Hello everyone,

Welcome back and a very warm welcome to our new families. Our first few days back have been calm and settled, which says a lot about how you have helped your child/ren be ready for the school year, and also says a lot about how well our staff prepare their classrooms and settle their students back in to school routines.

A very warm welcome to Chelsea Petersen who is running our gardening program this year. Chelsea is very excited to be joining us. She has written a little introduction-

“Hello! Chelsea here, I’m very excited to be joining Bendigo Primary School as the new Garden Teacher. I’ve worked in a range of roles, from teaching gardening to kindergarteners to working as an Education Support staff member in the classrooms. When I’m not out in my own garden, you’ll find me reading a book or getting creative. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the students and sharing lots of fun, hands-on learning in our gardening classes”

Term 1 Goal setting meetings.

Our term 1 Goal setting meetings are in week 4, Monday 16 Feb to Friday 20th. Bookings will open in the Sentral app on Thursday 9th Feb at 9am. Make sure you have notifications turned on in your Sentral app so you receive the message telling you that bookings are open.

Our Goal setting meetings are an opportunity for students, teachers and parents/carers to work together to support the child to acheive their best. I strongly encourage you to make a time to meet with your child's teacher and get the learning partnership off to a strong start.

We have some questions we use to guide our goal setting meetings. Here they are so you have time to think about what you would like to tell your child's teacher-

1. Tell me about your child's strengths and interests.

2. What do you think will help your child have a successful learning year?

3. Is there a curriculum area or skill you would like your child to have a goal for?

*Foundation parents/carers, Bianca will be meeting with you on a Wednesday so you do not need to book a Goal Setting meeting.

2026 Parent Payments.

Our 2026 parent payment arrangements and details are available here. Parent payments can now be made via direct deposit or via EFTPOS at the office.

Friday assemblies.

Our Friday assemblies are held in the library and start at 2:50pm. We try and keep our newsletter calendar updated so you know which grade is hosting assembly. Next Friday is our first assebly for the year and will behosted by grade 4/5.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community.

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:

Amharic
Arabic
Chinese
Dari
Gujarati
Mandarin
Somali
Sudanese
Turkish
Urdu
Vietnamese

Breakfast Club starts again on Tuesday. It is held in our multi-purpose room from 8:25am every Tuesday and Thursday. Everyone is most welcome! I look forward to seeing lots of people there next week.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and fingers crossed that Sunday's weather really is a top of 24 so we can enjoy the 'cool'!

warm regards,

Carolyn.

School banking details.

Westpac.

Bendigo Violet Street Primary

BSB: 033-688

Account number: 93-1292

Payment reference: use your surname and fees.

Bendigo Primary School Newsletter

Respect, Responsibility and Kindness

Term 1 Week 1 2026 · 30 Jan 2026

In this issue