Welcome to the 2018 school year at Aubin Grove!

It’s been wonderful to see all the familiar faces returning with students and parents all smiling and happy to be back into the swing of school again.

I’d like to particularly welcome all the new families to Aubin Grove. We are delighted to have you join us and I look forward to meeting and getting to know you all.

A big welcome also to our new “Kindy” families. I have had the chance to meet most of you at our Kindy information evening and transition days so it is terrific to have you finally join us. The first two weeks, when we have eased the children into the program, have been very successful and enjoyable so I am excited (as I know you must be!) to move into our normal program commencing on Monday.

It has been a pleasure to see the joy and excitement on the faces of the kids as they begin their school journey with us.

New Staff

We also welcome new staff to our school this year. We are delighted to have them join our outstanding team of educators at Aubin Grove. Welcome to:

  • Ms Sophie Yeomans (Year 2)
  • Ms Danielle Lees (Year 2)
  • Ms Victoria Nevin (Year 3)
  • Ms Jude Jones (Year 6)
  • Mr Che Hillson (Physical Education)

I am also delighted to welcome back several teachers who have returned to work following maternity leave. It is great to have such an outstanding team of professionals assembled in our school.

Congratulations to Miss Hannah Gifford who was married during the holidays and returned to Aubin Grove as Mrs Chadwick!

School Leadership Structure

In the second half of 2017, we structured our school to form four “sub-schools”. Each of the four sub-schools is led by a Deputy Principal who is directly responsible for providing leadership to staff and managing the needs of the students and parents within that part of the school.

Each Deputy Principal is supported by two year level coordinators, known as Curriculum Leaders who form the school’s Curriculum Leadership Team (CLT). Curriculum Leaders are teachers who have been elected by their year level colleagues and take on additional duties, mainly support and leadership of their year level team, whilst retaining their primary responsibility of teaching their own class.

The Leadership Structure is as follows:

Year Levels Deputy Principal CLT Leader
Kindergarten/Pre-primary Melanie Osborne Jo Ackerman (Kindergarten)

Brittany Woodfin (Pre-primary)

Years 1-2 Jaylene Fritchley Ros Foote (Year 1)

Rachele Goodey (Year 2)

Years 3-4 Lynna Matthews David Alessandrini Year 3)

Mel Cross (Year 4)

Years 5-6 Mesha Steel Christine Walsh (Year 5)

Lauren Brown (Year 6)

The CLT leader of the Specialist Team (Art, Music, Phys Ed, Japanese) is Tarah Souter-Robertson.

All Deputy Principals and the CLT report directly to me and I meet regularly with them, both formally and informally, to ensure I am kept well informed of all matters and can provide the support they require to carry out their roles.

Parents, should you have concerns about any aspect of your child’s education, please speak to your teacher in the first instance followed by the relevant Deputy Principal and then me, if required.

School Board

Our School Board plays a vital role in providing governance to our school. It is also instrumental in deciding the school’s future directions, strategic planning and oversees the school’s performance. The Board meets twice every term, from 8:45-10:45 on Wednesday mornings in Weeks 4 and 8, a total of eight meetings per year.

Our Board is comprised of parent and staff representatives and a community representative. Parent representatives sit for a term of up to three years.

This year, at least two parent representatives’ terms are up and so we are seeking expressions of interest from parents who wish to take on a role on the Board. Members whose term is up are entitled to re-nominate. In the event that we have more nominations than positions available, we will conduct an online election in accordance with the Board’s Terms of Reference.

If you would like to join the School Board, please send an email to frank.pansini@education.wa.edu.au (by Monday February 19) expressing your wish to join accompanied by a brief paragraph or two that tells something of yourself which can be used if we require an election.

Some Gentle Reminders

  1. Students should not arrive at school before 8:20 in the morning. Students are arriving at 8:00 which is far too early and we cannot accept responsibility for their care during this busy preparation time of the day.
  2. Children cannot play on play equipment (including the spiderman playground, the naturescape playground and sand pits in the kindy/pre-primary area before or after school.
  3. When using the car parks, please drop off and pick up your children in the designated areas. These are the bottom of the Camden Bvd carpark and the midpoint of the Lyon Rd carpark.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Individual interviews to discuss students’ beginning of year assessments take place in Week 7 this term. Teachers will send out a schedule for parents to indicate their time preferences in the next few weeks.

The school will close for half a day on Wednesday March 14 at 11:45 to release teachers to begin interviews. Please be aware of this earlier finish time and make arrangements for your child. Camp Australia will be available for you to register your child’s attendance for that time.

New Playground

If you’ve visited our Kindy/Pre-primary area you will have noticed the earthworks that have taken place on the western side near the cubby houses. These are the footings for our new arc tunnel play apparatus that we are looking forward to.

The work is nearing completion and we expect the finished product to be available for children to use by March 21. It will be a very exciting addition to an already incredible play area and outdoor classroom space for our younger students.

Thank you P&C

We are very grateful to our Parents and Citizens Association for their generous donation of $3 000 toward the purchase of additional play equipment for students who use the oval at recess and lunchtimes.

Look out for new cricket, soccer and football equipment as well as balls, hoops and the like in the next week or so.

We are also extremely thankful to our P&C for their donation of 15 new iPads for use in Music classes and a bank of 24 new MacBooks and trolley for our Year 3 classes.

Voluntary Contributions

Thank you to those parents who have already paid their voluntary contributions for 2018. Your contributions make an enormous difference to the quality and quantity of resources we can provide for our students. Every cent of the contributions you make is spent directly on our students.

Voluntary contributions are capped at $60 per child in WA schools which represents enormous value for a year of high quality education.

You can make your payment in person at the front office, or by posting the money in an envelope through the “School” postal slot at the rear of the office or by EFT:

BSB 016 016

Account: 440120903

Thank you and best wishes

Frank Pansini

PRINCIPAL