2025 Update

It has been a busy time confirming student numbers, staffing and classes. We are still in the process of finalising grades for 2025, with students visiting their new class on Tuesday 17 December.

We have several staff leaving Oakleigh PS. Cian Hassett and Peter Lavender are taking up positions at Blackburn Lake Primary School which is much closer to home. Delia McDonald is resigning from the Department of Education taking up a position at a Catholic School which is closer to her home. Rhonda Luxton has made the decision to retire from teaching after a long career. Georgie Massey is due to have her first child very soon and will commence family leave in 2025. Ayana Hibi is taking a year’s leave to spend time between Japan and Australia with family and will return in 2026. Counsellor Lisa Gatliff is also leaving the school due to other work commitments. We acknowledge the work of Lee-Ean Teoh in teaching 5A this term. We thank all of these staff for their dedication and service to the school, with many of them being at Oakleigh for long periods of time. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

2025 Captains

Last Friday, we announced our 2025 Captains:

School Captains: Lucy, Gokul, Patrick, Elona

House Captains:

Moresby: Ruarc, Talya

McMillan: Emma, Ayaan

Nelson: Hanisi, Owen

Logie: Deon, Alexa

We wish all of these students a fabulous year in these roles and representing our school with pride.

New webpage to help families and students prepare for a new school year

A new school year is an exciting time for students and families, but it can be a big step – particularly for those starting Foundation or moving to secondary school.

The Department of Education has published a webpage with resources and information to help you prepare for the new school year.

During the school holidays, please consider reading through the resources, which include:

Tips to help transition between kinder and Prep and primary to secondary school
What to expect at school
Help with school costs
Health and wellbeing guidance to support children’s mental health.

Please refer to the New year of learning webpage.

Parent/Guardian/Caregiver Survey Results

The Department of Education invites all families to participate in its yearly online survey. At Oakleigh Primary School, 700 survey invitations were distributed, yielding 95 responses equally a 14% response rate.

The results show that we are performing slightly below state, network and similar schools in most areas. This feedback will be reviewed at school council and with staff in a bid to make improvements in 2025. Families will have further opportunities to give feedback during the school review process next year and participate in a wide variety of school events.

International Day of People with Disability

Did you know there are more than 5.5 million people with disability in Australia? International Day of People with Disability is a United Nations Day observed on 3 December each year. The aim is to increase awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability.

We can all do our bit to ensure people with disability can take part in and contribute to society. We can help to remove barriers for people with disability and contribute to positive change in our classrooms and our community. Together, we can all take action to challenge perceptions about disability, remove barriers and promote inclusive and respectful attitudes and behaviours in our school and community.

Clare O’Neil Christmas Card Competition

Thank you to all the students who took part in Hotham’s Christmas Card competition. The great news is that Felicity Wong from 3B was runner up in the competition. Look out for her card which will be hitting letterboxes over the coming weeks. There is a gallery at Clare’s office, to celebrate and share the entries children made.

VICSWIM Program

VICSWIM is a 5-day intensive learn to swim and water safety program for children aged 4 to 12 years. The Victorian Government subsidises the program and Aquatics and Recreation Victoria run it.

Dates: Monday, 6 January to Friday, 10 January

Monday, 13 January to Friday, 17 January

Monday, 20 January to Friday, 24 January

Time: 5 lessons, 30 minutes each

Location: More than 170 pools, beaches and waterways across the state. To find your nearest location, refer to VICSWIM 2025 venues

Cost: $35 per child for the week.

For more information and to book, refer to the VICSWIM website. You will need to create an account to book.

Life Saving Victoria have a free resource called Swim City to help students and families prepare to stay safe in and around the water this Summer. Swim City is a free online game-based experience where children can learn about water safety from animated characters, Fin, Pod and Splash. Swim City is designed to complement swimming lessons. It now includes a module about water safety at farms.

F-2 Sport and Disco Day

Our F-2 students had a fabulous day sport and disco day. Kaboom Sports ran a highly engaging and fun sports rotation session with our new captains as group leaders. The Kaboom staff were highly impressed with students’ teamwork and behaviour and the excellent skills of our leaders. In the afternoon, Footsteps dance group lead the disco. There were some groovy dance moves on display by our students! Thank you to Blair, Michelle, Kaboom Sports and Footsteps for organising the day.

I wish all of our families a Merry Christmas, quality family time together and time for rest and leisure. For our Year 6 families and those leaving the school, I wish you all the best for your child’s future schooling. For those students returning to Oakleigh in 2025, we will see you next year for an exciting year. It’s the school’s 150 birthday and we will undertake our school review.

I will publish the confirmed Curriculum Days for 2025 after School Council has approved them and a full list of staff and classes.

Ruth Biddle

Principal

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