It was great to spend some time informally with our Foundation families at the coffee morning last week and terrific to hear first-hand from families, just how well students are settling into school life and routines.

For parents and carers of students in Years 3- 6 we invite you to stay after the morning drop off bell and enjoy a coffee on Friday 21st February

Our Year 1/2 coffee morning will be held on Thursday 27th February.

Emily, Rick and I look forward to meeting with you and further strengthening the home/school partnership.

School Uniform update

A big thank you to Benji, Sylvie, Grace and Alfie who proudly stood up at assembly last week wearing our new school sports tops.

The sports tops can be worn by students on their designated PE day, Assembly Day and all sports days.

For our school photo day this year on Wednesday 19th March, we ask that students wear their green school polos and for our Grade 6s, their orange polo tops.

We are phasing out the white polo top over the 2025 school year as per our school's revised uniform policy.

Parent/Carer and Teacher Meet and Greet

Thank you to all our families who made time yesterday afternoon to connect with classroom teachers at our meet and greet. This is a valuable opportunity for both families and especially our staff, who were keen to hear from parents and carers to better understand their students.

For parents and carers of students in Foundation, we are giving our students a little more time to settle in. Your Meet and Greets with classroom teachers are scheduled for Wednesday 12th March with many of you already having made booking times.

A reminder below of our schools Reporting Student Progress Plan for 2025.

Rest assured that at any time, should you wish to speak to either myself, a member of our leadership team or to a classroom teacher, please call the office on 5221 3772 or send a message via Compass.

NAPLAN and Tutor Learning 2025

Teachers are working with students in Years 3 and 5 to best support them to be prepared and confident as we head into the NAPLAN Assessment Period later this term. By allowing students time to ask questions about the purpose and expectations of NAPLAN, we are hopeful to alleviate any concerns or worries for students, prior to the assessments taking place. Our processes have ensured over the last few years, that students enter the assessments confident and ready to put in their best efforts.

Rather than teach to the tests, our teaching teams prepare students by unpacking the skills required to respond to questions, use worked examples, encourage the use of paper to show their working out, brainstorm strategies that can be utilised for different question types and discuss answers. This explicit focus in our teaching also impacts on students in Years 4 and 6 who will be undertaking NAPLAN in 2026, so everyone benefits.

We have prioritised students in Grade 3 for our Tutor Learning Initiative for Term 1 using their growth data in writing, as this was shown to be the greatest need. All families of students involved in TLI for Term 1 have been notified and the program has commenced.

More information will follow close to our NAPLAN dates later this term.

Reminder - Process for Parent Collection of Students – During School hours

To minimise disruptions to our school's teaching and learning programs, we request that all parents and carers collect students from the school’s office.

If your child has an appointment or requires collection for any reason during school hours. Please see below for our school’s process.

Parent/Carer to arrive at school front office and sign student out via the Compass kiosk or directly via admin staff.
Admin staff will notify your child’s classroom teacher, and your child will make their way to the front office for collection.

We appreciate the support of all families with this revised process and in further strengthening our school’s child safe compliance.

School Council Elections

It is that time of year again, with preparations underway for School Council elections for 2025.

School Council elections will take place this term and I encourage parents to read the information below and consider expressing interest for School Council membership in 2025. We have an active and engaged School Council and welcome new members.

For existing members of School Council, if you are at the conclusion of your term of office and are keen to continue on School Council you are still required to self-nominate and complete a nomination form which are available at the front office.

Please see below more information about School Council.

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad directions of a school in accordance with their constituting Order and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a School Council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the School Council?

For most primary School Councils, there are three possible categories of membership:

A mandated elected Parent member category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. DET employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.

A mandated elected DET employee member category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of School Council. The Principal of the school is automatically one of these members.

An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members. Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office for some of the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help inform and shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a School Council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

Each member brings their own valuable life skills and knowledge to the role. However, councillors may need to develop skills and acquire knowledge in areas that are unfamiliar to them. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Code of conduct for School Councillors.

School Councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004. School Councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct – Employees issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

Act with honesty and integrity (be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty)
Act in good faith in the best interests of the school (work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds)
Act fairly and impartially consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to have a balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self interest.
Use information appropriately (respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available)
Exercise due care, diligence and skill (accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school)
Use the position appropriately (not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage)
Act in a financially responsible manner (observe all the above principles when making financial decisions)
Comply with relevant legislation and policies (know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law)
Demonstrate leadership and stewardship (set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable).

Indemnity for School Council members.

School Councillors are indemnified against any liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by the Council or any other person in respect of anything necessarily or reasonably done, or omitted to be done by the Councillor in good faith in:

the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Councillor, or
the reasonable belief that the act or omission was in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a Council.

In other words, School Councillors are not legally liable for any loss or damage suffered by Council or others as a result of reasonable actions taken in good faith.

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the School Council elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant. In view of this, you might consider standing for election as a member of the School Council or encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The Principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All School Council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual timeline has been varied by the Minister. If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent member category.

DET employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work, are eligible to nominate for Parent membership of the School Council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the Principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt via email or by hand following the receipt of your completed nomination.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

I encourage anyone considering School Council to contact me at the office on 5221 3772 or in person, I would be happy to discuss how parents contribute to our School Council or answer any questions you might have.

School Council election process and timetable

Name of the School: Fyans Park Primary School

Event	Date
Notice of election and call for nominations Please collect a nomination from the school office	Thursday 13th February 2025
Closing date for nominations/ballot	Thursday 27th February 2025 at 4.00pm
Vote count and declaration of Poll	Thursday 6th March 2025 at 4.00pm
First council meeting to elect office bearers (the principal will preside)	Office Bearers will be elected on the evening of Monday 24th March 2025 at Fyans Park Primary School The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Monday 24th March at 6.30pm prior to the first meeting of the 2025 School Council at 7.00pm – All parents’ welcome. 6.00pm – Finance Committee 6.30pm – Annual General Meeting 7.00pm – First Meeting of SC for 2025

*** Please see Jane or Alison at the office for the nomination forms for School Council membership. To make this easier for families our Admin team can also send these via email to be completed.

Notice of election and call for nominations

An election is to be conducted for members of the School Council of
Fyans Park Primary School

Nomination forms may be obtained from the school and must be lodged by 4.00pm on Thursday 27th February 2025.

The terms of office, membership categories and number of positions in each membership category open for election are as follows:

Membership category
Parent member

Term of office	Year
From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in	2025
to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in	2027

Number of positions:	2

Membership category
Community Member

Term of office	Year
From the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in	2025
to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in	2027

Number of positions:	1

Following the closing of nominations, a list of the nominations received will be posted at the school.

If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be posted in a prominent position at the school.

Remember.....

Consider standing for election to School Council this year. Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do. We are more than happy to assist.

Families and Friends Association Update – Colour Run and family BBQ

Next Thursday 20th February is our annual family picnic and colour run, an opportunity to come together as a school community held from 3.45pm – 6.00pm.

With the support of our F&F and student leaders who have assisted to source donations from local businesses on the night we will be holding a Sausage Sizzle, with drinks, and Zooper Doopers also on sale. All funds raised will go towards the purchase of extra lunchtime club resources for all students, led by Mr Scade and Student Wellbeing leaders.

EFTPOS will be available on the night and is the preferred method of payment with a small float for cash sales if necessary.

In addition, we welcome the Dippin' Dots van to Fyans Park on the evening of our Colour Run, and who have kindly agreed to donate $1 from every item sold, back to the school.

Taking inspiration from the ancient Hindu festival of Holi, our annual colour run having first commenced in 2020, just prior to the pandemic was inspired by Holi, a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the festival of colours. The traditions of Holi celebrate the triumph of good and serve as a reminder to be thankful for the difficulties we face in life and the lessons they teach us. Through adopting this attitude, similarly to the teachings of The Resilience Project here at Fyans Park, we can re-frame the challenges we face in life as opportunities for personal development and growth and in addition, further strengthening our cultural connections.

A reminder to parents and carers that we are encouraging the whole family to join in the fun this year so please wear your white clothes and join in the fun with students and staff.

Look forward to seeing you all next week to celebrate the festival of colours at Fyans Park.

Mrs Cameron

Community News