing start to the year, bringing your manners and positivity. |
5A | Ruby | For her principled and responsible approach to all tasks. Keep it up! |
5B | Fedor | For having a "can do" attitude and completing all set tasks |
5B | Liam | For ALWAYS having impeccable manners! |
5/6M | Aleeia | Being an active participant in all class discussions. |
5/6S | Titus | For displaying confidence during drama lessons, portraying a boat using freeze frames. |
5/6S | Waireti | For actively contributing to class math discussions, identifying coordinate pairs on a grid. |
6B | Hunter | For being consistently well-mannered and listening respectfully to others. |
6C | Jaxson | For always contributing to class discussion |
From the P&C
Victoria Park State School is lucky to have an incredible Parents and Citizens Association. Here you can find out all about what our committee is up to. We very much encourage anyone and everyone to get involved - many hands make light work!
Contact Us
Phase Leaders
To ensure we get to know each and every one of our students, each member of our school leadership team oversees a cohort of students. 'Phase Leaders' are the next step to resolving an issue after the classroom teacher has been contacted.
ECDP Phase Leader: Ms Roanna Capone - ecapo4@eq.edu.au
Prep Phase Leader: Mrs Kristi Elworthy - kelwo2@eq.edu.au
Year 1 Phase Leader: Ms Roanna Capone - ecapo4@eq.edu.au
Year 2 Phase Leader: Mrs Kristi Elworthy - kelwo2@eq.edu.au
Year 3 Phase Leader: Mrs Jenny Whittington - jwhit211@eq.edu.au
Year 4 Phase Leader: Mrs Jenny Whittington - jwhit211@eq.edu.au
Year 5 Phase Leader: Mrs Sarah Mutton - samut0@eq.edu.au
Year 6 Phase Leader: Mrs Sarah Mutton - samut0@eq.edu.au
Phone conversations or appointments to speak to Phase Leaders can be made by calling the office (4951 6333).
Staff List
Email addresses for all teaching staff can be found below. We ask that parents respect teachers' right to disconnect outside of work hours and be reminded that emails may not always be answered immediately - especially during the day when teachers are teaching. Urgent messages should instead be communicated to the office via a phone call (4951 6333).
Staff Contact List: https://victoriaparkss.schoolzineplus.com/staff-email-list
Victoria Park Community Noticeboard
