Principal Team Message
Term 2 - Edition no: 13, 2025
🏅CONGRATULATIONS RPS! HOUSE ATHLETICS DAY🏅
A huge congratulations to the entire Ripponlea Primary School community on a fantastic House Athletics Day! While Bemin took out the overall victory, every house brought an incredible amount of energy, enthusiasm, and school spirit to the track.
As your PE teacher, I couldn’t be prouder of how each of you has grown as athletes this year. The dedication, teamwork, and skills you’ve developed were on full display, making the day a true celebration of sport and community. Well done, RPS; you’ve made me one very proud teacher!
-Mr Rambaran
CELEBRATING 100 DAYS OF SCHOOL - A MILESTONE FOR OUR 2025 FOUNDATION RIPPERS
This week, our 2025 Foundation students reached an exciting and important milestone – 100 days of school. For our youngest Rippers, this marks more than just a number; it’s a celebration of resilience, growth, and the many learning adventures they’ve experienced since stepping through the school gates for the first time earlier this year.
The “100 Days” celebration is a beloved tradition in schools across the country, and here at Ripponlea Primary, it’s an opportunity to reflect on just how far our Foundation students have come in 100 short (and sometimes long!) days. From learning to read their first words, mastering new maths concepts, building friendships, and finding their confidence as learners, our students have accomplished so much in such a short time.
Of course, no 100-day celebration would be complete without a little creative flair, and our Rippers and their families certainly didn’t disappoint! Everything on the day was about the magic number: 100 band aids, 100 pom-poms, 100 buttons, 100 stickers, 100 tiny dots – you name it, it was there. Some students arrived proudly wearing handmade t-shirts covered in 100 colourful decorations and then there were the other guests…
At first glance, it looked like we had a few escapees from the local retirement home wandering around the playground, but no, these were simply our Rippers in disguise! With grey wigs, glasses, walking sticks, walking frames and cardigans, they transformed into the most adorable “100-year-olds” you could imagine. Their commitment to character was nothing short of Oscar-worthy.
The day was filled with fun activities designed to explore the number 100 in every way possible, from building with 100 blocks, creating art with 100 dots, writing about what life might be like at 100 years old, to counting 100 steps around the playground. Every task reminded us that learning can be joyful, creative, and full of wonder.
A huge thank you goes to our Foundation teachers, Stef and Mr Blake, for organising such a memorable day, our Year 5/6 buddies for being great mentors and to our families for embracing the theme with so much enthusiasm and being a part of this memorable day. Your creativity and involvement help make milestones like these truly special for our students.
Congratulations, Foundation Class of 2025, here’s to the next 100 days of learning, laughter, and growing together as Rippers!
SCHOOL REVIEW - WELCOMING OUR PANEL NEXT WEEK
Next week, we are excited to welcome our School Review panel to Ripponlea Primary School. This is an important process that takes place every four years to reflect on our achievements, celebrate successes, and plan for the future.
Our review panel will include:
- Emma Richardson – Reviewer
- Kevin Murphy – Senior Education Improvement Leader for the SAGE Network of Schools
- Katelyn Joyce – Principal, Kingston Heath Primary School
- Janet Evison – Principal, Heaney Park Primary School
Both Katelyn and Janet lead small schools with many similarities to RPS, making their insights particularly valuable.
On Thursday, our panel will also be joined by members of our School Improvement Team, along with our School Council President Tarryn Holland and Vice President, Suzete Ribeiro. The first day will involve meeting our staff, observing English and Mathematics lessons, and reviewing the past four years of our Strategic Plan, the School’s Self-Evaluation, and key performance data.
On Tuesday, 19th August, the panel will meet with student, staff, and parent/carer focus groups. We are seeking a cross-section of parents/carers to participate in the 9:00am parent/carer session. We hope to include representation from across different year levels, both new families to RPS and those who have been with us throughout the last Strategic Plan.
If you are available and would like to be part of this conversation, please email Mrs Rose so we can organise this important focus group.
natalie.rose@education.vic.gov.au
This is a wonderful opportunity to share your experiences, perspectives, and ideas as we set our school’s direction for the next four years.
A HEARTFELT THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL PRINCIPAL'S DAY SURPRISE
On Friday, 1st August, I was blown away by the thoughtfulness, creativity, and kindness shown by our incredible staff and students in celebration of Principal’s Day.
From the moment I arrived at school, I quickly realised something was a little different… There seemed to be quite a few extra Mrs Roses wandering the grounds! It turned out our clever staff had conspired to fill the school with “mini-principals”, complete with head scarves, jackets, painted nails, lots of tiger-print clothing, and plenty of wacky jewellery ready to keep everything running smoothly. I am still not sure how Mrs Rose managed to be everywhere at once!
Unfortunately, Mrs Campbell was unwell and couldn’t join us for the festivities, but I know she would have been just as touched by the effort and love that went into making the day so special.
The thoughtful cards, beautiful flowers, heartfelt messages from, and delicious morning tea were truly appreciated. More than that, the warm words and genuine appreciation from our Ripper community reminded me just how lucky I am to lead such an extraordinary school.
Every day, I see the dedication of our staff, the curiosity of our students, and the incredible support of our families. Principal’s Day was simply the icing on the cake.
Thank you to everyone who helped organise this wonderful surprise and to every staff member who donned their “principal Rose” persona for the day. You all did a fabulous job of running Ripponlea Primary!
I feel truly privileged to be the principal of this remarkable school.
RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS, HEALTH AND CONSENT EDUCATION AT RPS
At Ripponlea Primary School, we are committed to providing our students with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to build safe, healthy, and respectful relationships throughout their lives. Our approach aligns with the Department of Education’s expectations and curriculum requirements, ensuring that all learning is age-appropriate, inclusive, and relevant to the world our students live in today.
We deliver this learning through 'Talking The Talk', a specialised platform developed by Vanessa Hamilton, a leading educator in the field of respectful relationships and sexuality education. This program provides tailored, age-appropriate resources and concepts for each year level, helping students develop an understanding of topics such as:
- Respectful and inclusive behaviour
- Healthy friendships and relationships
- Understanding and respecting personal boundaries
- Body safety and consent
- Online safety and respectful communication
Families have already received correspondence via Compass detailing the specific themes covered in their child’s year level. To strengthen the partnership between home and school, families are also able to log in to the Talking The Talk portal, enabling them to access the same resources and support further meaningful conversations at home.
These programs are embedded within our whole-school Scope and Sequence for Mental Health and Wellbeing, ensuring a consistent and developmentally appropriate approach from Foundation through to Year 6.
In 2025, we will also reintroduce key concepts linked toanti-racism education through Schools Standing Up To Racism, a resource developed by the Centre for Multicultural Youth. This will empower students to recognise and respond to racism, stand up for themselves and others, and contribute to a more respectful, inclusive community.
Through these combined initiatives, we aim to equip our students with the confidence, empathy, and understanding to navigate relationships, make safe choices, and actively contribute to a culture of respect and inclusion, both inside and outside the school gates.
Here are some links to great websites to support conversations about racism with young children and teenagers:
https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/family-life/teens-racism/racism-talking-with-children-teenagers
https://www.unicef.org/parenting/talking-to-your-kids-about-racism
CCTV AT OUR SCHOOL
Ripponlea Primary School has decided to use a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system at our school.
Our school has an obligation to ensure the school environment is safe and secure, and fulfil our duty of care to students, staff and visitors. The CCTV system will assist our school to fulfil these obligations and to prevent and manage other inappropriate behaviour on school grounds. CCTV will also provide enhanced capability to protect our school’s assets against vandalism and theft.
We will follow Department of Education and Training policy requirements for the design, installation, management and use of the CCTV systems. This policy is available at: CCTV in Schools – Installation and Management.
We will also place a CCTV Privacy Notice on our school website with more information about our school’s use of CCTV before it is rolled out on 25th August 2025.
If you have any questions or concerns at this stage, please contact: Natalie Rose, Principal, on 95275728.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ARRIVING AT SCHOOL ON TIME
At Ripponlea Primary School, learning begins promptly at 9:00 am each day. Our mornings are carefully structured to maximise student learning, starting with phonics instruction, a vital part of developing strong reading and writing skills.
When students arrive late, even by just a few minutes, they miss essential teacher directions and the first part of explicit teaching. This puts them at an immediate disadvantage, as they must try to catch up while the lesson is already underway. Entering the classroom late can also feel awkward or unsettling for a child, which can impact their confidence and sense of readiness for the day.
Late arrivals don’t just affect the individual student – they disrupt the entire class. When a student walks in after the lesson has started, the attention of other children is drawn away from their learning, breaking the focus and flow that are so important for moving knowledge from short-term memory into long-term understanding.
We know mornings can be busy and unpredictable, but arriving at school by 8:45 am allows children time to unpack, greet their friends, and be fully prepared for the first bell. This small change ensures they begin the day calm, confident, and ready to learn – and it helps us make the most of every learning minute.
Thank you for supporting your child’s learning by making punctuality a priority.
RIPPER BABIES - WELCOME SADIE
We are thrilled to share the joyful news that our beloved Ms Jane De Lorenzo and her partner Corey, welcomed their beautiful daughter, Sadie Murphy, into the world on 23rd July.
Proud parents and baby are doing wonderfully, and our whole Ripponlea community sends them heartfelt congratulations. We can’t wait to meet little Sadie and officially welcome her into our Ripper family!
Until next week!
Natalie Rose & Marta Campbell
Principal Assistant Principal
