This is our final newsletter of the term and as we return to school next week we celebrate the final week of Term 1 and the lead up to Easter. We’ve certainly enjoyed a really busy fortnight around the school and as we lead into the Easter break we are appreciative of the support our school community has provided our students to begin the school year.

Harmony Day

Last Friday we celebrated Harmony Day around our school, Harmony Day celebrates our cultural diversity and encourages us to celebrate the rich cultural background of Australia and more locally, our school. There were some wonderful colours on display and some traditional outfits worn to celebrate the cultural background of our school community. A quick look at some data from around our school demonstrates just how multicultural our school is. One thing I admire about primary schools (and our school) is the sense of inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for all students, regardless of their language spoken, their country of birth or their cultural background. It was lovely to see our students celebrate together last Friday.

Camp

A huge thanks to our wonderful group of committed teachers who provided our Year ¾ students with such a terrific school camp. For our Year 3 students, this was their first school camp. Camp Oasis is located in Mt Evelyn and is a great 3 day camp for our students who participated in a very busy program of activities, adventures and evening events. Noticeably, the bus ride home to school is also a lot less vocal then the bus ride to camp as students begin to feel the effects of a very busy three days. I anticipate many of our Year ¾ students will sleep very well over the weekend. My sincere thanks to our teaching and education support staff for their work to support this opportunity for our students, taking the time to be away from their own families is a substantial commitment and one that is truly appreciated.

Farewell

We have had such a busy term with celebratory farewells and goodbyes, having said goodbye to Miss Ryan and Kato sensei (and a warm welcome to Mrs Min and Tokunaga sensei), we complete our family leave farewells with Mrs Guzman finishing up with us next Thursday to commence her family leave. Mrs Guzman has worked as a classroom teacher and Professional Learning Communities Leader in our school over a number of years, she also took our students off to Japan in 2024 for our Japan Trip, we are looking forward to celebrating her commencement of family leave and we are hopeful of introducing our new Year ¾ teacher to our school early next week.

School Council

It was great to meet with our school council team for the first time in 2026 and it was a pleasure to appoint our office bearers for the year ahead. I sincerely thank our family members who have volunteered their time to support our school over the coming year ahead.

A warm welcome to:

President: Sarah Browne (Mother of Baxter)
Vice President: Warwick Keating (Father of Jasmine)
Treasurer: Libby Herman (Mother of Oliver and Amelia)
Secretary: Daniel Shaw (Stepfather of Leo)

They are well supported by our additional council members, Joel Ryan (Father of Imani), Miharu Morioka (Department of Education), Asami Onda (Department of Education), Abby James (Mother of Ella). Sub-Committees will continue to run over the year ahead with more information shared about these early in Term 2.

Judo

I am pleased to share that Akari Yong of 1/2D won the silver medal in her weight category at the Judo Victoria State Championship. Akari earned the bronze medal in 2025. Notably, she defeated two boys on her way to securing silver this year. Congratulations Akari!

Bayside Peninsula Principal Conference

Principals and Assistant Principals from around our Bayside-Peninsula area engaged in a two day professional learning conference on Thursday and Friday, having the opportunity to network with other school leaders whilst also engage in keynote presentations from Major Martina Jewell, Gavin Wanganeen, Ross Fox and Dylan Wiliam. Dylan Wiliam is always a wonderful presentation, with a huge body of academic work stating that there is now a large and growing evidence base that helping teachers develop their use of minute-to-minute and day-by-day assessment is one of, if not the most powerful ways to improve student learning. However, adopting formative assessment, or assessment for learning as it is sometimes called, involves far more than adding a few “quick fixes” to teachers’ classroom repertoires. It involves a fundamental shift in focus, from what the teacher is putting in to the process to what the students are getting out of it. It was a great couple of days of professional learning.

We ended our Friday afternoon session with a closing keynote from Gavin Wanganeen, a two time premiership winner with Essendon and Port Adelaide and a Brownlow Medal winner. Gavin managed to quickly build a genuine connection with the audience and he spoke of his Indigenous upbringing and the challenges he overcame throughout his life.

Clubs And Activities

We have a range of CPS led activities and outsourced programs to make up our clubs and activities program this year, providing a host of opportunities for students of all ages to have a different play-based experience at recess or lunch. For many of these activities, staff are foregoing their lunchbreak to voluntarily provide an additional opportunity for students to participate in. Should your child be interested in any of these activities, please encourage them to speak to the teacher responsible or their own classroom teacher.

End of Term

A reminder that our school term finishes on Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm, a short end of term assembly will be held towards the end of the day and our Easter Raffle winners will be drawn. Term 2 recommences on the 20th April.

Naplan

Thank you to our Year 3 and 5 teachers, Miss Molloy and Morioka sensei for supporting our Naplan testing sessions over the last few weeks. Their preparation and attention to detail ensured that our students were able to participate in these testing sessions with very little technical challenges or obstacles. Our teaching staff did a terrific job supporting our students during this period ensuring that they were given opportunities to ensure that the school day was able to be enjoyed and that he testing sessions were only a small element of their school week.

Cross Country

Congratulations to our Year 3-6 students who competed in our CPS House Cross Country carnival today, cross country running is a great challenge and I really admire students who test themselves to finish their race. I always remember the challenges of cross country running at school, congratulations to those students who persevered, had a go, earning points for their house and for some of whom who will go on to represent our school at the next stage of competition.

Literacy Resources:

Thank you to Klein sensei who has worked as our Marrung Champion to put together a great set of literacy resources in our library. These resources and reading material are opportunities for our students to develop greater understanding and awareness of the importance of country and the traditional owners of the land that we work and play. Klein sensei continues to find authentic ways for our school to build connection to these learnings and allow our students and staff to have greater understanding of this.

Well Done

A huge thanks to Miss Molloy who has stepped into the Acting Assistant Principal role over recent weeks, doing a tremendous job and building her leadership knowledge and oversight of the school. I think it is really beneficial for teachers and emerging leaders in our school and our system to see another side of a school and build their skillset. Miss Molloy has demonstrated her experience and has enjoyed the support of staff and families over recent weeks. Congratulations Miss Molloy. We are excited to welcome back Morioka sensei to her Assistant Principal role at the commencement of Term 2, having undertaken her internship and professional learning, once again – a terrific opportunity to see another school in operation.

Enjoy the coming weekend, I look forward to seeing you around the school next week.

Take Care,

Edward Strain

Principal

Team Kids