Principal's News

What a beautiful Friday afternoon and the end to a terrific fortnight around the school. The closing weeks of November are jam packed with activities and events in every school as we sit in a position where we are putting the finishing touches on 2025 whilst planning for 2026. Our teaching staff are spending considerable time undertaking assessment and reporting whilst also engaging in professional discussions evaluating 2026 class lists and putting together resources for the coming year.

Over the last week, we have undertaken some recruitment processes and begun finalising our workforce planning for 2026. This will be circulated in our next newsletter. We look forward to finishing the end of the year with our families and I appreciate you taking a moment to read over our newsletter.

Working Bee

Can you spare 30 - 60mins next Friday afternoon? Can you help us with some minor maintenance and cleaning around our school? Our final working bee of the school will be held next Friday afternoon and there are some jobs that can be completed with no experience needed.

Cleaning out student bathrooms
General cleaning of our classrooms/playgrounds
Gardening
Staining our deck and timber surfaces
Repairing our tiles

PFC Community Event

Thank you to our Parents and Friends Club that are running a special ‘Thank You Event’ next Friday afternoon for our students. Thank you to our Parents and Friends Club for the wonderful support they have provided our school over the course of the year. In addition to this, a huge congratulations to our co-presidents Maya (mother of Miles and Harriet) and Yayoi (mother of Oscar) who were recognised for their tireless work in our school with a Caulfield Volunteers Award. Maya and Yayoi will receive this award next Tuesday evening. A wonderful achievement!

Melbourne Zoo Showcase

Congratulations to our budding Year 4 group of environmentalists who attended the Melbourne Zoo last Friday to present at the ‘Fighting Extinction Schools Showcase’. Our students presented their work and interacted with visitors and other schools on the day. Congratulations to our Year 4 team for their work and their advocacy for our environment and protection of animals in the wild. Well done to Miss Zhao who led our participation in this project.

Bilingual School Network

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of hosting our collegiate network of Bilingual School Network principals as we met for our termly meeting. There are 11 Designated Bilingual Schools in Victoria and the opportunity to meet is vital to ensure that we continue to refine our approach to curriculum, recruitment and leadership. We work closely with the Department of Education and senior leaders in the Languages Unit also attend these meetings to support our work.

In addition to this, our Bilingual Teaching Network met yesterday at Huntingdale Primary School, once again this is a valuable opportunity for teachers to work collaboratively and discuss pedagogical practice and nuanced aspects of our teaching and assessment in a bilingual school.

Reconciliation Action Plan

We have recently renewed our commitment to our Reconciliation Action Plan and actions that we can commit to at Caulfield Primary School, this is a plan that is reviewed and updated annually and provides a list of actions and promotes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and understanding in our school. It is available on our website and linked here.

Leadership on Display

The leadership trait that I often see on display from our students and the one that I admire most is initiative. Having a go at something and taking that first big step into something new, not waiting to be asked and trying something, noting that we might not always get it right the first time but that we can always try our very best. To this end, I extend my thanks and acknowledge the leadership of Noah and Naoki who have taken it upon themselves to meet and greet students on a Wednesday morning as students walk in the gate.

The simple act of a smile or kindness can make the difference to all of us. Smiling can improve your mood, relieve stress, and even increase your lifespan. And the best part is that it's contagious! Psychologists have actually found that when one person smiles at another, it has a direct effect on the second person's brain activity, which then causes them to smile in return. Congratulations to Noah and Naoki for their initiative and leadership.

Planning Day

Staff will be working together on Wednesday 10th December as we begin planning for Term 1, 2026. We assemble our 2026 teaching teams together to work on curriculum planning for the first term. This is our final student free day of the year and the school will be closed on that day. Team Kids will run a service over the course of that day and you are welcome to make a booking for your child.

Workforce Plan

Our 2026 staff listing will be made available in our next newsletter, this will detail our teaching teams for the year ahead. Students will have a chance to meet their 2026 classroom teacher on Thursday 11th December.

School Choir

A big congratulations to our school choir who were invited to perform at the Caulfield Volunteer Awards to be held next Tuesday evening. What wonderful recognition for our students and to Miho Okano who leads our school choir. Our students will be performing three songs on the night.

Volunteers Morning

On Wednesday morning, we held a special morning tea for our volunteers and members of our school community that have supported our school over the course of this year. In essence, a morning tea really doesn’t do justice to the tremendous appreciation we have for the support offered throughout our school. Whether it be in our classrooms, an excursion, our school production, a sports event, a committee or a PFC event. We extend a huge thank you to our families and volunteers that make our school such a vibrant and positive climate for learning and engagement. Thank you for all that you do in our school.

School Council

Our final school council meeting of the year occurs next Wednesday I acknowledge and thank our school council members for their support and time commitment throughout this year. Participating in regular sub-committee meetings and leading valuable discussion and influence throughout the year. In particular, I extend my sincere thanks to Rachel M (mother of Vivien) and James M (father of Eloise) for their support of school council, with both Vivien and Eloise graduating at the end of the year. Rachel and James have greatly supported our school council this year, James has served for over 10 years on school council and seen three of his children move through the school, thank you James!

Our school council members will continue for our final meeting of our current School Council early in 2026 before our AGM towards the end of Term 1.

Tuesday 9th December – Year 6-7 State Transition Day

All level 6 students attending a Government secondary school in 2026 will attend a transition day at their local Government school of choice. This is an exciting event for our students and we always enjoy seeing them return for graduation that evening and hearing about their day.

Coloured Sand

As communicated earlier in the week, there has been a coloured sand recall.

At CPS, we do not have any of the specified brands; however, to be safe, we are taking steps set out by the Department of Education to collect and dispose of any coloured sand where located. Current advice from national and Victorian health authorities is that there is a low risk to human health from these products.

If you have the product at home, however, the advice from the health authorities is that you should stop using it and follow the safety advice published here: Safe disposal and health information for consumers with recalled sand products |ACCC Product .

A busy fortnight around the school and daunting to think that we are only 9 days away from December. I hope our families have a great weekend ahead and to those of you that are as excited as I am, enjoy the first few days of the cricket. I am hoping to watch plenty of this on Friday evening.

Take care, enjoy the weekend.

Edward Strain

Principal