Principal's Report
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, learn and play. We pay respect to Wurundjeri elders past, present and emerging and extend our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families of Bimbadeen Heights Primary School.
Did you know that most children aren’t big enough to safely use an adult seatbelt until they’re around 10 to 12 years old? Both the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) and VicRoads remind families that the right car seat or booster can make a big difference in keeping children safe during every trip.
When to Move Out of a Booster Seat
Before your child moves from a booster to an adult seatbelt, they should pass the ‘5 Step Test’ — this helps check whether they fit the adult seatbelt properly.
The 5 Step Test:
If you answer ‘yes’ to all five, your child may be ready to use an adult seatbelt — but this varies between cars. Always check in each vehicle they travel in.
Most children will reach the right size (around 145 cm tall) between 10 – 12 years of age.
Front or Back Seat?
Children should travel in the back seat until they are at least 13 years old. The risk of injury for children 12 and under is almost double in the front seat compared to the back.
Find Out More
You can read the full information and see helpful videos below:
Keeping kids safe in the car is one of the simplest — and most important — ways we can protect them every day.
Last Friday we celebrated our wonderful teachers with a morning tea to express our gratitude for all the work they do to educate, inspire, and empower our students. This year’s theme was “Hats Off to Teachers,” so it was time to tip our hats to the incredible educators who shape our future.
A special thank you to our amazing students who collaborated with some members of our staff to create thoughtful messages which were shared with their teachers.
We were also treated to the most wonderful lunch from the amazing people at Domino's Croydon who delivered so many pizzas for the teaching staff to enjoy! We can't thank them enough for the extremely thoughtful gesture and tummy filling surprise on World Teachers Day!
We also extend our thanks to our families for sharing their own messages of gratitude with our teachers. Our teaching team has felt truly special and appreciated.
Congratulations to our students who have successfully completed the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge. All students who completed the challenge this year will be provided with a certificate, recognising their achievement. Bimbadeen students are among the 66,000 school students who completed the Premier’s Reading challenge this year.
Together, they read a remarkable 2.9 million books in total.
Supporting children’s reading is one of the most important things we can do to encourage their love of learning – opening a gateway for them to find out more about the world around them. The Premier’s Reading Challenge wouldn’t be possible without the support of our passionate and dedicated teachers, support staff and Emily Way and Karin Sansom who coordinated the challenge, and our parents and carers who supported their children’s reading at home.
We are well into planning our school and classes for next year and need to have a clear idea of exactly who will be here. This information is very important for us as we form classes, so we can ensure that our classes are balanced in all aspects including friendships. One child moving away can leave another child without a friend in the new class. If you know that your child will be moving away next year, please send us an email to bimbadeen.heights.ps@education.vic.gov.au letting us know where your child will be attending school next year.
The Department of Education is inviting parents and carers to take part in an online survey.
The survey seeks views on how the department can best protect school communities from harmful behaviour by parents and carers, and other adults:
Harmful behaviours can include abusive, aggressive and disruptive behaviours, including on social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
The survey will help the department:
The survey closes at 11:59 pm on Monday 10 November 2025.
At Bimbadeen Heights PS, we are committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for the entire school community. We support ongoing efforts to address harmful behaviour by adult members of our school community, including online.
I encourage you to share your views by taking part in the survey.
To access the survey, refer to Keeping school staff safe onsite and online on the Engage Victoria website.
A report and recommendations from the statutory review of the School Community Safety Order Scheme are now available.
While the majority of parents and carers work well with schools to resolve concerns, sometimes there is harmful behaviour affecting our school staff and students. The scheme allows principals and other authorised persons in Victorian schools to make School Community Safety Orders to stop or limit parents, carers and other adults who behave in harmful, threatening or abusive ways towards people in the school community.
For more information on the review, refer to Independent statutory review into the School Community Safety Order Scheme.
For more information on the scheme, refer to the School Community Safety Orders webpage
Warm and wet weather can result in greater numbers of mosquitoes and increased risk of illnesses from mosquito bites. While the overall risk is low, some mosquitoes carry diseases that make people sick.
The best protection against mosquito-borne illness is to avoid mosquito bites.
Families can protect against mosquito bites by:
Families with any health concerns should see their doctor or phone NURSE-ON-CALL: 1300 606 024 (available 24 hours).
Free Japanese encephalitis vaccines
Japanese encephalitis virus is spread to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes and can cause a rare but potentially serious infection of the brain.
Free Japanese encephalitis vaccines are available to protect Victorians at higher risk of the virus.
The Victorian Department of Health encourages eligible people who live or work in high-risk local government areas to get vaccinated.
For more information, including what is considered a high-risk area and eligibility for a free vaccine, refer to the Department of Health’s Japanese encephalitis webpage.
Find out more
For more information on protecting against mosquito-borne diseases, families can refer to the following Better Health Channel pages:
We hope you enjoy a lovely Melbourne Cup Day with your family, and we look forward to another fantastic week of learning at Bimbadeen.
Kind regards,
Adele Gregson, Sabrina George, Marty Gill and Bree King
