Principal's Report

Dear HPS Community, 

It was a wonderful scene at Possum Hollow yesterday when not teddy bears, but HPS families gathered in the woods of the Banyule flats to enjoy each others company and a picnic! The weather was certainly on our side and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to chat with people and see everyone connecting and having fun.

Communication

Compass is used as the main communication forum. Capers, our school newsletter, is sent out weekly on a Friday afternoon.

If you wish to contact your child's teacher's, you can email them through the Compass portal. Alternatively, you may be able to see them before or after school to arrange a mutually agreeable time to meet.

Please note staff often are not able to check emails during the day due to teaching, planning, yard duty etc. All endeavours will be made to reply to contact in a timely manner (within 2 days, during business hours).

Heidelberg PS understands the importance of providing helpful and timely responses to common enquiries from parents and carers. To ensure that members of our school community are directed to the most appropriate person to assist them, the information below outlines key contacts for common queries: 

• please record student absences on Compass. For extended family holidays, please seek approval from principal, Naomi Ivers naomi.ivers@education.vic.gov.au at least two weeks prior to planned departure
• to report any urgent issues relating to a student on a particular day, please contact the front office on 9457 2259
• to discuss a student’s academic progress, health or wellbeing, please contact your child's classroom teacher
• to make a complaint, please contact the Principal- Naomi Ivers or Assistant Principals Monique Rankin or Helen Thomas. Please also refer to our Complaints policy, available: Compass/ Community/ School Documentation/ HPS Policies
• for parent payments, please contact Sam Thornton on 9457 2259
• for all other enquiries, please contact our Office on 9457 2259 or by emailing heidelberg.ps@education.vic.gov.au

We will do our best to respond to general queries as soon as possible. The right to disconnect legislation makes explicit that all employees have the right to refuse to monitor, read, listen to or respond to contact that occurs outside their working hours from their employer or a third party (such as a student or a parent), unless that refusal is unreasonable. 

School Arrival/Departure 

Arriving on time allows students to prepare themselves in the school environment before lessons commence. This transition period allows them to mentally prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. When students are punctual, they are more likely to enter the classroom with a clear and open mind, ready to absorb information and engage actively in the day.

Start of Day

At the beginning of each school day, all classes start with a Yarning Circle, which establishes a collaborative and predictable morning routine with essential announcements, discussions, expectations and introductory activities. Missing out on these initial interactions can result in students feeling disconnected from the class’s collective progress, potentially impacting their overall comprehension and engagement with the learning engagements.

Whilst life happens and there are times when it can't be avoided, please strive toward giving your child the best start to their day by arriving prior to the 9.00am bell.

Late arrivals need to sign in at the office and collect a late pass to present to the teacher.

End of Day

School concludes at 3.20pm each day (except for last day of each term). Staff supervise students departing at the Cape St front gate and at the Darebin St gate 3 from 3.20- 3.35pm. If students have not been collected in that time, they will be taken to the front office whilst a phone call is made to follow up collection arrangements. Students may be required to attend School Aged Care (SAC), if staffing does not allow for supervision at the office, until student is collected.

Parents/ Guardians are able to contact the school during the day to have a message passed on to their child if pick up arrangements have needed to be changed. Please ensure the school has been contacted as early as possible to ensure the information can reach the child in plenty of time.

Mobile Phone Policy, including watches with cellular capabilities

A mobile phone is a telephone with access to a cellular (telecommunication) system, with or without a physical connection to a network. For the purpose of our policy, “mobile phone” refers to mobile phones and any device that may connect to or have a similar functionality to a mobile phone such as smart watches. 

Heidelberg Primary School understands that students may bring a personal mobile phone to school, particularly if they are travelling independently to and from school. Mobile phones and devices owned by students at Heidelberg Primary School are considered valuable items and are brought to school at the owner’s (student’s or parent/carer’s) risk. Students are encouraged not to bring a mobile phone to school unless there is a compelling reason to do so. Please note that Heidelberg Primary School does not have accident insurance for accidental property damage or theft. Students and their parents/carers are encouraged to obtain appropriate insurance for valuable items. Refer to the Heidelberg Primary School’s Personal Property Policy and the Department’s Claims for Property Damage and Medical Expenses policy. 

Where students bring a mobile phone to school, Heidelberg Primary School will provide secure storage. Secure storage is storage that cannot be readily accessed by those without permission to do so. At Heidelberg Primary School students are required to hand their mobile (or device) to the class teacher at 9am to be placed in a lockable cupboard. Students’ mobile (or devices) will be handed back to the students before they leave school at 3.20pm.

Annual Privacy Reminder

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. The policy can be found in School Documentation on Compass.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

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

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

Cultural Diversity Week 

Multiculturalism is a core part of the Victorian identity, our character and way of life. Our state is home to people who speak 290 languages and have 314 different ancestries. It's also a place where anyone can contribute and belong.

Cultural Diversity Week is a time to celebrate the power, influence, and stories of Victoria's rich multicultural communities, and all Victorians are invited to participate through a variety of in-person events and activities.

This year, Cultural Diversity Week will take place across the state from 21 - 29 March. 

The 2026 theme, Culture connects us all highlights how sharing intercultural stories and experiences fosters understanding, belonging and connection.

3 Way conferences - Goal Setting

Bookings close at 5.00pm TODAY, Friday 6th March. If you will require interpreting services for your appointment, please let the classroom teacher know asap. This is arranged free of charge.

Goal Setting Conferences provide valuable opportunities for the teacher, student and parents/carers to share and learn more about the student socially, emotionally and academically. They are a good way to establish and maintain collaborative relationships between school and home, with a focus on the student’s academic achievement, learning and wellbeing.

Conferences provide opportunities for:

• building positive relationships
• sharing information about the student’s interests and learning behaviours
• sharing information about the student’s health and wellbeing
• student agency, through showcasing their work
• providing specific feedback on student achievement and progress
• understanding more about how to support the student in their learning
• establishing goals for improved learning and achievement in the future

International Women’s Day 

On Sunday 8 March 2026, the annual celebration of International Women’s Day will acknowledge the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the globe.

This year’s theme, ‘Balance the scales’, highlights the need to ensure girls and women are safe, treated with respect, and have access to opportunities, regardless of background and identity.

School staff pay and conditions

As parents and carers may be aware, staff at our school who are Australian Education Union (AEU) members have been negotiating, alongside teachers, education support staff, assistant principals, and principals from public schools around Victoria, with the state government and Department of Education for improvements to pay and employment conditions. Negotiations have been occurring over the last seven months, and the state government has not made any offer at all to this point in time. Currently, Victorian public schools are the lowest funded in Australia and there are significant staffing shortages across Victoria. Victorian public school teachers are also the lowest paid teachers in Australia, with many education support employees and school leaders paid less than their colleagues in other state and territories who do the same role. 

AEU members are seeking pay increases and reductions to excessive workloads, with the aim of ensuring the retention of existing employees and the attraction of the next generation to enable the ongoing provision of a high-quality education to students. Because there has not been any offer, AEU members are undertaking a vote to endorse industrial action, with the union calling a statewide 24-hour stopwork for Tuesday 24 March, should the government not respond properly to key claims. The AEU has written to our school council outlining some of the issues that school staff need resolved, including school funding and staffing shortages, as well as pay and conditions. The union acknowledges that a decision to stop work is not one to be taken lightly and regrets the impact it has on students and their families, with the state government able to avoid such action if a fair and decent offer is made to employees. If the industrial action goes ahead, we will provide our school community with all the information needed to manage the situation. It goes without saying that as a school community we support all of the staff in our school and expect them to be paid reasonably and have fair conditions of work. You can read the AEU’s letter here.  

2026 School Term Dates

Term 1: Thursday 29th Jan- Thursday 2nd April (2.30pm finish)

Term 2: Monday 20th April- Friday 26th June (2.30pm finish)

Term 3: Monday 13th July- Friday 18th September (2.30pm finish)

Term 4: Monday 5th October- Friday 18th December (1.30pm finish)

I hope everyone takes this long weekend opportunity to reset and revive ready to finish off the second half of term 1.

See you all back at school on TUESDAY :

Naomi Ivers

Principal

Heidelberg Primary School