Dear parents and carers,

I'd like to start by thanking Melissa Jacobs for stepping into the role of Acting Assistant Principal over the last two weeks. We appreciate how you have looked after our daily organisation and supported students across the school. Thank you also to our School Improvement Team for your support over this time. We look forward to welcoming Amelia Busuttil back from leave next week.

Harmony Week

This week we have celebrated Harmony Week. Our student leaders have prepared a series of videos to share with our community to build an understanding of the cultural diversity within our school and the wider community. Our students have enjoyed learning more about the different languages, celebrations and flags that are part of the cultures across our community.

It was wonderful to gather together in the courtyard on Wednesday for our picnic. Students had embraced the opportunity to wear orange, teal or cultural dress. Thank you to our students and staff for embracing our cultural diversity.

NAPLAN

Thank you to our Year Three and Year Five students for the way you have shown commitment throughout the NAPLAN assessments. Well done on demonstrating all your learning across literacy and numeracy. Thank you to staff involved and to the rest of our students for the respect you have shown when moving around learning spaces. We look forward to celebrating our progress as a school and identifying future improvement.

2026 School Council

Our 2026 School Council met for the first time this year. We had one staff vacancy which will be filled by Stela Matthews. Three of our parent/carer vacancies have been filled, with Sam Morris and Stef Wilson returing and Jen Rooney joining Council. Sam Morris was elected the President and Mark McQuilten our Vice-President.

Thank you to Kate Little for her year of service as a School Councillor and Sarah Cornell for her four years of service. Sarah will continue to convene our Community Events sub-committee.

Ramps Building Project

The Victorian School Building Authority is completing an upgrade of our school ramps this year. This will ensure that our buildings are accessible to all and that each ramp meets the necessary regulations.

The first stage of these works begins on the 30th of March. Three sites will be established : one in front of the hall, one between the bag shed and the Mandarin room and another around one of the Year Five ramps.

The site in front of the hall will mean we have approximately ten fewer staff car parks. This may mean that some of the car parks on the street in front of the hall are occupied by staff during this period.

As a result, we anticipate Laura St will be slightly busier than usual during drop off and pick up times. Thank you for being extra considerate during these times to ensure everyone continues to be safe.

School Swimming

Our Foundation, Year One and Year Two students have done a terrific job of remembering their swimming bags each day and following all the routines surrounding school swimming. Thanks to our staff and helpers who have supported the students on the bus and to navigate their swimming caps and goggles.

Next week our Year Three and Four students will attend the school swimming program.

Proposed Industrial Action

The Australian Education Union has indicated that it intends a full-day stop work on Tuesday 24 March 2026. At this stage we do not know the exact impact on our school's operations.

Staff intending to take stop work action need to notify me by 5pm tomorrow. We will then work through our operating arrangements for Tuesday and notify our community by 2pm on Monday 23 March.

Year Six Leadership Assembly

A reminder that tomorrow we will hold our Year Six Leadership Assembly, where each of our Year Six student leaders will be presented with their leadership badge. We are fortunate to have our local state member, Tim Richardson, and our local federal member, Mark Dreyfus KC, in attendance to present our student leaders with their badges. The assembly will begin at 2:40

Enjoy the next couple of days,

Tom

Community celebrations