Out and about at Surfside

It’s hard to believe that the 2025 school year has come to an end! As we reached Week 10, we were given the perfect opportunity to celebrate the incredible achievements, milestones and moments that have filled our year. From Year 6 Graduation and award recipients, to welcoming new student leaders and staff, farewelling past leaders and staff beginning new journeys, students moving up year levels, the release of reports and the celebration of individual growth there has truly been so much to be proud of.

This time of year also invites us to pause and reflect on the continued growth of our Surfside community - academically, socially and emotionally. Surfside Primary School is a vibrant, busy place with many moving parts, but what shines brightest is the joy, smiles and sense of fun shared by our students, staff and families every day. Together, we have created a school community full of care, connection and opportunity, and we look forward with excitement to what 2026 will bring as we continue to work towards our school-wide goals.

Behind every success at Surfside is thoughtful planning, dedication and teamwork. The care that goes into ensuring our students achieve academically while engaging in rich learning experiences both within our school and the wider community is truly remarkable. 

With heartfelt appreciation, we would like to thank the many people who make Surfside such a special place.

• Our biggest thank you goes to our students — each and every one of you who walks through the doors of Surfside. You are the reason we do what we do. We wish you all a safe and happy break and hope that 2026 continues to provide opportunities for you to grow, thrive and shine. To our Year 6 students heading off to secondary school, we wish you every success as you embark on this exciting new adventure.
• To our parents, carers and extended school community — thank you for your ongoing support, encouragement, smiles and willingness to lend a helping hand. Your partnership plays such an important role in supporting the young people of our school.
• Thank you to Mrs Patterson, Assistant Principal, for her unwavering support of students, staff and the wider community. Her innovation and vision for continuous school improvement are invaluable to Surfside.
• We extend our sincere appreciation to our extended leadership team throughout 2025 - Mrs Charleston, Mr Chapman, Mrs Lonergan, Kellie, Gill and all Year Level PLC Facilitators - for your guidance, commitment and dedication to teaching, learning, engagement and wellbeing across the school.
• A huge thank you to our administration team - Ebony, Vicki, Kerry and Jenny - for your welcoming smiles, positive energy and constant support of our community. You are always there when needed and we are so grateful.
• To our classroom teachers, specialist teachers, education support staff, kitchen and garden specialists, CRTs and everyone who has supported our students throughout the year — thank you for your professionalism, care and dedication to ensuring every member of our community has the opportunity to be the very best they can be.
• Thank you to Kathy, our Surfside crossing guard, and our community crossing guards for keeping our students safe each day. 
• To Terry, for his outstanding maintenance work, his lightning speed during Wednesday Terry Tag, and for supporting the many local services around our school - we truly appreciate you and we hope that you enjoyed an amazing farewell from Surfside.
• We are grateful to Kellie, Sarah and the Camp Australia team for the care and support they provide to our families
• To Emily, our IT support technician, for keeping our school connected both on and off site.
• A big thank you to our pre-service teachers, Deakin program supporters, Deakin OT students, Student Support Services and Allied Health for your ongoing commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students.
• Thank you to Logical Cleaning Services for keeping our school clean, fresh and welcoming every day.

• Finally, we extend our sincere thanks to our School Council members throughout 2025 for supporting our parent community and providing a valued voice — Sabrina Lunn (School Council President), Stephanie Henderson, Kate Reed, Adam Kavanagh, Ebony Anderson, Lynda Patterson, Mel Ensink, Alicia Brown and Clayton McIntosh. Your contribution over the past 12 months has been greatly appreciated.

   

As we close out 2025, we do so with pride, gratitude and festive cheer. Thank you for being part of the Surfside Primary School community. We wish everyone a safe, restful and joyful break and look forward to another wonderful year ahead. 🎄✨

At the end of each school year, we experience a mix of emotions as we farewell members of our Surfside community. It is a special yet bittersweet time as we say goodbye to our Year 6 families, marking the completion of their primary school journey, as well as families who are relocating and staff who are embarking on new adventures.

We would like to sincerely thank the following staff members for their valuable contributions to Surfside Primary School throughout the 2025 school year and wish them every success in their next chapter:

Caitlin Foster, Emma McLaren, Courtenay McLaughlin, Alice Merrett, Hariette O'Keefe, Imogen Rodgers, Olivia Smith and Ash Coghlan.

We also farewelled two much-loved members of our Surfside team who are retiring after many years of dedicated service — Terry Howlett (Maintenance) and Andree Wells (Education Support). Their commitment, care and contribution to our school have left a lasting impact on both students and staff.

Both Terry and Andree were celebrated in true Surfside style, and we thank them for everything they have given to our community. They will always remain a valued part of the Surfside story.

Farewell and Thank You - School Captains 2025

We would like to thank and wish our outgoing school captains all the best on their transition into secondary school. You have done an amazing job in constantly displaying our school values and being a positive inspiration in and out of the classroom. We all appreciate your support, passion and inspiration. 

Thank you: Hariette, Alliena, Riley and Oliver

It has been amazing to see your growth over the last 12 months and we know that you will have a positive impact on your secondary school. We also want to thank all of our student leaders for 2025 and our school has appreciated your voice and passion to continue to make the school a better place. All the best for your next journey!

Welcome School Captains 2026

We would like to congratulate and welcome our 2026 school captains. All of our applicants were of a high standard and we thank everyone who expressed an interest in undertaking this very important school leadership role and we look forward to working with all of our year 6 students in 2026. We would like to welcome:

Isaak Sluiter, Leo Malpas, Sybilla Boord & Tilly Hickey

We also look forward to welcoming our new school leaders in 2026 and learning more about their roles and goals early in the new year. We hope they have an amazing break and are ready for a BIG 2026. We will have an introduction of our 2026 school leaders in the first edition of the 2026 school newsletter.

2025 End of Year Assembly Celebration

We were able to celebrate many achievements, farewell and welcome staff and students and enjoy some musical talent from our band and Glee Club (in preparation for Carols in the Park) throughout our end of year assembly. Please check out some amazing snapshots and thank you to our community for attending:

Year 6 Graduation and Awards

We  were excited to celebrate our year 6's graduation last Thursday and we wish them all the best with their next journey. A big thank you to the year 6 teachers, education support staff and all who have contributed to this year 6 cohort over the past 7 years. Whether you started your school journey at Surfside or joined us along the way we hope that you are now set up to take the steps toward secondary school and we look forward to seeing you within our community. 

On behalf of Surfside PS we want to wish our year 6 students all the best and thank them for their time with us. You have been a fantastic crew and we hope you continue to be the best version of you!

Below are some of the awards and achievements that were recognised at our graduation and end of year assembly:

• Alison Marchant Bellarine Community Award – Riley Lunn
• Bellarine SC Scholarship Award – Annabelle Lockett
• Corangamite Leadership & Community Spirit Award – Alienna Veldhuis
• Cosmopolitan Lodge Award – Cedar Kelly & Benji Walker-Donnelly
• Rotary Transition Scholarship – Siena Wirtz, Lola Adam & Sammi Rabl
• Bellarine Psychology Wellbeing Award – Niamh Renkin
• Sport Award – Millie Bush & Remy Timms
• Art Award – Eve Ryan
• Music Award – Lilian O’Keefe & Ike Inoue
• Principal’s Award – Riley Lunn & Annabel McCalmum

Carols in the Park

Surfside had great attendance at the 2025 Carols in the Park and belted out some Christmas classics. A big thank you to Ms Griffiths and Mrs McCredden for supporting Glee Club to have this opportunity. You always put on a great show Surfside!

Food Scrap Friday Thank You

A big thank you to our Food Scrap Friday crew.

• Volunteers will still collect your fruit and veg scraps through the summer break. They’ll be in the garden every Friday from 9-9:30.

A big thank you to Kate O’Brien, Sabrinna Lunn, Cara Bullock, Kez Lester-Smith and Jodi Ainley who do a mountain of work!! 

We always need volunteers throughout the year. Any parents/family/friends who have around a half hour on Fridays at drop off, talk to one of the volunteers – many hands make light work.

We would also like to thank our students for their support and a special thank you to Riley for her Friday – ‘Good Morning Surfside’ message

By the end of December we will have collected scraps again for all 52 weeks of the year again which is an outstanding achievement and our volunteers are out there during rain, hail and shine. 

We have had another massive 12 months of collection and our totals are:

2021 - 301 kg

2022 - 1,316 kg 

2023 - 2,482 kg

2024 - 4,551 kg

We are on track to collect over 4,500kg

Come on Surfside, let’s do this and let’s keep collecting to pip last year’s total!!

Food Scrap Fact for the week – our largest collection for the year was February 28th with 149.5kgs which was an amazing….wait for it Surfside….an amazing 67 buckets!!!!

Ryman Aged Care Ocean Grove Visit

Surfside has been working toward a partnership with Ryman Aged Care Facility in Ocean Grove throughout the year. A big thank you to Gill who has worked with the group at Ryman on engagement ideas, supportive opportunities and collaborative events. We were able to celebrate this partnership on Thursday when a group of students headed down to Ryman and participated in singing Christmas Carols to the residents. This was a great opportunity to build community connection and we know there were plenty of smiling faces in the crowd. We look forward to building this relationship further in 2025.