Staffing is always a tricky process in a school our size but we are very luckily that we have a fairly stable staff who are committed to improving student outcomes socially, emotionally and academically. Sickness, long service leave and unforeseeable circumstances all contribute to why we sometimes employ relief or contract teachers. We are very fortunate at LPS to have a few very reliable relief teachers who continue with the learning program of classroom teachers quite seamlessly. Where possible, we communicate with parents if a staff member is taking extended leave, however, if you ever have any questions or concerns relating to who is in front of your children please email me directly: kel.innis@education.tas.gov.au.

Heading into Term 4 four we will see the following changes to staffing:

• Mrs Lucy Morgan will be commencing her maternity leave at the end of this term. We wish her all the best with her very special arrival and can’t wait to meet her little bundle of joy.  Lucy’s replacement will be Mrs Anita Clifton and she will be calling in on Monday next week to meet the Kinder Possums and the Kinder staff. Kinder possums will receive some more information and a photo next week.
• Mr Glen Jones will be continuing in the role of grade 3 teacher on Monday’s in 3B for the remainder of this year.
• Mr Des will be remaining with us for the rest of this year in his HPE capacity. We will also be welcoming a colleague teacher, Mr Ben Allanby, who will be with us for 1 week this term and 5 weeks of Term 4 to work alongside Mr Des.
• Mrs Jen Thompson will be finishing her role as Art teacher with us at the end of this term. Mrs Thompson has done an amazing job and I want to say a big thank you to Jen for being so flexible. We hope to keep her on for relief for the remainder of the year.
• Ms Chantel Barnes has had her AST role officially transferred to Jordan River so I will be advertising her permanent Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) role next week. We are hoping to start the successful applicant at the beginning of Term 4.

To accommodate for our ever expanding staff, we are in the process of creating some new office and storage space. The end of the breezeway towards the admin area will be converted into office space next week. This will mean that access to the breezeway corridor will then be from the outside courtyard door only. Our Support Teacher, Mrs Holly Ebdon, will be using this space alongside our new AST. Over the holidays our Education Facilities Attendant, Brett and some wonderful parents will be establishing a garden area around our current flagpole at the front of the school. We will be erecting a second flag pole for an Aboriginal flag, and in Term 4 I will be coordinating with our Indigenous students and the Aboriginal Education Centre to create some art and a native garden bed. We will have an official opening for the new flag pole, which we are very excited about. More information about this will follow.

Over the holidays and into Term 4 we will be constructing a large shed behind the 5/6B classroom. This will be to house all of the EFA equipment, and allow Brett to do some work indoors in a safe environment. There may be some heavy machinery etc. on site and we will advise when this will happen once we get confirmed dates.

Our school is a vibrant, busy and wonderfully inclusive community. We thrive on continuous improvement and welcome any feedback from you to help us do this. Recently, a letter went home to encourage our school community to fill out a survey to let us know all the things we are doing well and how we can improve. If you haven’t already, I ask that you complete this as your thoughts are valued and will help us to continue on this journey.

Warm regards,

Kel Innis