Dear Parents / Carers,

As part of Education Week, the Department of Education recognizes the services of employees to education in Victoria. This year, our Principal Anne Babich was recognized for 45 years of relentless dedication to improve student learning, developing teacher effectiveness and bringing together the wider school community.

During this time, Anne has worked in a range of roles. Her work has been driven by passion and an ability to think outside the square with her mission to add value to the organisation and to the people (students, families and staff) associated with it. Anne’s leadership style focuses on developing, ‘growing’ and influencing others. One of Anne’s many strengths is her ability to create structures, processes and opportunities that facilitate the learning for everyone in our school.

Anne began her career as a classroom teacher at Glengala Primary School in Sunshine West in 1978. Then moved to Doveton to be closer to Monash University whilst completing her Arts Degree. In 1982, Anne was appointed to Head Teacher of Port Albert Primary School. Whilst here, Anne began her Master’s in Education by correspondence at the University of New England, New South Wales. Next, Anne went on to become a Curriculum Consultant back in Melbourne, delivering professional learning to schools in literacy and numeracy practices. In 1992, Anne returned to Doveton, this time in the role of Assistant Principal. Anne secured her first Principal position in 1994 at Aldercourt Primary School in Frankston. After serving that school community for 10 years, Anne made her way to Rowville. Anne has spent 19 years of her career at Rowville Primary School, continuously working on improving teaching and learning, and investing in, and developing future school leaders. Personally, it has been an honour to work alongside and learn from Anne. Congratulations on reaching 45 years of making a positive difference to the lives of students, families, teachers, Education Support Staff, Assistant Principals, Principals, and the State Education System.

Over the past week, I have had the opportunity to spend time in the Year 4 – Year 6 classrooms administering the annual Student Attitudes to School Survey and through this and conversations with students, I have noticed a trend appearing. Many of our students are coming to school tired and struggling to focus. Getting a good night’s sleep is important for children’s learning and development. When young people don’t get enough sleep, it impacts their mood, learning, health, and behaviour at school. The impact of sleep on quality of life is a force everyone can relate to. For children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and ASD, a poor night’s sleep can have even more far-reaching impacts on not only the child’s mental health, but on the mental health and stress levels of parents too. Parents can support their children to get a good night’s sleep by using the universal approach to sleep readiness and behavioural sleep strategies. This includes:

setting a regular bedtime and waking up time
creating a safe, comfortable sleeping environment (cool, quiet, dark, screen-free)
following a regular bedtime routine that’s calm and sleep-inducing
avoiding caffeine, electronic devices and excitement before bed
encouraging physical activity during the day
avoiding exercise one hour before bed

Last Wednesday, our Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students participated in National Simultaneous Storytime. This initiative is a vibrant, fun event that promotes the value of reading and literacy, through the reading of a picture story book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator that explores age-appropriate themes. This year the book chosen was The Speedy Sloth written by Rebecca Young and illustrated by Heath McKenzie. All students were engaged watching the story being read aloud by the author on the big screen in the 21st Century Learning Space. Students shared their own interesting facts about sloths and made connections to the book.

Kind regards,

Tiffany Bamford

Assistant Principal

Rowville Kids Cafe

Gluten Free options are now available from the Canteen - see updated menu below and the Gluten Free tab on the Qkr! app . . .