Principal's News

For what has felt like summer for most of this week, it has certainly made for some pleasant school days and late afternoons, perfect weather to get in a few more hours outside afterschool on the playground or playing with friends. It is nice to see our school so busy after school hours with families taking the opportunity to have an informal catch up or a play date for their child at the conclusion of the school day.

We have enjoyed a very busy period around the school over the last two weeks and we are stretched around the world with a collection of our school community just over 8000km away at present with our Year 5/6 Japan Trip occurring.

World Teachers Day

Lee Shulman, an educational psychologist and professor emeritus wrote about teaching:

"After some 30 years... I have concluded that classroom teaching is the most demanding, subtle, nuanced, and frightening activity that our species has ever invented... the only time medicine ever approaches the complexity of an average day for a classroom teacher is in an emergency room during a natural disaster."

Since I began working in schools near on 20 years ago, the demands and expectations that we place on teaching staff continues to evolve, broaden and challenge even the most devoted and skilled practitioners. I have worked with some amazing teachers but there isn’t a teacher I know that would ever insist that their role has got easier or that they have mastered their vocation. Next week is a small opportunity to give back and say thanks, celebrating World Teachers Day with our school community next Friday 30th October. Where you can, take a minute to acknowledge our teaching staff for the work they do for our students and your child, they do care about their work and they do everything they can to ensure each child is having a great day at Caulfield PS.

Dental Van Visit

The Smile Squad team from BETTER HEALTH NETWORK, East Bentleigh are coming to our school. Smile Squad is the Victorian Government free school dental program. This means all students can get a free dental check-up, preventive services, and treatment at school.

How to access free dental care: We need your consent before we can provide services. Consent is usually provided by a parent or guardian. You can sign up to Smile Squad at: https://bit.ly/smilesquadvic, paper copies of the consent form are also available. Please contact the school office if you would like to request one.
Smile Squad oral health packs: All children deserve a healthy smile, and the Smile Squad free school dental program is working hard to help make sure this happens. Your child(ren) will soon receive a free oral health pack to bring home. The pack contains a toothbrush, full sized toothpaste, and an oral health brochure. Please take the time to read the brochure. It's full of helpful hints and tips to help your whole family eat well, drink well and clean well - for life.
Standard strength toothpaste: Smile Squad provides standard strength fluoride toothpaste that is generally used by ages six and over, unless recommended by a dental or trained health professional. If your child is under six, please talk to a dental or trained health professional to find out if your child might benefit from using this toothpaste. You can also choose to put the toothpaste away until they turn six or give it to someone else in your family to use.
Do I need to attend my child's appointment? No, you do not need to attend your child's appointment. You can attend if you would like to, and you can take your child to the community dental clinic if you prefer.

Basketball

We had the pleasure of getting invited to St Michael’s Grammar first invitational 3 on 3 basketball tournament last Wednesday, giving our two CPS teams opportunities to compete in a high standard of basketball against teams from other schools. There was a great energy to the day and a high standard of competition by all schools. Congratulations to all our students who competed fairly, played hard and enjoyed a great standard of competition with one of our teams narrowing losing their 3rd place playoff.

Assembly

Our next whole school assembly is scheduled for Friday 30th October beginning at 3pm. We look forward to finishing off the week by coming together that afternoon.

November Absence

From the 3rd November, we are putting a focus on attendance for the month of November ensuring that learning and attendance is prioritised right up to the final day of the 2026 school year. As was previously shared in our last newsletter, our attendance percentages have slightly dropped from the same time in 2025 and whilst absence is acceptable when children are sick or unwell, unnecessary absence adds up and accounts for months of lost learning and engagement opportunities across a child’s primary schooling.

For the month of November, the class with the highest percentage of attendance will receive a prize at the end of the month. We will calculate these attendance percentages and provide updates over the course of the month.

Student Free Day

Please note that Monday 2nd November is a student free day with teaching staff undertaking reporting and assessment responsibilities on the day. Tuesday 3rd November is a public holiday (Melbourne Cup) with students returning to school that week on Wednesday 4th November.

Regenit - Affordable Laptops for Students - Coming Back to our School

Regenit is Back bringing quality, low-cost laptops directly to Caulfield Primary School. They’ll be at the school on Wednesday 2nd and Friday 4th December from 2:30PM - 4:00PM outside the entrance to the office on the courtyard side.

Each laptop comes with Windows 11 loaded, a 6 month warranty, and the relevant specs your child requires from a laptop - all for just $245! They’re able to offer this amazing price thanks to the generosity of their corporate partners who donate laptops they’re replacing, which they then refresh and make available to our school community. As an added bonus, you help reduce the amount of usable items ending up in e-waste and landfill.

Visit them at school pick-up on the day to see the laptops, buy on the spot and take home.

This is a great opportunity to support your child’s education, contribute to sustainability and get a great deal!

Want to know more? Chat with them on the day, visit (http://www.regenit.org.au), or email contact@regenit.org.au.

Smart Devices

Under ministerial policy introduced in 2020, phones brought to school must be switched off and stored securely during school hours. This has resulted in many positive shifts in student behaviour in primary and secondary schools. This requirement continues.

From Term 1, 2027:

public school students are not permitted to wear or use smart glasses at any time on school premises (or at any school-organised event or activity). If smart glasses are brought to school, they must be turned off and stored during all school activities and securely stored during school hours.
wearable devices (such as smart watches) must have notifications, cellular connection and recording functions turned off during school hours
personal audio devices (headphones and earbuds) must not be used during school hours.

Restricting these devices helps to ensure:

school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions
students can interact with each other face-to-face, without the distractions and social pressures these devices can cause
schools are safe environments for students, workers and visitors, where child safety, privacy and OHS risks associated with personal electronic devices are addressed by limiting their use.

Children’s week 2026

Children's Week is a national celebration and the theme for this year ties in perfectly for our bilingual primary school. It recognises the talents, skills, achievements and rights of children. The event takes place in October every year, with thousands of Victorian children taking part in the festivities. Children’s Week 2026 will be held between Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November 2026. The theme for Children’s Week 2026 is: 'Children have the right to use their own language, celebrate their culture and practise their religion'. The theme is a simplified version of Article 30 of the UNCRC which states:

'Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.'

Local councils, not-for-profit organisations, schools and early childhood services organise a variety of events during Children's Week. These include open days, displays, special events, virtual spaces and online-based activities. The events celebrate childhood and showcase children's achievements.

All Children’s Week events in Victoria are free to families with children aged up to 12 years. This gives Victorian families the opportunity to enjoy fun, engaging and educational experiences. If you would like to search activities in your local area go to: https://www.vic.gov.au/childrens-week

Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2026

A new agreement has been approved in 2026 that provides an outline of the expected working conditions for all school staff for the next four years. In an ever-changing World we are seeing changes in the teaching profession and increasing demands being placed on teachers and support staff to meet the needs of children. Considering this the working conditions of educational professionals have changed considerably in the past 10 years. Some changes you might have already noticed are the running of school events earlier in the evening so that staff do not need to stay too late in the evening. From 2027 there will be 8 student free days at every school so that teachers will have more time to undertake planning and preparation. These days will be spread across the school year and we want to give you advanced notice of this.

Voluntary Parental Contributions for 2027

A heartfelt thanks to the many families who paid voluntary parental contributions in 2026. As we begin planning for 2027 we will continue to set our 2027 amount at a modest level in the hope that parents will see it as affordable. We consider this moderate contribution towards the cost of education a vital investment in your child’s learning and providing them with the highest standards of learning.

Whilst we get government funding for a standard (average) curriculum, this only provides for basic standard materials, resources and equipment for our students. We sincerely hope that we could do better than that for our students, but this will only be possible with the support of most of our community. Information regarding the 2027 Parent Contributions will be sent out soon. Please consider supporting your child/ren by paying this contribution in 2027. Thank you in advance for your support.

Counting Down

We are counting down to our school fete, less than one month away. You can jump in early and be organised securing your early bird ticket pages from the link here.

Celebrating Bilingual Education

I was recently contacted by the Department of Education, Languages Unit who were looking to showcase bilingual education during an upcoming visit from the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education. Our school was invited to present a short presentation at the meeting showcasing and celebrating languages and bilingual education in an immersive environment. I took the opportunity to celebrate our whole school production as a meaningful celebration of oral language and an opportunity to showcase the arts, learning and language.

Enjoy the weekend when it arrives, take care over the weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone around the school next week.

Edward Strain