Principal's Report

Welcome Back Everyone

What a wonderful start to the 2025 school year! It is always a time of excitement and nerves as the students return – a new year level, a new classroom, and a different teacher. The holidays are a great time to remind ourselves of the importance of the social aspect of school – students spending time with each other when learning, playing, eating and everything else that takes place during a school day. As one parent said to me last week, ‘It’s like having one massive playdate which nobody needs to organise!'

Foundation Students

A special welcome to our 2025 Foundation students. Last week they had two shortened days at school and this week they are now enjoying full days. We have all been super-impressed by the preparedness for school that our new Foundation students have shown. They have displayed independence, kindness and friendship in these first few days. They are already making me feel very welcome when I visit their classrooms, reflecting the positive climate in each room.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this transition: parents, teachers, school leadership, office staff, and of course the students themselves. Congratulations!

Setting Expectations & Routines

After a long break, it is important for students to understand their new school routines as well as the expectations in place to ensure they have a productive year. This year the start has been particularly successful with the implementation of the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS). You will have read about the groundwork and planning behind the SWPBS in newsletter items last year; this year we are putting the plans into action. 

Using the SWPBS framework, all teachers are delivering lessons where we define expected behaviours to ensure that learning time is optimised. The lessons taught so far have focused on:

• Going to our meeting spot when the music starts.
• Showing care and kindness to others.
• Listening to others.
• Packing away at the end of lessons and at the end of the day.

The SWPBS team have established lessons for the next two weeks to ensure that these routines and expectations are embedded. It would be great if you could find time to discuss these lessons with your children.

Start of the Year Curriculum Day

Last Tuesday was the last day of the school holidays for our students, however it was the first day of the school year for staff. The day was focused on teaching and learning with key messages including:

• Demonstrating pride in all that we (students and teachers) do; this includes pride in our work, pride in our place, and pride in ourselves.
• Maximising teaching and learning time. The importance of ensuring that teachers optimise the 25 hours of instruction time during a school week.

• Students maintain high expectations of themselves and develop a growth mindset.

   

During the curriculum day we were fortunate to have Louise Stewart, Director of Literacy, Languages, The Arts & Humanities at the Department of Education, present to staff. Louise’s presentation focused on the new Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 which has an emphasis on explicit teaching. 

Key messages from Louise’s presentation included:

• New content is accessed by the working memory and needs to transfer to long term memory.
• Working memory capacity is limited; 4-5 bits of new information at a time.
• Practice helps consolidate learning in the long term memory.
• Students with additional needs require more practice for the knowledge to reach their long term memory.

I feel continually grateful for the high quality of teaching that our teachers plan and deliver. As a staff, we are aware of our learning and wellbeing priorities, and the buzz around the curriculum day and in the classrooms shows an excitement and thirst for a great year.

Parent Contributions

Please keep an eye out in Compass next week for details regarding parent contributions. As a school that receives minimal additional funding from the Department of Education, we are reliant upon parent contributions to support the teaching of the curriculum, as well as fund our school nurses, school librarian, purchase library resources, and support our building and grounds projects.

Thank you in advance for your contributions.

Congratulations Jourdan

Congratulations to one of our teachers, Jourdan Murray, on the arrival of baby Joni during the school holidays. We send on our best wishes to Jourdan and her family at this special time.

Year 6 Tops

Year 6 students received their commemorative tops today. In spite of the 36 degree heat, a few ventured home in their fleecy hoodies. 

Last year, the students voted on the designs and colours for their commemorative hoodies and t-shirts. After considering various options, the vote was closely contested between teal and soft pink, with teal ultimately winning out in the hoodie design. To honour the students who preferred pink, both colours (pink and teal) were available in the t-shirts. The students look really smart in their new attire!

Dates for the Diary

A few dates for your diary, some in the near future, and some towards the end of the term.

• Friday 8 February: Foundation Social Evening, 7 – 10pm
• Friday 21 February: School Welcome Picnic, 5:30 – 8pm
• Tuesday 25 – Thursday 27 February: Parent Teacher Interviews. (Early dismissal at 1pm on Thursday 27 February.)
• Tuesday 4 and Thursday 6 March: School Photo Days
• Wednesday 12 – Monday 24 March: Year 3 & Year 5 NAPLAN. Times and dates of each test will be emailed to the families.
• Monday 31 March – Friday 4 April: Year 6 Camp

2025 Curriculum Days

The three following dates are student-free/curriculum days.

• Friday 30 May
• Monday 21 July
• Monday 3 November

Welcome Assembly – Friday 7 February

All families are invited to attend this Friday’s Welcome Assembly, 9am at the Fig Tree Courtyard. At this assembly we will welcome new families and students, and also introduce our Year 6 leaders.

Thanks for supporting such a great start to the year and enjoy the rest of your week.

~ Paul Wallace, Principal