Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families,

I want to start by acknowledging that as a nation we have been saddened and shaken by the horrific events at Bondi. I extend our heartfelt condolences to everyone impacted, and hold them in our thoughts.

Farewell to our Class of 2025!

The graduation of our Year 6 students is a significant milestone. It marks the conclusion of their primary school journey and the beginning of an exciting new chapter, both in their learning and in life beyond Maramba.

On Thursday evening, 11 December, our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony was a truly memorable occasion. The night was filled with joy and celebration, and at times it was understandably emotional for our students, families, staff and wider school community. It was a wonderful opportunity to recognise the achievements of the Year 6 Class of 2025 as they completed their final year of primary school.

It was heartening to see so many people come together to share this special moment, with more than 260 attendees gathered to acknowledge our graduates. As a community, we reflected on the students’ years at Maramba and celebrated the hard work, growth and perseverance that have brought them to this point.

My sincere thanks to staff for their outstanding efforts in planning and delivering such a polished event, and to our parent volunteer, Jen, for her invaluable support with setting up the dinner, organising the bears and preparing the gym. Your time, care and willingness to help made a real difference, creating the warm and welcoming atmosphere. The feedback from families has been overwhelmingly positive, with one parent sharing that it was the best graduation ceremony she has attended, even after seeing older siblings graduate in previous years.

The ceremony also provided the opportunity to acknowledge the many accomplishments of our students. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as Principal during their final year of primary school, and to learn, grow and walk alongside them. We are incredibly proud of the young people they have become, and we wish each of them every success as they take their next steps into secondary school.

Art Exhibition

We are thrilled to share the success of our recent 5/6 art exhibition! I am incredibly proud of all the time, dedication, and effort the students put into creating their outstanding acrylic paintings on canvas. Each piece was a true reflection of their creativity and hard work, and it was wonderful to see the excitement and pride in their faces as they showcased their artwork. Thank you to all the parents for your support in making this event a memorable experience for our young artists!

Huge thank you to Ms Walker for her expert guidance, encouragement and passion throughout the process, and for creating such a positive and inspiring space for our students to take creative risks and produce such high quality work. Here are a few of the photos but check out our Instagram page to see more of these remarkable masterpieces.

Christmas Concert

Our Christmas Concert on 12 December was one of the most uplifting moments on our school calendar, and it was wonderful to see our community come together for such a special evening. A heartfelt thank you to Emma for everything she did to bring the concert to life, especially while also supporting Graduation and our Year 2 students. Her dedication, creativity and calm organisation behind the scenes were exceptional, and the evening was filled with Christmas spirit, happiness and joy.

A huge thank you also to Alyson for preparing students for their AUSLAN performances, and to Casey for the administrative support that helped pull all the details together. We are very grateful to everyone involved, and we appreciate the families who joined us to celebrate and support our students.

2025 Award Recipients

At assembly on Thursday we celebrated our 2025 award recipients.

Principal’s Academic Achievement Award: This award recognises an individual who achieved the highest results in Maths and English for 2025.

Foundation: Sam
Year 1: Andy
Year 2: Cooper
Year 3: Lexi
Year 4: Toby
Year 5: Jay

Values Award: This award recognises an individual who consistently demonstrates our Four Values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and Relationships.

Foundation: Aleisha
Year 1: Frankie
Year 2: Charlie E
Year 3: Alexis T
Year 4: Farleigh
Year 5: Mason

On Thursday, 11 December, we celebrated the Year 6 Graduation, and the following students received an award:

Nika
Luke
Madison
Harviniah
Liam P
Daniel
Ivy-Snow Riles
Rihanna
Terence
Kaylee
Harper-Elizabeth Henry
Ashlee
Beau
Rudrani
Tamar
Chelsea
Liam M
Sabrina
Lucas D
Amy

Congratulations to all our award winners, we are incredibly proud of each and every one of you.

Reading Nights

This year, we have been celebrating Reading Nights across the school. Reading each night helps children build strong literacy skills, expand their vocabulary, and develop a lifelong love of learning. It also supports concentration, comprehension, and confidence across all areas of their schooling.

As a whole school, we recorded an incredible 19,981 nights of reading, that’s the equivalent of over 54 years of nightly reading for one person!

We had 55 students who read for over 150 nights and 28 students who read for over 200 nights. These students were rewarded with a special movie, juice, and popcorn event, with those reaching over 200 nights also receiving a QBD voucher at last week’s assembly.

Our top classes for the most combined reading nights were:

3rd place: 4T with 2,026 combined nights
2nd place: FR with 2,146 combined nights
1st place: 5/6W with 2,436 combined nights

As a reward, 5/6W enjoyed a delicious cold treat at lunchtime last week.

Well done to our entire school community for this wonderful collective effort in sharing a love of reading and supporting our students’ learning.

As we move toward the festive season, I want to wish our whole school community good health, peace and happiness. Please take gentle care of yourselves and each other as small acts of kindness and connection matter more than ever.

Kind regards,

Moniba Ehsan and Stephanie Sharp

Principal and Assistant Principal

FOM

Friends of Maramba