In this week’s newsletter:

News and Appreciations

School Council News
2025 Annual Report to the School Community
Parking
School Oval Access
Outdoor Basketball Court
Police Action Today
Lunchtime Clubs
Walk to Whitten Oval
Attitude to School Survey (AtoSS)
Conclusion of Prep Enrolment Information Sessions and School Tours
Facilities Developments
Student Learning Conferences (Repeated from Last Week)
National Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day

Coming Up Tomorrow

Year 6 Winter Sport
Assembly

News and Appreciations

School Council News

Our School Council met online on Tuesday evening.

2025 Annual Report to the School Community

The 2025 Annual Report to the School Community was provided online prior to Tuesday’s meeting. This report is an annual requirement for school leaders and must be presented publicly. The report can be accessed here:

Parking

Parking issues at the beginning and end of the school day, particularly in Argyle Street, have historically been challenging. We appreciate the efforts of so many families who have chosen alternative means of travel, the heavily used bike and scooter facilities at school are testament to your initiative.

We reported to School Council that our meeting with representatives from Maribyrnong City Council parking services, attended by Liz and myself, was both positive and practical. We initially asked whether marked parking bays could be extended across the entire school frontage of Argyle Street. Currently, only the time-restricted areas are marked. However, as each parking bay is required to be six metres long, council representatives felt we could actually lose parking spaces if this was introduced. Nevertheless, we asked for that option to be investigated further.

We then visited Blandford Street. We noted that it would not be safe or compliant to reduce the area currently blocked for parking leading into the school crossing. However, it may be beneficial to redesign the current 10-minute parking area operating between 8:00–9:30am and 2:00–4:00pm.

A revised “No Parking” zone during these same times would enable parents to briefly pull up so children could safely alight from or enter vehicles. Drivers could remain for several minutes but would need to stay in, or very near, their vehicle. This arrangement would also allow buses with drivers present to park during these times, an important consideration, as Blandford Street is now the only practical location for buses and coaches arriving for swimming, excursions, and camps.

School Oval Access

This has been a challenging issue for us. We initially proposed a plan to work with Maribyrnong City Council to open our oval outside school hours, with council managing the facility. The process took considerable time to progress and, when funding was eventually provided, the decision was made that the concerns raised outweighed the potential advantages.

School Council will continue to investigate ways we can improve the oval while ensuring it remains managed by and for the school community.

Outdoor Basketball Court

A quote for the removal of the current surface and replacement with new low-pile synthetic grass on our outdoor basketball court was approved on Tuesday. The successful contractor is Easy Turf, a company we have worked with previously and which most recently installed the much-loved Buddy Bus Stop surface used by our junior students.

We have stipulated that the work will not commence until January, as this timing will follow the gazebo sand and water play project.

Police Action Today

Before lunch, a Year 5 sports activity was interrupted in a most unusual way when local Footscray Police arrived and asked class teacher Alex Clarey to vacate students from the oval.

When informed, I attended the oval and spoke with the lead officer. The circumstances were not discussed with me at the time, but police later made phone contact once they deemed the matter had been managed satisfactorily.

Lunchtime Clubs

I was delighted to see one of our teachers, Bec, promoting a new Knitting Club this week.

There has been a wonderful variety of lunch clubs provided for students, as lunch play in the yard, while too short for some of our highly active students can feel quite long for others. Since Chess Club was introduced many years ago, we have seen many students benefit. However, it was following COVID that we fully recognised the importance of embedding clubs into our daily program.

The library program operates daily for both junior and senior students. This term alone, junior students can choose from gardening, drawing, chess, dance, and, in the gym, both dodgeball and basketball. Senior students this term have had the choice of netball, knitting, engineering, gardening, dodgeball, and chess.

Walk to Whitten Oval

It was wonderful to see such an important local landmark and community resource being so well utilised by the Year 2 teaching team.

This was the students’ second visit and provided another opportunity to learn about the important role the revamped facility plays within our community. Our students demonstrated the school values of resilience and responsibility by confidently walking to and from Whitten Oval for this local excursion.

An appreciation to team member Bec for thoroughly organising the excursion, and to all staff and parent/carer volunteers for their assistance.

Attitude to School Survey (AtoSS)

All government schools are required to participate in the Attitude to School Survey (AtoSS), providing students in Years 4–12 with the opportunity to complete the survey.

The survey provides valuable data that helps the Department understand student perspectives about their school and improve the schooling experience. Data collected includes how students feel in relation to their school, learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

The results are shared and discussed at School Council and are also reported in the newsletter and the following year’s Annual Report to the School Community.

Senior leaders Carolyn and Towela will work alongside Years 4–6 classes and their teachers to administer the survey over the coming weeks.

Conclusion of Prep Enrolment Information Sessions and School Tours

Our program concluded on Wednesday evening, bringing to a close the fortnightly morning sessions held throughout this term. All sessions were very well attended and we were extremely pleased with the feedback received.

A great deal of work went into preparing the program and this responsibility was led by Karri Barker — a marvellous teacher and leader within our community. Karri was wonderfully supported by my co-principal colleague Liz Beasley and our School Captains, Marlo and Kyani.

Each morning session also relied heavily on our specialist teaching team, Prep teaching teams, and our Class Captains, who warmly managed the meet-and-greet process that many visitors commented so positively on.

These sessions allowed us to showcase our effective teaching and learning programs, along with the positive culture that you, as members of our community, already know so well.

Facilities Developments

Alongside the matters discussed at School Council this week, Liz, Taleb, and I met with a civil engineering contractor to assess drainage requirements for our exciting new gazebo sand and water play development project.

There will likely be significant holiday work undertaken to professionally assess the drainage issues evident in the yard during periods of heavy rain. It is important that we take the opportunity to address these matters prior to beginning the project.

Our regular fencing contractor, Paul Stewart Fencing, is currently constructing a new barrier fence beside the Prep PMP area. If you have been observant, you may also have noticed a significant upgrade to our fencing following work completed as part of the Eagle Building project.

Ensuring the yard feels safe for students is an important priority, as is maintaining a school environment that appears cared for and welcoming.

Student Learning Conferences (Repeated from Last Week)

Student Learning Conferences will soon provide an opportunity for parents and carers to meet with their child’s class teacher to discuss academic progress and wellbeing growth across the first semester.

Currently, teachers are busily assessing student learning and identifying which concepts have been successfully retained. Some parents may be contacted directly if teachers believe a discussion prior to conferences would be beneficial.

Over the coming weeks, however, teachers are unable to accommodate the many parent-initiated requests for additional meetings regarding student progress. Student Learning Conferences are the most appropriate opportunity for these discussions, once assessment has been completed and reports have been issued.

In the meantime, parents and carers are encouraged to contact the principal team regarding urgent matters.

Bookings for Student Learning Conferences will be released on Compass within the next week.

National Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day

Over the past two weeks, we have acknowledged these culturally significant occasions both at assembly and within classrooms.

Coming Up Tomorrow

Year 6 Winter Sport

Tomorrow will be a bye for the inter school competition. Students will participate in an intra school squad training and matches at the usual time.

Assembly

Tomorrow’s assembly in the Eagle Gymnasium will feature:

2DM presenting their assembly item — the first presentation from the Year 2 cohort
Sports reports from last week’s fourth round of winter competition
National Reconciliation Week Report
Our Pupil of the Week awards

Please be seated before 2:50pm. Gates will open after students return to class following the conclusion of recess at 2:30pm.

Best regards,

Brendan

Repeated and Revised Messages

From the Office Team