Dear Solway Families,

It has been another positive and productive week at Solway Primary School!

As part of our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) program, this week we have continued our focus on Responsibility. We’ve been encouraging all students to take responsibility for their belongings and their learning. It has been wonderful to see students remembering to bring the right materials to class, taking care of their personal items, and showing pride in their learning. Developing these habits now lays the foundation for lifelong responsibility and independence.

Next week, we will expand this focus to support students in taking responsibility not only for their belongings and learning, but also for their actions, reactions and behaviours. We will be encouraging everyone to try their best always – even when faced with challenges. This focus links strongly with our school values, and it is part of helping our students grow into thoughtful, self-aware individuals.

A big thank you and congratulations to Mr Rob Tongue for organising and running this week’s House Cross Country event. It was a fantastic day and a highlight on our sporting calendar! Our students represented Solway Primary School with pride, displaying excellent behaviour while out in the community. They truly embodied our value of Resilience, showing determination to keep running the course, no matter how tired they felt. Thank you to our wonderful parent community for your support and supervision along the course, and to our dedicated teachers for their work in supporting students throughout the day. These events are a true team effort and couldn’t happen without everyone playing their part.

Congratulations to all our students who participated on Wednesday – your effort and spirit were outstanding! Best of luck to those moving on to represent Solway at the Zone Cross Country next week. We’ll be cheering you on!

I’d also like to thank all our parents and carers for your patience and understanding as we transition to using Compass for all payments and permissions related to excursions and school events. We acknowledge there have been some teething issues as we move across to this new system, but we are confident it will result in a much more streamlined and efficient process for both families and our school office. As our office staff continue learning more about the system each day, we kindly ask that conversations remain respectful and supportive – your cooperation and positivity during this period of change is greatly appreciated.

School Savings Bonus reminder and allocation to school activities

If you haven’t already done so, we are strongly encouraging you to access your School Savings Bonus portal and allocate all your funds to school activities before Monday 30 June 2025. After this date, any funds remaining, including online voucher amounts that have not been redeemed, will become a credit to use on school activities. However, the advice that we have received from the Department of Education is that the credit will not be available on your family account at our school until late July. To use any remaining SSB funds to cover the cost of school activities in July, please refer to the SSB online system, or contact us at the office for assistance in allocating the funds to school activities before 30 June 2025.

To learn more about the SSB online system, download the step-by-step System guide for parents and carers. The Department of Education’s SSB contact centre will remain available until 30 June 2025. The contact centre can be reached by:

completing the School Saving Bonus enquiry form
calling 1800 338 663, between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm on weekdays.

Mother’s Day

A reminder of our upcoming Mother’s Day open morning. With classrooms open to our student’s mothers and special others from 8:50am to 9:45am. Culminating our a special whole school performance at around 9:30am.

Enrolments

A reminder that Prep 2026 enrolments are now open. If you or someone you know has a child/children starting school next year and are wanting to enrol with us, please visit the school website for enrolment details or contact us. For more information about enrolling your child into a Victorian government primary school, visit Enrolling in Foundation (Prep).

Uniform Shop

You will find within this week’s newsletter information on our new uniform supplier and a price list. The new uniform shop will come online on Monday 19 May.

Solway Story Time

Our first session was a tremendous hit with all that attended. We are looking forward to welcoming more of our younger community members this Friday at 12.00pm. This is a wonderful opportunity for young children to enjoy stories and interactive activities while becoming familiar with the school environment. It’s also a great chance for parents to connect with our friendly staff and learn how we support a smooth transition to primary school. Register here.

Thank you for your continued support and lets all strive to be “our best always”.

David Rosser

Principal