A wonderful welcome

I have had a wonderful start to the principalship at Oakleigh Primary School and Kindergarten. Staff, students and families warmly welcomed me with kind words, gifts, drawings and visits to my office. Many parents have asked how long I am staying for, and I am pleased to be the substantive principal of the school and will be around for the long term!

We welcome back Assistant Principal Bronwyn, who has been excellent in ‘showing me the ropes’ and giving me a thorough induction to the school. Acting Principals Kellie and Anthony also gave me a comprehensive handover before my commencement.

I am pleased to be leading such a wonderful community and looking forward to knowing you all better as the term moves on.

Reminder - Curriculum Day and Professional Practice Day

Just a reminder to the school community that Monday, 4th November is a Curriculum Day and Wednesday, 6th November is the staff professional practice day. Both of these days are pupil free days. If you require all day care for your child, please book them in Out of Hours School Care.

2025 Planning

The school is well underway for planning the 2025 school year.

In November, classroom teachers will be working on class lists for 2025. Parents are invited to write to me regarding class placements for their children. This information will be shared with the relevant teachers and the insights gained by your comments will be considered by staff when students are placed in their new groupings for 2025. It should be noted that there is no provision to request teachers.

Please do not send me requests for student friendships, as the students themselves will list friends they would like to be with.

Please remember that class placement is taken most seriously by staff and consideration is given to the child’s intellectual, physical, emotional and social development as well as student cohorts. All information received from parents is considered in this context. Please ensure you email the school, oakleigh.ps@education.vic.gov.au directing the email to me by Friday 8 November as staff will begin working on class lists soon after. Please note that if you made a request last year that you will need to write another request this year if it is still relevant for your child.

If you are planning on moving interstate, to another country or away from Oakleigh and are yet to notify the office please do so as soon as possible. Numbers have a significant bearing on our planning, and we appreciate early notification where possible.

If you hear of anyone wishing to attend Oakleigh in 2025, please send them to the office to enrol. If you have not enrolled any younger siblings, please do so as quickly as possible so that they can attend our kinder to school transition program.

If you have any further questions, please contact the school office.

World Teacher’s Day

World Teachers’ Day is on 25th October. It is an excellent time to reflect on the wonderful teachers we have at Oakleigh Primary School and Kindergarten and their amazing contribution to the school and student’s learning. We are fortunate to have dedicated teachers at Oakleigh who look after the academic, social and emotional needs of our students.

I ask that students and families acknowledge the day with their classroom teachers. A simple ‘thank you’, a note or ‘home-made’ card or a flower from your garden is simple way to recognize the work your teachers do.

We have planned a staff morning tea for our teachers to enjoy and celebrate their profession as well as certificates of recognition.

NAPLAN Results

The school’s full NAPLAN results were released recently. Most assessments are performed online, except for the Year 3 Writing, which is still ‘pen and paper’ style.

NAPLAN measures student achievement in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation. The results are be presented in 4 proficiency levels - exceeding, strong, developing and needs additional support.

Well done to our students for their work and results in the assessments. Overall, we received positive results in both Year 3 and Year 5.

Year 3 - Top Two Proficiency Levels

Area	School	Similar Schools	State
Reading	90%	85%	69%
Writing	88%	91%	78%
Grammar & Punctuation	81%	76%	55%
Spelling	74%	79%	61%
Numeracy	81%	84%	65%

Our Year 3’s results exceed state results. We surpass similar schools in reading and grammar and punctuation and achieve slightly lower in writing, spelling and numeracy.

Year 5 - Top Two Proficiency Levels

Area	School	Similar Schools	State
Reading	83%	89%	73%
Writing	81%	88%	73%
Grammar & Punctuation	75%	83%	64%
Spelling	75%	83%	67%
Numeracy	86%	87%	67%

Our Year 5’s results exceed state results but were slightly below similar schools’ results.

Teachers have looked at the results and the school will be reviewing its goals for next year as part of planning for our annual implementation plan.

Social Media Safety

Parents and carers play an important role in supporting their children to be safe online and on social media. You can help your children safely navigate their digital world and educate them to avoid harmful online experiences. You can explore websites, games, apps and social media together and set some rules and boundaries.

Your support and guidance can give your children the knowledge to make sound decisions online and confidence to ask for help when they need it. It is also important to stay informed about online safety.

The Department of Education recognises this important issue and has developed fact sheets about support to help keep students safe online and what to do if they are involved in an online incident. The fact sheets contain links to evidence-based information on supporting positive and safe online experiences, signs a child or young person might need support, what to do if something unsafe happens online, and where to reach out to for more support.

To access the fact sheets, refer to the Safe Socials webpage. The fact sheets are available in 19 community languages. I have attached the English version with the newsletter here:

The government is also launching public consultation on age limits for social media.

You and your children can share your experiences to inform proposed changes via an online survey, before 5 pm on Friday 1 November 2024. For more information on the survey and to take part, refer to Proposed changes to social media age limits on the Engage Victoria website.

If you have any queries about this information, you can contact the department by email: bullystoppers@education.vic.gov.au

Thunderstorm Asthma - be prepared this pollen season

Grass pollen season, which typically runs from October to December each year in Victoria, brings an increase in asthma and hay fever symptoms. It also increases the risk of thunderstorm asthma. For people with asthma or hay fever, especially those who experience wheezing or coughing with their hay fever, thunderstorm asthma can be sudden, serious and even life threatening.

Oakleigh Primary school aims to implement a range of measures to keep our school community safe as the risk of thunderstorm asthma increases.

Many of our staff are trained in asthma first aid, and we will monitor the VicEmergency app to receive thunderstorm warnings, and, where appropriate, keep students indoors when weather forecasts identify greater risk.

During the season, there are some things you can do to prepare and protect yourself and your family:

If your child has ever had asthma, talk to your doctor about what you can do to help protect them from the risk of thunderstorm asthma this pollen season, including updating your asthma action plan. Taking an asthma preventer properly and regularly is key to preventing asthma, including thunderstorm asthma.
If your child has hay fever, see your pharmacist or doctor for a hay fever treatment plan and check if you should have an asthma reliever puffer. These are available from a pharmacy without a prescription.
If your child has hay fever and experiences wheezing and coughing, it is important to make sure they don’t also have asthma. Speak to your doctor about an asthma action plan.
Where possible, avoid being outside during thunderstorms from October to December, especially during the wind gusts that come before the storm. Go inside and close your doors and windows. If you have your air conditioning on, turn it to ‘recirculate’.

Protect yourself this pollen season – managing asthma and allergies matters.

For more information, speak to your doctor. You can also visit the Better Health Channel website.

I’ll see you around the school yard!

Ruth Biddle

Principal

Family Wellbeing