Welcome Back to Term 3

A big welcome back to our school community! It has been wonderful to see our students settle quickly into the routines of school and hit the ground running during a calm and productive first week.

With students being highly active during break times, we ask families to ensure all uniform items are clearly labelled and remind students to collect their belongings and return them to the classroom.

Throughout the term, we will continue our daily focus on effective teaching and learning, supported by a wide range of engaging experiences and community connections both inside and outside the classroom.

We have a busy term ahead, so please keep an eye on our “Dates for Your Diary” page for upcoming events and important information. We look forward to celebrating our students’ achievements, growth and experiences through our upcoming fortnightly newsletters and school assemblies.

Parent–student–teacher conferences will be held next week, and we hope families have taken the opportunity to book a time. These conferences provide a valuable opportunity to celebrate each child’s effort, progress and growth throughout the first semester.

We wish everyone a positive and successful term ahead!

Proposed Stop Work Action

It has been agreed that Department of Education staff will take Stop Work Action on Thursday 23rd July.

It is expected that a high number of staff at Surfside PS will be participating in Stop Work Action on this day.

I am unable to provide any further updates and how this will affect the Surfside PS program until Tuesday 21st July.

I will communicate with families any updates or relevant information as they are made available.

Term 3 Dates (Please check the dates for your diary page for all term 3 confirmed dates)

There is plenty to look forward to during term 3 in the classroom and from a whole school perspective so below is a summary of the first couple of weeks back. Please check the Dates for your Diary page for term 3 and 4 special dates and events:

July

Mon 20th - Student Led & Parent/Teacher/Carer Conferences until 6.00pm

Tues 21st - Student Led & Parent/Teacher/Carer Conferences until 6.00pm

Wed 22nd - Student Led & Parent/Teacher/Carer Conferences until 4.30pm

Year 6 Smoothie Incursion (Change of date)

Thu 23rd - Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

Year 4 EcoLinc Incursion - Earth Ed - Rock Cycles (tentative)

Fri 24th - Assembly @ 2.30pm - courtyard

Mon 27th - Year 6 Health Information Night

Wed 29th - Year 4 Supreme Incursion - SLC & STEAM Lab 11.30-3.15

Thu 30th - Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

Surfside PS Athletics Day - Landy Field

August

Tues 4th - Australian Maths Competition

Thu 6th - Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

Fri 7th - Assembly @ 2.30pm - courtyard

Indonesian Celebration Week

Get ready for a week of colour, culture and creativity! We are excited to welcome Bayu, a talented Indonesian artist from the island of Java, to Surfside Primary School for a very special cultural incursion. This wonderful opportunity has been made possible through an Australian Indonesian Institute grant, facilitated by Helena Anggraeni from Dromana College.

Throughout the week, Bayu will work alongside Indonesian teachers, sharing his culture and talents with every class, mostly during their regular Indonesian lessons. Sessions will be held in the STEAM Lab. Students will learn what daily life is like in Indonesia and enjoy a range of hands-on experiences, including:

Indonesian storytelling
Wayang (Indonesian shadow puppet) workshop
Traditional Indonesian games
Indonesian dance workshop

Our Kitchen classes will also be joining the celebration by preparing delicious Indonesian dishes to share. Keep an eye on future newsletters as Georgie & Clancey will be sharing the recipes so you can try them at home!

In the Art room, some students will also have the opportunity to create their own batik inspired art works.

Join in the fun!

Families can help celebrate Indonesian culture by encouraging students to participate in our themed days:

Monday: Pack something Indonesian-inspired in your lunchbox (for example, nasi goreng, tropical fruit such as snake fruit, or another Indonesian-inspired food).
Wednesday: Wear a sarong to school. Play traditional Indonesian games in the library.
Friday: Wear red or white. At lunchtime, students will be invited to gather on the oval to create a giant Indonesian flag, which will be captured from above by a drone. Whole school assembly – join us to meet Bayu and conclude our Indonesian Week celebration.

We can't wait to share this exciting cultural experience with our students and celebrate the rich traditions, stories, music, art and food of Indonesia!

Thank You - Terima Kasih

Bu Braddick & Bu McLaren

Congratulations Kathy Wilson - Crossing Guard

Surfside’s School Council nominated Kathy Wilson for the 2026 School Crossings Victoria Supervisor of the Year Awards, recognising her outstanding contribution to our school community.

Held every two years, the awards celebrate school crossing supervisors who go above and beyond to support students, families and schools with enthusiasm, a strong commitment to safety, and a friendly and professional approach.

Kathy was named as a finalist, and while she didn’t take home the award, she said she and her plus one (husband Andrew) had “the best time” at the awards dinner on Friday 9 July.

“It was so much fun. I didn’t win, but the pure fact that I was nominated means everything to me. Thank you so much!”

We are so grateful for Kathy’s dedication and smiling face, and the care she shows every day helping our students safely get to school.

Learn more about the awards

Here is the submission:

Kathy is the crossing supervisor outside Surfside Primary School on John Dory Drive in Ocean Grove, and she is quite simply one of a kind.

She knows every student, parent, caregiver (and their dogs) by name. She ensures every crossing user, adults included, waits for her whistle before stepping onto the road. On rainy days, she's even been known to offer up spare umbrellas. When drivers unknowingly park in the adjacent no-parking zone during crossing hours, she gently tips them off so they can avoid a fine, going well beyond her role to look out for the whole community around her.

Kathy is a familiar and beloved presence at Surfside Primary, turning up and engaging in a way that makes clear this is more than a job to her.

Her professionalism is equally impressive. She is always immaculately presented in full uniform with equipment at the ready, and her punctuality and attendance record speak to the reliability and commitment she brings every single day. Parents and students know she will be there, and that certainty matters.

But it is the warmth she brings to what could be a purely functional role that sets her apart. Kathy has built something rare at a school crossing: a little community of her own. Students start their day feeling seen and welcomed. Parents feel reassured. Even the dogs get excited to “go see Kathy.”

We are proud to nominate Kathy for Crossing Supervisor of the Year, and we are lucky to have her at Surfside Primary.

2026 NAPLAN Results Year 3 & Year 5

We were excited to receive our 2026 NAPLAN individual results this week and students and families will receive their individual reports on Friday. Our classes, cohorts and school will utilise this data to continue to evaluate our performance, support student learning and set our annual implementation goals going into 2027. We are lucky to be a very data rich school and our professional learning communities use this data on a weekly basis to best support our students in and out of the classroom at the relevant point of need.

NAPLAN results are now reported against proficiency standards, with student achievement shown against 4 levels of proficiency. There is a standard for each assessment area at each year level. This replaces the previous numerical NAPLAN bands and national minimum standards.

To help understand the new reports please refer to the parent information attachment below:

Proficiency Standards Explained

Student achievement in NAPLAN is reported using proficiency standards for each assessment area at each year level. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing. There are 4 proficiency levels:

Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

A brief summary of our results are indicated below with a comparison to previous data sets results and all of our students and staff should be congratulated on these consistent or improved performance results. All of these results are above similar schools average, network schools average and state average. NAPLAN is of course a single measure of student achievement at a particular time period and staff utilise many data sets to guide the weekly teaching and learning program at Surfside. Well done to all for working toward your best effort.

NAPLAN Individual Student Report - Information for Parents and Carers

2026 NAPLAN Summary of Results - Surfside Primary School

	2023	2024	2025	2026
YEAR 3 READING	75% Strong & Exceeding	74% Strong & Exceeding	80% Strong & Exceeding	75% Strong & Exceeding
YEAR 3 WRITING	77% Strong & Exceeding	80% Strong & Exceeding	85% Strong & Exceeding	84% Strong & Exceeding
YEAR 3 NUMERACY	74% Strong & Exceeding	71% Strong & Exceeding	74% Strong & Exceeding	70% Strong & Exceeding

	2023	2024	2025	2026
YEAR 5 READING	84% Strong & Exceeding	76% Strong & Exceeding	81% Strong & Exceeding	88% Strong & Exceeding
YEAR 5 WRITING	61% Strong & Exceeding	77% Strong & Exceeding	72% Strong & Exceeding	83% Strong & Exceeding
YEAR 5 NUMERACY	65% Strong & Exceeding	67% Strong & Exceeding	77% Strong & Exceeding	80% Strong & Exceeding

Updated Friday Lunch Service - Starting Week 2

Friday Lunch Orders are Coming – Set Up Flexischools Today!

Our new Friday lunch order service with Groove Café begins Friday, 24th July.

To ensure you're ready to place your first order, we encourage families to set up their Flexischools account from today.

What is Flexischools?

Flexischools is Australia's leading online school ordering platform, making it easy to order and pay for your child's school lunches using your phone or computer.

With Flexischools you can:

Order your child's by Wednesday afternoon for Friday delivery and future Fridays.
Manage multiple children from one account.
Pay securely without needing cash.

If you already have a Flexischools account from another school, simply add Surfside Primary School to your existing account.

Flexischools app, which can be downloaded from the AppStore (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android).

These instructions will help you to get started:

• How do I register for a Flexischools account?

• How do I add a student to my account?

• How do I place an order?

The Groove Cafe Menu and Ordering ability is available now

Surfside Athletics Carnival - Help Needed

Calling all available school community members, Surfside Primary School needs you!

We have our annual Surfside Athletics Carnival fast approaching on Thursday 30th July (Week 3). For this event to work we need a large amount of assistance from our school community. If you are able to come along and assist please follow the link below to complete the Google Form.

Surfside Athletics Volunteer Form

Many thanks in advance!

Mr Baker and Mr Asher

Fresh Food Fair Sponsorship

We are busy in the planning and preparing for the 2026 Fresh Food Fair and we would love to welcome our local family businesses to support our amazing school community. Please jump on board and support the 2026 Fresh Food Fair and Surfside PS community. Check out the Fresh Food Fair 2026 page for more info:

Book Week is Coming...2026 Update - Symphony of Stories

Book week is only around the corner (week 7 of term 3 Monday 24th August-Friday 28th August) and the theme for Book Week is 'Symphony of Stories'. Due to rehearsals for Victorian State Schools Spectacular during the end of the week we have moved our parade to a new date:

'Book Week parade - Wednesday 26th August from 9.00am!'

The term 2 break provides an opportunity to get that outfit ready.

2027 Sibling Enrolments

We recently welcomed approximately 60+ families through Surfside over the past 2 weeks as part of our 2027 enrolment tours. Families experienced an overview of the school program and a tour of classrooms and school facilities. It is a great opportunity to allow new and prospective families an opportunity to develop a feel of the school and it's community. Enrolments for 2027 are now open and close on Friday 31st July. Please check out our Enrolment Time at Surfside page in our newsletter.

Victorian State Schools Spectacular - Ticket Sales

We are pleased to announce that tickets for the 2026 Victorian State Schools Spectacular will go on sale via Ticketek at 11am on Thursday 16th July. This year’s performance will be on Saturday 29th August at John Cain Arena.

www.ticketek.com.au/spectacular

Ticket prices:

Adult: $40
Child: (under 15) $20
Concession: $30

School Council 2026 - August Meeting

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 18th August

Finance Meeting - 5.00pm
School Council Meeting - 5.30pm

What's happening in our classrooms

Each fortnight we provide all of our families a snapshot of what is happening in our classrooms.

Foundation

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Specialist