Junior School

Toddle

The uptake and use of the Toddle App by Junior School families has been very pleasing. As this year progresses, we will be utilising Toddle for our Continuous Reporting and Semester Reports. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need support with navigating the Toddle dashboard and its features. It is continually being updated. Relevant information for Junior School events, excursions and activities is attached in the calendar.

2026 Camps Program

Our 2026 camps program commences with the Year 5 and Year 6 students spending three days at The Outside Inn at the Wannon, from 25 March to 27 March. We have added a surfing session in Port Fairy to the first morning of this camp. 

May 13 to May 15 sees the Year 5 class travel back to 1854 for a three-day camp at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. 

From 2 November to 6 November, our Year 6 students travel interstate for a 5-day camp to Canberra.

This year, we are trialling a combined three-day camp for our Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 students to Cave Hill Creek in Beaufort, from 18 November to 20 November.  We are looking forward to travelling away together as a group and see many great benefits for the group as a whole.

2026 House Captains

The Junior School has appointed the 2026 House Captains. We had very strong fields of candidates in each House and I sincerely thank all students who applied for House captain positions. There will be many leadership opportunities throughout 2026, with our musical, sporting endeavours, service-based clubs, Chamber Singers etc. The Junior School staff and I look forward to the contributions from all in the Year 6 cohort. Congratulations to the following students.

• Berry House - Maggie Wallis and Sammie Price

• Learmonth House - Milla McClure and Georgina Whale

• Young House - Hazel Johns and Hugh Cain

As we have no eligible Year 6 Laidlaw students in 2026, Year 5 Laidlaw House students George Robertson, Hamish Cameron, Harriet Small, Bobby Giles and Will Brown will work as a leadership team and assist with House events.

House Swimming

Unfortunately, and with very late notice, H.I.L.A.C could not provide the required lifeguarding staff for our scheduled House Swimming on Wednesday, 18 February. We have had to move House Swimming to Friday, 20 February at Hughan Park Outdoor Pool. The program will run as normal, with Prep to Year 2 events commencing at 9.30 am. Prep, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 - 25m across the pool, swimmers can be taken home at the conclusion of their morning events. A big thank you to Mrs Louise Patterson for all her coordination of our first House event for 2026. Young House were our champion House in 2025.

I have just finished world-renowned sports mentor and leadership coach Ben Crowe’s first book, ‘Where The Light Gets In’. One of the many great takeaways from the text is the six most powerful words a parent or coach can say to their child - ‘I love to watch you play.’ Whilst we all can at times be driven and eager to see our children succeed, place in events, collect ribbons and Age Champion medals, imparting to our children that we love to watch them run, swim, play or compete removes the dreaded ‘E’ word from the conversations - Expectation.

Hot Shots Tennis

Hot Shots Tennis is a new initiative that replaces the SSV District, Regional, and State Tennis Championships. Next Thursday, 26 February, Mrs Patterson will take the entire Year 6 class to the Hamilton round of this competition, to be played at the Hamilton Lawn Tennis Club. The competition is divided into Girls, Boys, and Mixed divisions. Winning teams of 8 will progress to the next level of the competition in Warrnambool.

'Dare to Dream'

Information packs for ‘Dare to Dream’ auditions will be sent out via Toddle this week. The online flip books will contain links to audition songs and information students will need prior to their auditions on the afternoon of 11 March.  All Year 3, 4, 5, and 6 students are invited to audition for 15 major roles in this year’s production.

Staffing

Next week will be Ms Tzu Winstanley’s final week with our Year 2/3 class. We thank her for the excellent start to the year she has provided for the Year 2/3 students. Mrs Bernadette Milich will return from long service leave on Monday, 2 March. 

Mrs Sharon Kelly will be off on leave for the next 3 to 4 weeks. We send her our best wishes. The Prep class is in good hands, with experienced teachers Ms Emma Weatherly and Mrs Peta Alexander delivering Mrs Kelly’s program to the Preps.