Assistant Principals' Report

Community BBQ 2026

We are excited to invite you to our 2nd annual Hazel Glen College Primary Years Community BBQ on Tuesday, 3rd of March, from 3:00 PM until 4pm on the fake turf in front of the Learning Neighbourhood. Families can bring afternoon tea and a picnic rug, or enjoy a sausage sizzle run by the Primary Years Leadership team, with icy poles also available.

To add to the fun, there will be games, face painting, chalk drawing, HFactor, some seating, and access to our wonderful Primary Years Playground. This event is a great opportunity for families, students, and teachers to connect and strengthen relationships. Staff will be joining the afternoon tea to get to know their new families. Please note that parents and families are responsible for supervising their own children during the event.

We encourage all families to come along, enjoy some delicious food, meet new people, and celebrate our wonderful school community.

To help us cater for everyone, please express your interest in attending via the TryBooking link below. https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1539474

Home Reading

This year, we are looking at increasing the number of students who consistently complete homework by focusing on home reading.  

Building a consistent home reading routine of at least five nights a week is one of the most impactful ways to support your child’s academic and emotional growth. Beyond just practising school-taught skills like blending and segmenting, regular reading for approximately 15 to 20 minutes daily exposes children to up to 1.8 million words per year, dramatically accelerating their vocabulary and writing proficiency. Moreover, these quiet moments provide a vital refuge from screens, fostering empathy and social skills while creating a lasting, positive bond between parent and child.

The expectations in the Primary Years is that all students read for 20 minutes, 5 nights a week and record their reading in their diary.  This recording is not only evidence of home reading but also encourages students to develop consistent habits. When students know they need to record their reading, they are more likely to read regularly and take responsibility for their learning. Our classroom teachers will be checking students' diaries each fortnight, and we will be rewarding classes that have the most nights of reading at our Primary Years assemblies. 

Practical Strategies for Home Reading

• Make it a Routine: Consistency is more effective than duration: 5–10 minutes every day is better than a single long session once a week.
• Use Interactive Techniques: Ask open-ended questions like "What do you think will happen next?" or "How would you feel if you were that character?" to build comprehension.
• Be a Role Model: Children are more likely to value reading if they see their parents reading for pleasure.
• Leverage Daily Moments: Reading isn't limited to books. Involving children in reading recipes, shopping lists, or street signs shows them the practical utility of literacy in the real world.
• Follow Their Interests: Allow children to choose their own books, even if they want to read the same favourite story repeatedly. Repetition is key to mastering language and building confidence. 

NAPLAN

Our students in Year 3 and 5 are getting ready to sit the NAPLAN tests later this term.

As part of this prepartion Year 5 students will be visiting the STEAM Centre in the Secondary Years to practise typing on a laptop or desktop computer.  They will be using these devices to complete the NAPLAN Writing test. This practice has included how to type a full stop, leave a space, type capital letters, create a paragraph and include talking marks. If families have a computer at home, we highly recommend finding time for your Year 5 student to practise their typing and for parents and carers to support them in building their understanding of how to navigate a keyboard.

Students will also be using their own iPad for three of the NAPLAN tests.  Please see the checklist below to support students in ensuring their iPad is in good working condition for the tests.  We also ask parents and carers to check the operating system on their child's iPad.  Students iPad will need an iOS 17 or above to support the tests. We recommend checking that your child's iPad has had the latest updates installed - this might mean students need to delete some apps to create storage.  If you have any questions, please see your child's teacher. 

Brainstorm Productions

We are excited to welcome back Brainstorm Productions in 2026! In Weeks 8 and 10, all Primary Years students will attend a live performance titled The Protectors.

Developed by educators and a clinical psychologist, The Protectors is a creative and entertaining addition to our social-emotional learning program. Students will be inspired and empowered to stand up to bullying, seek help and protect themselves and others at school and online. This exciting theatre in education program provides practical strategies for bullying prevention, online safety, social skills and emotion regulation. 

Aligned with our Personal Enrichment Program (PEP), The Protectors encourages students to seek help when needed and face life’s challenges with confidence and compassion.

This program is provided at no cost to families and is part of the school learning program. If you have any questions about the session, please don’t hesitate to speak with your child’s classroom teacher.

Positive Learning Routines

Our start-of-year processes and routines are being well established across our classes, and students are continuing to practise our Positive Learning Routines. This year, our teachers will continue to acknowledge classes that consistently exemplify these routines.

When students know what to expect, our classrooms are calm and learning time is maximised. We are incredibly proud of our classes and students for their efforts in following our learning routines — our classrooms are calm, happy and safe places to learn.

Congratulations to 2A and 4E, the winners of the Positive Learning Routines Trophy at the Week 3 Assembly. These classes received the highest number of nominations from teachers and were awarded a trophy and a class prize, negotiated with their teacher.