Principal's Message

ANNNND.... WE ARE BACK!!

This is always such an exciting time of year when we get to welcome our students, staff and the community back through our school gates! It has been a truly positive and calm return to school which can be largely attributed to the strong transition processes we have in place at Hillsmeade, including introducing Step Up at the end of last year.

I am so deeply proud of each and every one of our wonderful students, especially our new preps, for their enthusiasm and positivity towards kicking off their learning for 2025. A special welcome also to all of our new families. We hope you are able to create a lifetime of special memories with your new Hillsmeade family!

The year will once again be full of so many opportunities to enhance your child's learning and wellbeing. 

I am honestly looking forward to a fabulous year ahead!

Staffing Update

At the end of 2024 Mr Jeff McGann was successful in attaining a position of leadership at the Marnebek school. Although we were very sad to see Jeff go, we are excited to welcome Mr Jarryd Foster to Hillsmeade PS. Mr Foster will be teaching PE alongside Mr Travis Cole and they have hit the ground running - which seems appropriate for PE teachers!! Mr Foster comes to us from Osborne PS in Mt Martha and has approx. 9 years of experience, including leadership roles. Don't hesitate to say hi to Mr Foster when you see him around!

Also, just a reminder that this year, the Assistant Principals that oversee the sub-schools are as follows:

P-2 - Mr Mark Cooper

3-6 - Mr Paul Hill

Hillsmeade PS School Review 

Every school in Victoria must have a school review every 3-4 years (timelines are dependent on COVID interruptions). This year it is our turn to reflect and evaluate on the progress Hillsmeade has made against the goals and targets that were set up on my commencement as Principal in Term 4, 2021.

Students, staff and the community will be invited to engage in reflections of the last few years and consider what could be next for our school moving forward.

It is an authentic opportunity to provide insights to the review panel, consisting of other principals and our reviewer, and help continue the growth of our school.

I will keep our community updated with the progress, however the official dates that have been allocated for our review days are all in Term 3 - predominantly the week of the 4th August.

Stay tuned in coming newsletters and through Compass for more information.

Assembly

As some of you may have seen on Friday, we have made some changes to the approach we have with assembly. They will still run fortnightly on Friday afternoons 2.30-3.00pm, however the staging and content of assemblies will differ slightly. We encourage families to come along and enjoy these fortnightly get togethers!

Fundraising

At Hillsmeade, we try to keep fundraising events to a minimum, with one major event for the year and one SRC community project per term. Over the last three years this has been our school Colour Explosion Run. After much discussion a decision has been made to have the Colour Explosion Run every two years, with the next one being in 2026.

We are currently organising a schoolwide fundraising event for this year and will keep the community updated on planning progress.

Student Birthday Celebrations

Just a friendly reminder that if you choose to celebrate your child's birthday with classmates, please ensure these items are individually portioned. For example, individual packets of lollies or individual cookies. Please do not send in a whole birthday cake, unless it is already wrapped as individual portions.

Dogs on School Grounds

Please ensure all dogs are held by an adult that can confidently manage the dog's behaviours. As you are aware, we have a school wellbeing dog Yoshi. Yoshi is always held and managed by an adult.

It is also a timely reminder that not everyone likes dogs, so please be mindful of this. We encourage dogs to remain outside the fence line where possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Please Help Hillsmeade!

We ask you to please assist us with the Parent Volunteer Payment.

At the end of last year we sent out information for 2025 about the book pack and volunteer payments. We ask very kindly that you please at least pay for the book packs we have provided students at a cost of $50 per student for everything they need for the whole year.

Unfortunately, the School Savings Bonus CANNOT be used to cover the cost of book packs and also cannot be used for the voluntary payments. 

So we ask that you help us out a bit with your valued contribution to keep the school running! Thank you so much in advance!!

Meet the Teacher Tuesday 11th February

This is the first event we have for 2025 where families are welcome to pop into the school/classrooms between 3.30pm - 4.30pm. The staff will be in classrooms ready to welcome you and enable your children to show off their new spaces for the year! All welcome!

Save The Dates - Term 1 2025

• Tuesday 11th February - Meet the Teacher 3.30 - 4.30pm
• Wednesday 12th February - Yr 4-6 swimming trials
• Thursday 20th February - School Photos
• Monday 10th March - Labour Day public holiday
• Wednesday 12th March - Monday 24th March: NAPLAN
• Tuesday 25th March - Family Fun Night 3.30 - 5.30pm
• Friday 4th April - Easter Parade & Last Day Term 1