Principal News

End of Term 1

Believe it or not, this is fast approaching. A reminder that due to Easter, Term 1 will end on Thursday April 2nd (with the Friday being Good Friday). There is an early dismissal on this day of 1.30pm. Please note, buses will run as normal but two hours earlier. (Theircare will run until 6pm for those who have booked in).

The final day of term is shaping up to be a special one with the announcement of the Easter Colouring Competition Winners, a visit from Easter Bunny and our Special Lunch. 

At our February Meeting, School Council approved the following Pupil Free Days for 2026. 

Friday June 5th- for the purposes of Semester 1 Assessment and Reporting

Monday July 13th  - for the purposes of staff First Aid Training 

Monday November 2nd - for the purposes of staff professional learning

Friday November 20th - for the purposes of Semester 2 Assessment and Reporting

School Council will hold their next meeting on Tuesday March 31st beginning at 6pm. (Please note this is a change of date from that previously advertised)  At this meeting the 2025 Annual Report will be tabled. 

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 and Year 5 students have spent the past three days completing NAPLAN Testing. After a hiccup on day one (Australia-wide) we have managed to work our way through the fun and games of logging students onto the portal and having them complete the tests. Parents of students who sat this year's tests will be provided with reports later in Term 2. Congratulation to all of our amazing Year 3 and Year 5 students on their efforts and a huge thank you to the LCS staff for all working together to ensure that the testing days ran smoothly. 

 School staff pay and conditions  

As parents and carers may be aware, staff at our school who are Australian Education Union (AEU) members have been negotiating, alongside teachers, education support staff, assistant principals, and principals from public schools around Victoria, with the state government and Department of Education for improvements to pay and employment conditions. Negotiations have been occurring over the last seven months, and the state government has not made any offer at all to this point in time. Currently, Victorian public schools are the lowest funded in Australia and there are significant staffing shortages across Victoria. Victorian public school teachers are also the lowest paid teachers in Australia, with many education support employees and school leaders paid less than their colleagues in other state and territories who do the same role. AEU members are seeking pay increases and reductions to excessive workloads, with the aim of ensuring the retention of existing employees and the attraction of the next generation to enable the ongoing provision of a high-quality education to students. Because there has not been any offer, AEU members are undertaking a vote to endorse industrial action, with the union calling a state-wide 24-hour stop-work for Tuesday 24th  March, should the government not respond properly to key claims. The AEU has written to our school council outlining some of the issues that school staff need resolved, including school funding and staffing shortages, as well as pay and conditions. The union acknowledges that a decision to stop work is not one to be taken lightly and regrets the impact it has on students and their families, with the state government able to avoid such action if a fair and decent offer is made to employees. If the industrial action goes ahead, we will provide our school community with all the information needed to manage the situation. It goes without saying that as a school community we support all of the staff in our school and expect them to be paid reasonably and have fair conditions of work. You can read the AEU’s letter here.  

OUR SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS:

There is to be no interruption to our school program. Whilst we do have some members taking industrial action, remaining staff will ensure all students are supervised on this day. Some families may wish to support this claim for improved conditions for our Teachers and Educational Support Staff by keeping their child/ren at home; if this is the case, just mark it accordingly on Xuno. 

That's all for this week, Lisa Duffy