Assistant Principal's Address

WEEK 8 | TERM 1

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S AWARD

Ms Gavin

Ms Lina

Dear Parents, Guardians and School Community,

Thank you for your ongoing support in helping to create a safe, consistent and caring school environment for every child.

🎓 Attendance – Term 1: Every Day Counts

Term 1 is an important and busy time of the year. Every day at school matters to ensure students stay engaged in learning, complete important tasks and participate fully in classroom and school experiences.

To help families understand attendance patterns, we use the Spectrum of School Attendance Scale, which supports schools in identifying attendance trends and working with families to support students.

To encourage strong attendance, teachers are currently reviewing attendance records and may contact families via phone or email if students have been absent. This is to ensure students remain connected to their learning and to provide support where needed.

Tips for families this term:

• Plan holidays or appointments outside of school days where possible
• Notify the school promptly if your child will be absent
• Work with your child’s teacher to catch up on missed learning

We understand that families often manage many challenges when getting children to school each day. If your child must miss a day of school, please notify us as soon as possible through Compass so we can support their return.

Remember: Every Day Counts. Together we can continue building a strong start to the year and support every child to thrive both academically and socially.

Berry Street Education Model – Supporting Our Behaviour Matrix

At school, we use the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) to guide how we build resilience, wellbeing, and positive learning behaviours. The strategies from BSEM are embedded in our classrooms every day and link directly to our whole-school behaviour matrix.

This means that:

• Students are learning consistent ways to manage their emotions and behaviour.
• Teachers use shared language and routines that support our school expectations.
• Families, staff, and students can work together towards a safe, respectful, and engaged learning environment.

Recently, we have seen a substantial increase in physical behaviours across the school. These are considered major behaviours, and we take them very seriously. Addressing these behaviours is a priority, and we are working proactively with students to reinforce safe and respectful choices in line with our school expectations.

By combining BSEM with our behaviour matrix, we are creating a strong foundation where students feel supported to thrive both academically and socially. We ask that families take some time to review the matrix with their children to help reinforce these expectations at Deanside Primary School.

Behaviour Statement 

At Deanside primary, the relationships and connections we create are pivotal in establishing exemplar learning behaviours, which are underpinned by our school values.

We have a mutual understanding of the agreed upon positive language approaches, expectations, and restorative practices to ensure success in our student’s learning and behaviour.

NAPLAN Wrap-Up – Well Done Year 3 & 5!

We are pleased to share that NAPLAN has now concluded for our Year 3 and Year 5 students. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our students on the way they approached the assessments.

We have been incredibly impressed with the calm, focused, and positive manner in which students engaged with each test. Throughout the week, they demonstrated resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to give their best effort—even when faced with challenges such as changes to routine and technical disruptions.

Our students should feel very proud of themselves. They showed great maturity and perseverance, which is a true reflection of their hard work and the supportive learning environment we strive to create each day.

We would also like to thank our staff and families for their support in ensuring a smooth and successful NAPLAN period.

Year 7 2027 Enrolment – Information Evening

Families are invited to attend an upcoming information evening at Brookside P–9 College for students commencing Year 7 in 2027.

Tuesday 21st April 2026 6:00pm – 7:00pm

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the college, its programs, and the enrolment process.

Year 7 Tours are also available on:

• 31 March 2026
• 5 May 2026

Please register your attendance by scanning the QR code on the flyer by Monday 20th April 2026.

We encourage families considering Brookside P–9 College to attend and find out more.

Regards,

Bianca Gavin,  Racheal Zappia & Lina Stephens 

Assistant Principals