Out and about at Surfside

Happy Easter and Safe Holidays

It has been an action packed term at Surfside during term 1 with many achievements, events and celebrations in and out of the classroom. We are proud of the way our school community has settled into the start of the school year and supported the growth of all students. We hope our students have the opportunity for a restful break and return energised for an exciting and opportunity filled term 2. We look forward to what the remainder of 2026 will bring and wish the Surfside community a Happy Easter and a safe and restful break. We look forward to welcoming our school community back for the start of term 2 on Monday 20th April. A big thank you to our school community as we raised $453 today for our State Schools Spectacular group through our casual dress fundraising day.

Here are some important dates to help you out in the first few weeks of term 2. Please always continue to keep an eye on the dates for the diary page as events are always added when dates are confirmed.

April

Mon 20th - First Day of Term 2

                       Year 6-7 Transition Forms Due

Wed 22nd - Year 3-6 Surfside PS Cross Country - Shell Road Reserve

Thu 23rd  - No Breakfast Club

                       Year 6 Incursion - Earth Ed Energy Generation

Fri 24th    -   ANZAC Day Assembly @ 9.00am

                    -  Fun Run/Colour Run 2:30pm - 3:15pm

Thu 30th -   Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

May

Fri 1st -      Assembly @ 2.30pm - courtyard

Tues 5th - SSV District Cross Country

Thu 7th -   Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

Mon 11th - 2027 Foundation School Tours 9.30am

Tues 12th - 2027 Foundation School Tours 9.30am

Thu 14th -  Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

                      SSV Winter Lightning Premiership

Fri 15th -    Assembly @ 2.30pm - courtyard 

                      Digital Tattoo - Cybersafety - Years 4 & 5

                      Education Support Staff Appreciation Day

Term 2 Curriculum Day 2026

School Council Approved Dates

Term 2

Friday 5th June - Curriculum Day - Students not at school

Ocean Grove & Barwon Heads RSL ANZAC Day March and Service

We welcome the students and families from Surfside Primary School to participate in the 2026 Ocean Grove & Barwon Heads RSL ANZAC Day march and service on Saturday, 25th April. The march will begin in the Terrace (main street of Ocean Grove) at 9:45am and the march will end at the Ocean Grove Cenotaph, Ocean Grove Park with an ANZAC Day service, which will commence at 10:00am . Our school captains will represent Surfside in the service by laying a wreath and performing a poem on our behalf. If students are participating in the march it is recommended that they wear school uniform. We have also had students wearing a relatives medals of service in the past which is a lovely way to remember our service members. As a school we will also be running an ANZAC Day service at school on Friday morning (24th April) in the courtyard at 9.00am.

Buildings & Grounds & Holiday Programs

There will be some work happening over the term 1 holidays around the school so there will be plenty of action and people around the school. The following grounds work will be completed:

• Mowing and edging of grounds
• Maintenance work over consecutive days
• School holiday periodical clean
• Resurfacing of some of our ramp areas - coordinated by the Victorian School Building Authority

Trivia Night 

Our trivia night date is booked in so mark it in your diary and save the date of Friday 22nd May. Get some friends together to make a table, think of a dress up theme and get ready for a night of trivia, food, drinks, dancing, games and plenty of fun. There is always a prize for the winning table and the best dressed table. This is an 18+ event.

Swimming Program

A big well done to our year 3-6 students who have now completed their swimming program over the past 4 weeks. With a focus on water safety, water awareness, and building swim proficiency, the students have done an outstanding job. We had very high participation and have been very impressed with the overall competency of the students in the pool and it shows that continual instruction builds student capacity in and around the water. We received really positive feedback from the pool and local community members regarding our students and displaying our school values of Respect, Honesty, Teamwork and Achievement. We thank the team at BASC for their organisation, flexibility and support of our students.

Western Metro Region Swimming Championships - Kardinia Aquatic Centre

We were very proud of Nash in year 3 who represented Surfside PS in the 9/10 year old backstroke at the Western Region Swimming Championships on Tuesday. The competition is very tough at this level and Nash did a great job finishing 4th overall with a 4 second personal best. This is a great example of our school value of achievement and we hope that he enjoyed the experience and a massive thank you to his support crew. We look forward to working with the Surfside swimming team early in 2027.

Easter Hat Parade

The Foundation-2 cohort celebrated aspects of Easter with the annual Easter Hat Parade. A big thank you to the staff and visitors for providing such a fun experience. There were so many individual designs and plenty of smiles and laughs on show. It was great to see the Easter Bunny making a surprise visit to greet our kids, staff and school community. The parade has always been a great opportunity for our junior school to come together in the final week of term 1 but word on the street is the older kids are feeling very jealous and want to join in on the fun in 2027 - it is great to hear that they still want to have fun and keep that community spirtit alive. Check out some amazing pictures below:

Foundation Afternoon Picnic

Our Foundation students have enjoyed their first term and really settled well into school life with consistent and predictable routines, solid learning and support opportunities, building social and emotional skills, venturing out into the playground, meeting our school community and year 6 buddies, experiencing specialist classes, enjoying the experience of Snack Shack and having their first Easter Hat Parade. There are so many more experiences to come along the way but Tuesday allowed for a lovely opportunity for the Foundation families and carers to spend the afternoon with their children and together as a community for a end of term celebratory picnic. We hope all our Foundation families have a lovely rest after a busy and action packed term 1 and we have been so proud of our Foundation cohort.

Food Scrap Friday Update for Term 1

Our total food scraps diverted from landfill for the year to date is 1,034.1 kg. The biggest collection was week 7, 13th February with 139.3 kg and 70 buckets!

By comparison, this time last year we had collected 1,293.6 kg, so we have some catching up to do next term!

A reminder that food scraps can be dropped off each Friday at the garden gate and a big thank you to our parent/carer helpers for their amazing work during term 1. 

We are always looking for new volunteers so please check in with our crew if you can help out throughout therm 2

Annual Implementation Plan 2026

At the completion of the 2025 school year the staff and leadership team at Surfside spend a considerable amount of time analysing our whole school data sets to inform our goals for 2026. The data sets that are used to drive student learning, engagement and wellbeing programs include the following:

• Student cohort data in literacy and numeracy including NAPLAN
• Student attitudes to school survey and wellbeing data check ins 
• Parent/carer and guardian opinion survey
• Surfside school staff survey
• Yard and classroom behaviour data
• Departmental implementation goals and initiatives

These data sets and initiatives allow us to celebrate the many achievements and success that happens at Surfside but also allows us to set goals for areas of improvement and growth. Below is an overview of our Annual Implementation Plan for 2026 and our full AIP. These have been presented to school council at our most recent AGM. It has been great to see a number of these goals and areas already taking shape across the school and in the classrooms throughout term 1. These goals were also derived from our 2025 school review.

 SURFSIDE PS - 2026 - ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

School Council 2026 - Annual General Meeting Overview

At our Annual General Meeting we welcomed our new and returning members for our 2026 school Council. Our nomination of office bearers saw Sabrina Lunn named School Council President, Alicia Brown named School Council Vice President and Clayton McIntosh as Treasurer. We enjoyed learning about our school council members and they bring a range of skills and abilities to our 2026 school council. Highlights of our meeting was the presentation of our 2026 Annual Implementation Plan which is highlighted above and the presentation of our Draft 2025 Annual Report that will be released next term and made available for families. We look forward to working with a skilled, enthusiastic and invested group of Surfside parents. 

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 19th April

• Finance Meeting - 5.00pm
• School Council Meeting - 5.30pm

Surfside Primary at the One Planet Festival - Come Visit Us!

We’re excited to share that Surfside Primary School will be hosting a stall at the One Planet Festival at Ocean Grove Park. The One Planet Festival is a vibrant, community-led celebration of local solutions for a thriving, fair, connected future.Through hands on workshops, engaging talks, family fun, and inspiring performances, the festival will bring together people of all ages to imagine- and help create- the world we want to live in!In 2026 it's even bigger, more zones, interactive activities, live demonstrations and much more! The festival also includes something for everyone with food and drinks, and a great music line-up.

Our Food Scrap Friday initiative and our passionate Food Scrap Friday Warriors will be proudly showcased on the day. Each week, our students take action to reduce waste and care for our environment by collecting and managing food scraps in sustainable ways. Their leadership and commitment are making a real difference in our school and beyond.

Our amazing Kitchen and Garden Captains and Sustainability Captains have been working closely with Ms Mel O’Toole to prepare creative and engaging ways to demonstrate what we do and how simple it can be to start managing food scraps at home or within your community.

Be sure to come down and visit our stall, we would love your support! Come along, say hello, and celebrate sustainability with us!

Parents Battle of the Bands 2026

Attention musical parents,

We are currently gathering expressions of interest from parents who would like to form a Parent Band and compete in the Parent Battle of the Bands in our region.

If this is something you would be interested in, please complete the Google Form linked below and we will be in touch.

Parent Battel Of The Bands Google Form

2027 Sibling Enrolments 

It has been great to see our Prep students start full time and we are already planning our 2026 Prep enrolment tours and information sessions. Our official enrolment period for 2026 opens on day 1 of term 2. Under Department of Education guidance Surfside Primary School currentlay has in place an Enrolment Management Plan as we are currently at capacity. We are only able to currently fulfil the following within the DET placement policy:

'In circumstances where schools do not have sufficient accommodation to accept all students who apply from outside their school zone, schools must manage enrolment applications in accordance with the following priority order of placement:

1. students with a sibling at the same permanent address who are attending the school at the same time
2. all other students in order of closeness of their home to the school (only within the designated Find my School zone)

If you have a younger child that is ready for school in 2026 we would appreciate you letting us know  so we can ensure a place for you in 2026.  Please refer to the Prep enrolment timeline and guidelines below and this information will be in our newsletters throughout term 2:

The timeline will apply for children starting Foundation (Prep) in 2026.

You can find information and resources about the timeline, including factsheets, at: Enrolling in Foundation (Prep). You can also download the ‘Foundation (Prep) Enrolment Information Pack for Parents/Carers for the 2025 school year’ from the Starting School webpage. (available from Tuesday 24th April)

You will be able to apply to enrol your child in Foundation (Prep) 2026 at Surfside Primary School from Tuesday 24th April 2025.

What you need to do:

1. Contact the school on 5256 1411, pop into the office or book a school tour when tours are made available 
2. Submit an enrolment application for Foundation (Prep) by Friday 25 July 2025
3. You will be notified of the outcome of your application between Monday 28th July and Friday 8th August, 2025. If you receive an offer of placement, you should contact our school to accept the offer by Friday 22nd August 2025.
4. Take part in enrolment information and transition sessions during Term 4, 2024
5. Your child will start Foundation (Prep) from the week starting Wednesday 28th January 2026.

Enrolment applications submitted after Friday 25th July, 2025 will be processed by our school as they are received, in accordance with the department’s Placement Policy.

Student Attendance

Regular attendance at school is very important for your child's learning and social development. Very good attendance for a child is 95% and above.

It is important that children are at school as much as possible to ensure the BEST opportunity for learning growth. We need to utilise every available minute to ensure student growth academically, socially and emotionally, in and out of the classroom. 

If early collection for a shopping trip or to beat the traffic happens on a regular basis this can take away from valuable learning time throughout their schooling life. Please take the time to read the graphic below and to understand the long term affect this can have on student development. We understand that students are impacted by illness, injury or other ailments. If your child is going to be absent you are required by legislation to notify the school by:

• Logging onto Compass  and
• Enter the absence for full days only 
• If your child/children arrive late or are being collected early, the office staff will enter this onto Compass for you.