Principal's Message
Dear Students, Parents and Guardians, Staff, and Community Members
As our 2025 commencement program comes to a close, I would like to take a moment to sign off and reflect on what has been an incredible academic year. Term four has been especially memorable, filled with milestones and achievements worthy of celebration.
Year 12 Valedictory Evening
It was an absolute pleasure to join our graduating Year 12 students at Bunjil Place several weeks ago. Students and their families came together to mark the end of their secondary school journey, sharing a night of joy and pride. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all staff who made this evening possible, with special mention to the Senior School leadership team for their dedication and hard work.
Exams and 2026 Commencement Program
Students from Year 7 through to Year 12 successfully completed their annual end-of-year exams. Congratulations to everyone who prepared diligently and gave their best effort. We also launched and concluded our four-week 2026 Commencement Program, where all students transitioned into their new classes for the upcoming year and met their new teachers. My sincere appreciation goes to all teachers and support staff who worked tirelessly to prepare the school for both these important initiatives.
Reports
Teachers are busy finalising assessments and reports, with Semester Two reports available on Compass for all families at the end of the day on the 18th December . Please take a moment to log in and review your child’s learning progress.
Graduating Class of 2025
Congratulations to our Year 12 cohort who have successfully completed their VCE, VCE VM, or VPC in 2025. We are immensely proud of the exceptional young adults you have become, and of your resilience and commitment, particularly over the past two years as you worked towards your senior secondary certificates. A special thank you to all teaching and education support staff who have guided these students, and to the families and loved ones who have supported them at home.
We wish each and every student all the very best as you embark on the next chapter of your lives and look forward to hearing of your future achievements.
Travelling To and From School
With the school year coming to a close, I’d like to once again highlight the importance of responsible behaviour when travelling to and from school. It’s essential that our students are respectful towards the public and mindful of others’ property along their routes.
Encouraging your child to be considerate and aware helps to foster the positive community spirit we value so highly. Simple actions—such as keeping noise levels down and taking care not to damage property—make a significant difference. If your child rides a bike or electric scooter, please remind them to be attentive on footpaths, ride at safe speeds, and be cautious around pedestrians for everyone’s safety.
End-of-Year Activities
From Monday 8 December, formal classes will cease, but students who attend will be supervised through an in-school activities program. On Monday 8 December, students who registered for the excursion to Gumbuya World will be heading out.
Tuesday the 9th will see our 2026 Year 7’s onsite for their transition day. We are so excited to meet them all.
2026 Uniform update
As we get closer to the start of the new year, our Uniform policy will be slightly modified in line with the government announcement that our school logo can no longer be produced on our below the waste uniform items. Despite this, schools are still required to set the uniform requirements around these particular items. School Council will be meeting next week to sign off on our new policy, and the outcome will be published in the final newsletter.
Social Media Ban
In November 2024, the Australian parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, which requires ‘age-restricted’ social media platforms (where age restrictions already apply) to take reasonable steps to prevent users under the age of 16 from having and using an account. This will see restrictions for students under the age of 16 on social media platforms from 10 December 2025, with Meta now stating it will begin deleting accounts from 4 December.
The apps affected include:
- TikTok
- Kick
- X
- Snapchat
- YouTube
Threads
From this date, students under the age of 16 will not be able to create nor maintain accounts on these platforms.
The following apps will not be covered under this age-restriction:
- YouTube Kids
- Google Classroom
- GitHub
- Messenger
- Discord
- LEGO Play
- Roblox
Stream and Stream Chat
The legislation puts the onus on platforms to comply and does not determine penalties for families or students in breach of the age-restrictions. At this stage, there is no other jurisdiction in the world that has this equivalent legislation, although many are watching to observe the outcome.
This process is being overseen by the eSafety Commissioner, which has a range of resources available for Australians on the Social media age restrictions hub.
Updating our expectations
Our leadership teams at times are managing ongoing issues relating to student social media use out of school hours. We see this new legislation as an opportunity to reduce some of these issues and hope our families will work in partnership with us for the benefit of our whole community.
Mobile phones are still not permitted in Victorian Government Schools
What we recommend you do now
If you have a child aged under 16, we suggest you discuss any preparations they may need to make leading up to December.
Suggestions:
- Ensure they have the contact details of their friends that they need to keep in touch with over the summer holidays, and identify new messaging apps
- Download photos or other posts that they may want to keep
- Start to use the platforms less leading up to 10 December
The main advice is to not leave the changes all to the last minute.
As outlined above, there is the Social media age restrictions hub | eSafety Commissioner available for Australians as well as a Get-ready Guide for under-16s.
We look forward to working with you during this time of transition.
Kind regards,
Martin McDonald
Principal
Kambrya College