Principal's Report
Dear Parents and Friends of DPS,
I want to congratulate the students and staff for their efforts throughout Term 4. The DPS staff continue to provide such rich, meaningful learning experiences for our students, and students continue to embrace every moment. This was most evident throughout the Dance Curriculum, both in practise and on the day of the showcase. Each class performed with confidence and enthusiasm, meeting the very purpose of this learning experience. It was great to see parents and staff get up and show their moves as well!
On Friday 17 October we welcomed our newest members of the DPS family, the 2026 Prep students, for their first transition. The Prep team for 2026 include, Jessica White (Team Leader), Millie Edwards and Caitlin Wightman (new to DPS).
Over the last few weeks we have had a number of incidents after school with many students unsupervised in the yard. Teachers remain on gate duty until 3:30pm. Please speak to your child if they are walking home independently and remind them to walk home immediately after dismissal.
Staff made the most of the Curriculum Day on Monday 3 November, dedicating this time to report writing. Throughout the term, teachers spend time gathering data, assessing and providing feedback to students for improvement. So much time goes in to writing reports and we look forward to sharing these with you at the end of the year.
Planning for 2026
This term we are making plans for teacher and student placements/classes in 2026. Class placement is a complex process involving a range of factors and allocations will not be finalised until later this term. At this stage, we will have 24 classes next year.
I invite parents to put in writing any information about their child/ren that they want considered by our staff as they go about forming our classrooms for 2026 by 4pm on November 14th. The information you provide should focus on your child’s needs (whether they be academic, medical, physical, emotional or social). Please note, requests for particular teachers will not be considered as the best interests of all of the students and the effective management of the school must be taken into account.
As you may understand, the allocation of children to new classes is a very complex task and one that requires patience and a great deal of consideration, discussion and thought. During this process, changes and adjustments are made over several weeks. Each change may trigger a chain reaction of other changes. When classes are formed and staffing finalised, teachers are then allocated to classes.
Factors influencing class structure include:
- Funding
- Educational needs of the students;
- Projected number of students in each year level;
- Ratio of girls to boys;
- The number of teachers employed at the school
- Resources and facilities.
Factors which are considered in the placement of students include:
- Work habits e.g. ability to work independently and cooperatively
- Behaviour
- Gender
- Social network /friendships
- Social maturity
- Additional needs e.g. twins, siblings
- Language
The process for placing students into classes is based on the considerations above, teaching and leadership teams meet through the term to establish classes for the following school year.
I thank you for your trust, patience and understanding of this complex process.
We look forward to many more exciting things happening at DPS in Term 4, in particular our End of Year Concert (Thursday 11 December) where student will perform both Christmas classics and another song, all under the theme of 'Summer'.
Determination Pride Success
Jarod Ryan
Acting Principal