Principal's Report
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, learn and play. We pay respect to Wurundjeri elders past, present and emerging and extend our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families of Bimbadeen Heights Primary School.
Welcome back to Term 2. We hope our Bimbadeen families enjoyed a lovely break over the school holidays and your children have had a positive start to the term.
We have an exciting term ahead with many incursions and excursions, our annual Open Night, the Year 3 and 4 Science Expos, along with many other exciting activities.
In the final week of Term 1, there was much excitement about our first major house competition for the year. Teachers and students alike enjoyed this exciting event on our sporting calendar. Parent and carer volunteers assisted with supervising at various points on the circuit and helped to cheer on our students. We all enjoyed the opportunity for our school community to come together for this special event.
Congratulations to Blair house who were the winning house on the day. Well done to all our students who put in their best effort and demonstrated our school values of resilience during the run, as well as compassion as they encouraged and supported their peers and fellow house members throughout the competition.
A special thank you to Mr Joshua Gray and Ms Sam Tallentyre who did a wonderful job in organising the event, and our staff and wonderful parent and carer volunteers who assisted on the day.
Our annual ANZAC commemorative service was held on Thursday 24 April, and was once again, it was a wonderful service of reflection, learning and remembrance for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
We were honoured to welcome special guests; Warrant Officer Class One Grant Reeves, Mr Bruce ‘Stretch’ Jarvis - Chairman of the Kindred Organisation at ANZAC House (grandfather of Murphy), Piper, Veteran Iain Townsley, Bugler and former Bimbadeen Parent Tom Steele, and Mooroolbark College Captains, Laura and Blake, and Mooroolbark College Assistant Principal, Ms Rachel Williams. Our Student Leadership Team and Student Representative Council played important roles in our service.
Our ANZAC service is always a proud moment for our school and an important experience to ensure our students learn about the importance of recognising the service of others and pay respect to those who have fought for our country so that we have the freedoms and peace that we enjoy today.
We were immensely proud of the respect and honour that our students demonstrated throughout the service. The service included readings and stories from our school captains and house captains, and the laying of wreaths and rosemary at our ANZAC Memorial. We also were privileged to receive an address by Warrant Officer Class One Grant Reeves, who spoke about his time in the armed forces. This year, our service also featured the reading of poems by four students who entered the Don Parsons Memorial ANZAC Creative Writing Competition. Lexi, Phenix, Gabby and Syeria did a wonderful job sharing their original poems. The special ANZAC song, written by our former music teacher Mrs Lynne Burt, was also a highlight as our student leaders spoke each verse and lead the school in singing the words of the chorus;
“We remember, we remember,
A legend not of victory but courage under fire.
We remember, we remember,
Gallipoli on ANZAC Day.”
Thank you to all community members who came along and helped to make it a special event and to the children who brought along family medals or other mementos and shared stories with their peers.
On ANZAC Day, seven members of our student leadership team joined Mrs Gregson to represent the Bimbadeen community at the Lilydale ANZAC Day Dawn Service, held at the Lilydale Cenotaph. Mr Bill Dobson, President, Lilydale RSL, invited our student leaders to read the poem, In Flanders Fields, and lay a wreath at the cenotaph as part of the service. Many other members of the Bimbadeen community turned out for this early-morning service to honour our service personnel who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and those who continue to serve. Thank you to Alex, Scarlett and Mikayla for reading In Flanders Fields, and to Evie, Charlotte, Miller and Sophie for laying wreaths on behalf of our community.
On Monday 28th April, our Year 6 Techers and Students attended the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne, for Legacy’s 93rd ANZAC Commemoration Ceremony for Students. This special commemoration service honours Australia’s brave service men and women through the eyes of the young, with student guest speakers, school bands and Defence Force cadets, dignitaries, and a RAAF fly-over. Legacy’s patron, the Governor of Victoria, attended the Service, and our School Captains, Alex and Evie, laid a wreath on behalf of our community as part of the service.
Thank you to our Student Leadership Team for selling ANZAC items throughout the last two weeks of term 1 to help raise funds for the Lilydale RSL through the annual ANZAC Appeal. It has been fantastic to see our students proudly wearing their badges and wrist bands and using their bag tags and key rings. Thank you to all community members who supported the Lilydale RSL ANZAC Appeal through the purchase of commemorative merchandise to support the valuable work of our local RSL.
We warmly invite our Bimbadeen families and prospective families along to the school for Open Night on Wednesday 21st May to join us in celebrating our Annual Art show and seeing our students’ artworks glow with this year’s special theme. Classrooms will also be open from 5:15pm to 6:30pm, with a fun family activity trail in our classrooms and specialist areas across the school. Please see the Open Night flyer in this newsletter and the advertisement board at the front of the school for further information. We would love to see all Bimbadeen families attend our Open Night.
We hope to see you there!
Student safety at Bimbadeen Heights Primary School is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school.
Before school: School grounds are supervised from 8:45am until 9am each day, with three members of staff on duty, covering the school grounds and main exits and entry points to the grounds.
After school: School grounds are supervised from 3:30pm to 3:45pm each day, with three members of staff on duty, covering the school grounds and main exits and entry points to the grounds.
Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity such as Active Club or Breakfast Club).
Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after school care, or a pre-arranged supervised activity.
Families are encouraged to contact TheirCare via the information on our website for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community or contact the office if you would like any further information about our student supervision arrangements.
For a copy of our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy please see the School Policies page on our website at https://www.bimbadeenheightsps.vic.edu.au/policies-documents/ This policy includes Example School’s student supervision arrangements across the school day, including before and after school.
School Council has previously approved our Pupil Free Day Schedule for 2025. The remaining pupil free dates for this year are as follows:
Term 2 - Wednesday 4 June 2025
Term 3 - Monday 21 July 2025
Term 4 - Wednesday 12 November 2025.
TheirCare will operate a whole day program for our families that require care on these dates. Please contact TheirCare directly to book your child into their service.
Over the next few weeks students in Years 4, 5 and 6 will participate in the 2025 Attitude to School Survey. As in previous years, children will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool. The confidentiality of your child’s responses is always protected.
It is important to note that we are not in any way ‘testing’ the children. We value student voice as it informs and supports our work to improve student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and are conducting the survey to find out what your child thinks of our school.
The Attitudes to School Survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. We will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.
The survey results will be reported back to the school later this year. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified.
A Sentral Post with further information about the 2025 Attitude to School Survey has been sent home to parents and carers of students in Years 4, 5 and 6 this week.
Enrolments are now open for Foundation in 2026. We encourage prospective parents to complete an online tour via the school website where you can learn about our wonderful school and meet our staff and students. Prospective families can also attend an in-person tour where we can show you our wonderful school and answer any questions you might have or discuss your child’s individual needs.
This year our school is using an online system for 2026 Foundation enrolments called VicStudents. VicStudents is available for students who are enrolling in a Victorian Government School for the first time. This includes Foundation (Prep) enrolments for 2026.
VicStudents has been assessed by the Department of Education to a high degree of security in line with the Victorian Protective Data Security Standards and is compliant with ISO 27001, the leading international standard for information security.
For more information about enrolling your child into a Victorian government primary school, visit Enrolling in Foundation (Prep).
Please contact our school office on 9726 9989 or via email to Bimbadeen.Heights.PS@education.vic.gov.au should you need any further information or help to complete your child’s enrolment application.
Bimbadeen Heights Primary School is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. It is the primary focus of our care and decision-making.
The school’s approach to creating and maintaining a child safe school environment is guided by our school philosophy and values. At Bimbadeen Heights Primary School our vision is to provide each child with the opportunity to develop their full potential, whilst promoting the school values of respect, resilience, integrity, and compassion. We know children can struggle to achieve their personal best if they are not safe from abuse.
At Bimbadeen Heights Primary School our values guide the decisions and behaviours of all members of our school community, including in relation to child safety. Our school values are:
These core values are supported by the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework.
Bimbadeen Heights Primary School has zero tolerance for child abuse.
We are committed to providing a child safe environment where children and young people are safe and feel safe, and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives.
Our child safe policies, procedures, strategies, and practices will be inclusive of the needs of all children, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, children with disabilities, LGBTIQA students and children who are vulnerable, including students who are in out of home care.
Every person involved in Bimbadeen Heights Primary School has a responsibility to understand the important and specific role they play individually and collectively to ensure that the wellbeing and safety of all children and young people is at the forefront of all they do and every decision they make.
On behalf of School Council and the Finance Committee, we would like to extend a big thank you to our parents and carers for their parent payments and voluntary contributions. Parent contributions are vital to support the continuation and development of our teaching and learning programs and resources for our students.
We hope you enjoy a fantastic weekend.
Kind regards,
Adele Gregson, Sabrina George and Marty Gill
