Principal's Report

State Championship Athletes… X 2!

STATE RUNNERS

A huge congratulations to Ellis, Dexter, Jonah and Barney on competing recently in the State Athletics Championships. Their progression from learning how to pass a baton to finishing 6th in the State is an extraordinary one, captured below by Caroline Service who has coached them voluntarily throughout (huge thanks and congratulations to Caroline as well!). Barney also made the final of the 200m, finishing 5th in the state, another incredible achievement.

Article by Caroline Service: 

This year I had the absolute pleasure of coaching four incredible boys: Ellis, Dexter, Jonah and Barney, as they made their way from Districts to Divisions, to Regionals, and finally, the State Championships.

When we first started, two of these boys had never done a baton change before. There were a few fumbles, plenty of shenanigans (as you’d expect from a group of 11-year-old boys), and many laps around the track. Yet week after week they showed up eager to get better. We met for early morning training sessions before school, perfecting handovers and building rhythm and trust. Watching them grow into a cohesive, confident team was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as both a mum and a “pretend coach.”

In the end, their hard work paid off. The boys came storming home for second in their heat and went on to place sixth in the State Final — sixth in all of Victoria! That’s an incredible achievement and they should be immensely proud of themselves.

A huge thank you also to the parents for your support, early morning drop-offs and weekend commitments. It truly takes a team effort, and I’ve been so grateful to work with such dedicated families.

To the boys, thank you for your energy, humour and heart. You’ve shown what can be achieved when talent meets teamwork. I couldn’t be prouder

STATE JUMPER

Another enormous congratulations to Max H in Grade 6 who represented Hampton Primary School at the Victorian All -Schools State Championship. He jumped a 30cm personal best of 2.50m coming second on a countback. He qualified for the National Championships which will be held in Melbourne in December. We congratulate Max on this fantastic achievement and wish him all the very best at the Nationals!

LIDSQUAD

Since 2023, Cindi and Alicia, along with a large number of Grade 5 students over the three years, have been leading LIDSQUAD, a sustainability initiative to promote recycling and  understand the science and technology involved in reproducing products into new, useful items.

Students have embraced lid collection with great enthusiasm, linking it to our Year 5 inquiry on plastic and the environment. In our first year alone, we collected over 8,000 lids, with families across the school still contributing through our weekly assembly competition.

Building on this success, we launched a new sustainability unit called Precious Plastic, partnering with Precious Plastic Melbourne to recycle lids into new products. With support from Josh, we purchased machinery that allows us to turn lids into pens, proudly made by our Year 5 students.

These colourful, ergonomic pens feature Hampton Primary School branding and are available for $5 each or 5 for $20, with refills for $1.50 to encourage reuse.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this project — proving that small actions can lead to big change!

Curriculum Day

On Monday, teachers took part in a Curriculum Day focused on assessment and reporting. Staff spent time reviewing Individual Education Plans, updating formative assessment trackers to monitor student growth and informing learning sequences and tasks upcoming to ensure they are targeted at student needs, and collaborating on student reports. It was a valuable day for reflection, planning and ensuring every student’s progress is accurately captured and celebrated. I appreciate that curriculum days can be challenging for families in supervising your children, which is why we endeavour to have them at times when we feel it is of least impact to families, and hope many took the chance to enjoy a four day weekend. 

School Wide Behaviour Expectations: 

Our focus this week is a technology one, based on following our ICT agreement to ensure that we are safe and responsible online, and leverage the benefits of technology but also understand the responsibility that comes with using it. Some of these School-Wide Expectations are very school-facing, however there are many that are relevant to home as well and I encourage all families to utilise the tools, strategies and resources that we have provided this year to support you at home with this, particularly around restrictions of apps and how to ensure your children know how to help-seek, should they need to. 

Dad’s Camp

It’s been wonderful to hear how successful the first camp went over the long weekend. Whilst a lower attendance than usual, due to the Cup Holiday, I trust that all those who went enjoyed the opportunity to connect with your children as well as others in the community. 

The second camp is on the 28th/29th November, which is the same date as the Mini Olympics, however this will conclude by lunchtime and so shouldn’t present any limitation on those attending, and hope it means there are lots who can attend the event!

Jiangsu International Conference

Last week, I attended the Jiangsu International Principal Conference in Suzhou, China. Jiangsu is Victoria’s sister state, and Hampton Primary’s sister school, Wenhe Elementary School, is also in this region. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to reconnect with our sister school, hear from educational leaders representing 12 countries, and explore the role of AI and technology in education.

It was fascinating to see how significantly technology features in schools around the world, a strong contrast to current discussions in Victoria around scaling back BYOD programs. Without providing judgment, it was a noticeable observation about how different systems approach innovation.

AI is clearly becoming a key part of global education, and we’re continuing to develop guidelines for its use across areas such as curriculum design, assessment, and support for students and teachers. Our teachers will no doubt be breathing a sigh of relief that we probably won’t be using camera-based recording AI to review teachers’ core practices in any given lesson, as one school we visited does!

Financial Contributions

Thank you to those families who have made a payment for the 2026 School Contributions.

These contributions are invaluable in allowing us to provide critical support and programs to students, such as learning support and enrichment, as well as properly resourced specialist programs and classrooms. We thank you for your commitment to supporting our programs, and in turn, your child's educational outcomes.

New & Important Dates

• Grade 4 Camp - 19th November
• Big Day In Jnr (Grades 5 and 6) - 19th November
• 2nd Hand Uniform Sale - 26th November in the Staffroom
• House Swimming Carnival - 4th December
• Curriculum Day planning for 2026 - Monday 15th December
• Graduation – Wednesday 17th December @ St Leonard’s Leonardian Centre
• Christmas Carols - 2pm Friday 12th December
• School finishes – Friday 19th December @1:30pm

To stay up to date with all events and key dates, see the Compass Calendar or link it to your preferred calendar using the button below.