Principal Message

Curriculum Day 1st Day of Term 4

Monday 6th October is a pupil free curriculum day for the school. The teachers will be participating in professional learning related to explicit teaching of Reading and Numeracy. We will have a Day program running for Out of Hours School Care on this day,(numbers permitting) so please book via Kidsoft app.

Father's Day Breakfast

Friday was our annual Fathers Day Breakfast which had a large turnout. The weather was kind to us, and it was lovely to see so many people engaging with each other and taking a break from the usual rush of the Friday morning school run. Our Father’s Day Breakfast is a celebration of the people who support, guide and care for our kids every day and a chance for children to reflect on the love and care they receive from their family.

The origins of Father's Day are not well known and can be seen as a commercial gimmick that provides the retail industry with sales. Yet each Father's Day we stop and say thanks to the dads, grandads or parents who play a crucial role in our families.

The idea of Father’s Day started over 100 years ago in the United States. A woman named Sonora Smart Dodd wanted to honour her dad, who raised six children on his own, and so the very first Father’s Day was held in the USA in1910. From there, the tradition has spread across the world. Different countries celebrate on different days with Australia choosing the first weekend of the Spring each year.

Thank you to Terri and Jade and the FOWPS committeefor putting on the breakfast. Thanks also to the parents that assisted in making sure everything went smoothly. Once again, they have handled a huge workload with grace and a smile. We are very fortunate to have such great families that care about our school so much.

Carparking and road safety

There has been some confusion in relation to the top carpark at pick up time. An increase in cars parking directly opposite the front entrance to the school has made it difficult for the bus to back out safely. A new bus driver, who is very cautious of harming children that are crossing the road, has chosen to park in a different spot, causing some confusion. I have arranged for the bus to back into its usual place provided there are no cars blocking him from doing this. This way he can pull out from a forward position rather than reversing during the busy period.

I do ask that you consider the safety of children when parking across the road in the no parking zone. In the last few weeks, I have observed children and parents standing in the middle of the road talking to each other for several minutes, cars coming from behind the bus and having to quickly stop when they see a child crossing and I have seen children run across that road without even looking to ensure it is safe. Having raised 4 children in Warrandyte, it is easy for children to not consider busy roads when crossing as their homes are more likely to be on quiet streets with little traffic.

In addition, if your child catches the bus to school, I ask that you remind your child/ren about the dangers of standing too close to the edge of the road. I have had reports of children placing stick or objects on the road to watch what happens when a car runs over it. Supervision of your child at the bus stop is important, particularly for younger aged students.

Term 4

Term 4 will be upon us in a matter of weeks. This term is the busiest of all for a school and the leadership team. Many decisions are required to tie up the year while also make decisions for the following year. Anxieties around class allocation, structure and friendships begin to increase for some families and children. We aim to be as organised as we can and allow for communication between the school and home so that some of these anxieties can be headed off at the path. Behind the scenes we will be working on the following decisions:

Class structure for 2026
Class teacher allocation for 2026
Recruitment for any open positions for 2026
Student placement in classes for 2026
Closing off 2025 budgets
Modelling for 2026 staffing budgets (credit budgets)
Setting curriculum and team budgets (cash budgets for 2026)
Working with School Council in relation to budgets
Deciding on class packs for 2026 and costs to families associated with this
Deciding non-curriculum levies for 2026
Arranging handovers for 2026 teachers from 2025 teachers
Transition sessions for whole school across the term at the end of which Prep - 5 students will meet their teacher towards the end of the term.
SSG meetings for students identified as requiring additional support in the classroom or socially.
School reports
Organising and overseeing Graduation ceremony and parent committee
Added to the mix this year is the school production on 10th December.

There is a process for Student placement in 2026, and we will begin this early in the term. For new parents, I will send out a message that provides you with an opportunity to make requests by a certain date. These are not automatically granted and there are often times we cannot accommodate you, however, we have an open process in relation to this. We do not allow for teacher requests and often the teachers have not been allocated to classes at that point in time.

Staff absence for Term 4

Sally Freemantle will still be on personal leave in Term 4, with a date of return unknown at this time. Melissa has been running PE while Sally was away this term, and we have managed to secure her again to continue delivery of the program from Term 4 until required. She is doing a great job, and we are pleased to be able to provide a consistent teacher for this specialist program.

Long Service Leave

I begin my long service leave on Monday and will return on the First Day of term 4. Rick will be Acting Principal in my absence and there will be times Greg takes the reins as well so the Rick can touch base with his class. Anything urgent can go to Rick or the office and it will be passed on.

Have a great holiday break and I will see you in the new term.

Nieta