Principal News 

What a great night Saturday Night was at our Trivia Night! It was lovely to see so many of you enjoying some healthy competition. I will say that I also observed some people not following the group plan and trying to persuade the quizmaster for clues. You know who you are! We were fortunate to receive some generous donations from local business that made the silent auction a huge success. There is still more to come with the trivia raffle be drawn this Friday at Assembly. We thank the following businesses for their donations that contributed to the night’s success.

Professional Practice Day on Monday

A friendly reminder that Monday is a teacher Professional Practice Day, so students don’t attend school on this day. We look forward to welcoming our students back on Wednesday. If you are fortunate to be able to make a four-day mini break of it, I hope that you enjoy the time away!

Changes to digital device use

 From 2027, the Victorian Government is introducing changes to the use of digital devices for students from Prep to Grade 6. 

 Under the new guidelines, schools:

• will no longer invite families to purchase or bring their own digital devices to use at school for Prep to Grade 6

• will follow new recommended digital device times, including minimal device time for Prep to Grade 2; and a maximum of 90 minutes per day for grades 3 to 6.

These changes are intended to support families by reducing cost-of-living pressures. They will also support students by reducing screen-time which can reduce the risk of eye strain, sedentary behaviour, and reduced peer interaction. These reforms complement Victoria’s mobile phone restrictions, ensuring an integrated approach to addressing digital distraction and the inappropriate use of technology.

What this means for our school

This means we will be ceasing our current BYOD program for year 3 from 2027 on. Instead, we will provide class sets of digital devices for use by students. Students who have been using BYO devices purchased at year 3 prior to 2027 will be able to continue to bring their devices to school, but we will be following the new recommended device use times.

Roll Out of Bed Day

Last Friday was roll out of bed day. Students arrived in bed wear and many with Bed Hair. Dress up days are always a great opportunity for students to express their individual style and it was great to see students making use of the day to do this!

Can you help us? 

Recently, some of our Grade 5 students planted succulents to add greenery to a few spots in the playground. Being involved in improving areas of the school helps our students feel more connected and encourages them to take greater care of our grounds. However, we still have many empty pots around our school and in the atrium that are in desperate need of replanting. Do you have any succulent cuttings that you could donate to the Wellbeing Room for us to plant around the school? If you do, please send them along to the Wellbeing Room. We would greatly appreciate it and will plant these out over the next few weeks.

David McKenzie Award

Last Friday Vicki Ward attended our assembly to present the David McKenzie Award to one of our year 6 students. Esther Ferwerda was our 2025 recipient of this award. David was a teacher who was known for his kindness. Vicki named an award after him to recognise his contribution as well as those of local primary school students who have shown leadership when it comes to kindness, compassion and empathy. Congratulations to Esther for receiving this award.

Division Tennis Final

Yesterday our tennis team competed in the Division Tennis final at Apollo Parkways Primary School. It was perfect weather for tennis with all the players giving their best to their games. They were disappointed not to progress further in the competition. I was extremely proud of the way they represented our school and to see them displaying all our school values.

Wishing you all a Happy Cup Day Holiday and see you back next Wednesday!