Scotsburn News

Term 1 Important Dates

Welcome Back!

A warm welcome back to everyone in the Scotsburn community! We trust that you all had an enjoyable summer break and are ready and raring for a big school year ahead. If the first few days are anything to go by, we certainly are in for an amazing year. As you are all aware, this year we welcome teaching staff Kirsty Robertson in SC2 and Steven Skilbeck for Music, PE and STEM. We look forward to seeing them this week. 

Please make sure to have a good read of all the information below as well as keeping an eye on Compass. Classroom Newsletters will also be sent home this week. The start of the year is always a busy time and it can be easy to miss important information. As always, we welcome any questions if you need clarification with anything. 

We look forward to seeing everyone throughout this week.

The Scotsburn team

Scotsburn Relocation to Buninyong Tomorrow - Wednesday 4th February - Extreme Fire Risk Rating

After monitoring weather conditions predicted, we have made the decision to relocate to the Buninyong Campus tomorrow (Wednesday February 4).

BUSHFIRE PREPAREDNESS

We like to regularly keep parents notified of the plans in place as we enter bushfire season. This helps us to keep everyone safe. 

Our Scotsburn Campus is vulnerable to fires and each year we undertake works to reduce the fuel load around the campus and make sure the buildings are as safe as they can be in the event of a fire. 

Having said that, we have every intention of hosting Scotsburn staff and students at the Buninyong Campus on days where the fire risk is deemed unsafe. We are mandated for the Scotsburn Campus to close on days rated as catastrophic, but don’t intend to have anyone on site when the fire rating is Extreme. 

We will do our best to give Scotsburn families plenty of notice on occasions when the decision is taken to host staff and students at the Buninyong Campus. A few further things to remember and some resources for parents: 

• No staff will be on site at Scotsburn campus on days where the school has been relocated due to a forecast of High, Extreme or Catastrophic day. 

• School camps will be cancelled if a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast for the Bureau of Meteorology district in which the camp is located, or if the travel involves passing through areas that have Catastrophic fire danger. 

• On days rated as Catastrophic, country bus routes will be cancelled in affected areas. 

Families are encouraged to enact their Bushfire Survival Plan on Catastrophic fire danger rating days. On such days, children should never be left at home alone or in the care of older children. For those of us living in a bushfire prone area, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) advises that when Catastrophic days are forecast, the safest option is to leave the night before or early on the morning of the Catastrophic day. As part of preparing our school for potential hazards such as fire, we have updated and completed our Emergency Management Plan and reprioritised any maintenance works that may assist in preparing for the threat of fire and cleared our facility’s grounds and gutters. 

What can parents do? 

• Make sure your family’s bushfire survival plan is up-to-date and includes alternative care arrangements in the event that Scotsburn campus is relocated due to elevated fire danger or a Catastrophic fire forecast. Further information can be found on the CFA’s website. 

• Ensure we have your current contact details, including your mobile phone numbers. Keep in touch with us by reading our newsletters, by talking to your child’s teacher or phoning the office to discuss our emergency management plan. 

• Most importantly at this time of year, if you’re planning a holiday or short stay in the bush or in a coastal area, you should check warnings in advance of travel and remain vigilant during your stay. 

• If your child is old enough, talk to them about bushfires and your family’s Bushfire Survival Plan. 

• You can access current information about school and early childhood services closures, including those due to elevated fire danger, on the Department of Education and Training’s website – see http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/pages/closures.aspx 

Multiple sources that offer information on emergencies are listed below: 

• VicEmergency app – that can be downloaded on your android and iOS mobile devices 

• VicEmergency Hotline (1800 226 226) 

• Website https://emergency.vic.gov.au 

• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/vicemergency) 

• Twitter (https://twitter.com/vicemergency) 

• ABC local radio, Sky News and other emergency broadcasters

With this in mind, the following arrangements have been made for tomorrow, Wednesday February 4:

• Bus travellers will run as normal, with drop off and pick up now at Buninyong Campus
• Classroom spaces will be made available for both SC1 and SC2 at the Buninyong Campus throughout the day, in our usual location adjacent to the courtyard.
• Jarrod will be up at Scotsburn before school this morning to catch any students who miss this Compass message. Jarrod can also transport students to Buninyong for families who can’t drop off at Buninyong.
• Students to meet Mrs Connor and Mrs Morgan from 8:45am in the courtyard at Buninyong
• Our specialist program with Mrs Morgan will run as normal, out of spaces at the Buninyong Campus

We apologise for the late notice; however, safety of your children is our number one priority. Any questions, feel free to contact Jarrod. 

Family Groups - Starting Week 3

We also can’t wait to get back into Friday Family Groups this year, with us kicking off next Friday (Week 3). We will run these sessions this year from 2:30pm - 3:30pm, on weeks where we don’t have assemblies. For Term 1, we will have a cooking group, and a sustainability/team building group. 

Next week we will include in the newsletter our groups and schedule. It is a good idea to send a small tupperware container with your child during the weeks that they are cooking, as they may bring some yummy food home!

Toastie Tuesday and Thursday Breakfast Club - Starting Week 3

Next week we will also be starting back up our Toastie Tuesdays and Breakfast Club. Remember to send $1.00 with your child on Tuesdays if they would like to purchase a toastie, and also be ready on Wednesday mornings to come into the old building for some yummy breakfast, which is free of charge! We will be once again looking for some parent assistance with these programs - please let any Scotsburn staff know if you can volunteer some time.

SC1 Learning Snapshot

A big Scotsburn welcome to our new students Aster and Alana in SC1. Aster in Prep and Alana in Grade 1.  It was wonderful to see you settling into school life so well. We look forward to seeing all the great things you will achieve this year and beyond. 

SC1 has had such a wonderful start. The first week was extremely settled as we began to explore our Learning to Learn program. This will continue throughout Week 2 as we set up our learning space as a team, teach routines, expectations and organisation. These first 2 weeks also give us a chance to delve into our school values, respectful - responsible - kind, and what this looks like in the classroom, yard and community. We know our students do a wonderful job at this and enjoy taking ownership of how we can all be happy and inclusive at school as well as setting up the best possible learning environment for everyone.

Thanks and have a great week.

Chelsea and Beth

SC2 Learning Snapshot

What an incredible start we have had in SC2! Students have settled back into the year incredibly well, including getting their heads around our new daily routines - even reminding Mr Morgan a few times! A big warm welcome to Charlie, Hugo, Scarlett, Aelwen and Cleo who have moved up to SC2. They already feel like they have been in the class forever!

This week as part of our Learning to Learn program, students have been practicing and refining all aspects of their school day, including routines, structures, values and expectations. As a class we have really enjoyed building both our class and campus culture, through games and activities focussed on our school values of Respectful, Responsible and Kind. 

Today students have also welcomed back Mrs Robinson, who will be in SC2 every Tuesday. 

We can’t wait for the year ahead in SC2!

Jarrod and Kirsty

Term 1 Specialist News and Specialist Timetable

This year our Specialist program will be a shared role between Mrs Morgan and Mr Skilbeck. 

Below is Scotsburn’s Specialist timetable for Term 1.

Classes will swap Art and Music in Semester 2, with both subjects fitting under the broader subject of “The Arts”.

Scotsburn Assembly this week - Friday 6 February

This week we welcome everyone in the Scotsburn community to our first Scotsburn assembly. As was the routine last year, we will hold our assemblies in the shed at 3pm. We can’t wait to introduce our new Scotsburn leaders, Grade 6 students, new students, as well as new families. We will also include some celebrations and awards to start the year, which will be wonderful. We look forward to seeing you there!

Meet and Greet - Monday 9 February and Wednesday 11 February

This year with welcoming both some new staff and new families to the campus, we thought that it may be a good opportunity to return to our more familiar individual Meet and Greet arrangements, with individual time slots to book with your child's teacher/teachers.

Bookings for Meet and Greet interviews with your child's classroom and specialist teachers are now open in Compass for Monday, February 9 from 4:00 - 6 pm and Wednesday, February 

11th from 1:30-5pm (students finish at the earlier time of 1:00pm this day).  Bookings will close this Friday, February 6 at 5:00pm.

These are important meetings to help teachers better understand your child and for you to gain an understanding about the routines and rituals that will be implemented as part of your child's learning this year.

The goals for the Meet and Greet sessions are:

•  For teachers and parents to meet
•  So teachers have time to explain routines and what to expect as part of  learning in 2025
•  For parents to ask questions
•  For teachers to get to know more about the student

There are 10 minutes allocated to each meeting. If your chat requires a longer period of time, please feel free to organise another meeting on an alternative day.

Arrival and Pick Up Time

8:45am is an ideal time to arrive at school, as the classrooms and playground are not supervised until then. If you are regularly requiring your child to be dropped off prior to this time, just a reminder that we do have before school care available at the Buninyong Campus. Students attending before school care at Buninyong are transported via bus to the Scotsburn campus before 9:00am. Feel free to catch up with any of the Scotsburn staff if you have any questions about your child’s morning drop off arrangements.

At Scotsburn, we want all students to be ready to start the day at 9:00am. If your child is absent on any given day, please ensure that you contact the Buninyong Primary School office to inform them, so as our role marking procedures are accurately updated.

With our new classroom timetable in 2026, our final hour in the classroom each day (between 2:30pm - 3:30pm) will become a very tight dedicated learning time. Whilst we understand that some appointments and out of school bookings are unavoidable, we ask that where possible, students can be in class right until 3:30pm. This will ensure students are not missing any important learning time. 

Book Packs and 2026 Parent Contributions

Thanks to everyone for your organisation with book packs. For those who need, student book packs are still available to order through WINC if you haven’t done so already. Full booklist details and the ordering process can be found through the link below.

Parent contributions can also be made online with your book pack order or directly at the school office.

We have always appreciated the wonderful support of our parent community in helping to cover the ongoing costs of curriculum resources for all students across the school, and our campus. Thank you to the families who have already purchased book packs and made their contribution—your support helps ensure our learning programs continue to be rich, valuable and diverse in 2026.

Bus Travellers

If your son/daughter is a bus traveller and you haven’t already done so, please contact the Buninyong campus office to complete the required forms. A reminder that if travel plans change on any certain day, please call the Scotsburn Campus or come and see the bus duty teacher before collecting your child. This will save any confusion when doing the bus roll.

Lunch orders

The canteen will be back up and running for lunch orders each Wednesday and Friday. Please use the QKR app to order these.

Staff Contacts

Mr Morgan: jarrod.morgan@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Robinson: kirsty.bull@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Murphy: elizabeth.murphy@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Connor: chelsea.connor@education.vic.gov.au

Mrs Morgan: elizabeth.morgan2@education.vic.gov.au

Mr Skilbeck: steven.skilbeck@education.vic.gov.au

The Scotsburn Team