Principal's Report

Dear HPS Community,

Welcome back for term 4! I hope that you were able to enjoy some time over the holiday break to rest and revive ready for the busyness that comes with end of year. It was wonderful to listen to students recount their favourite moments and activities and discuss all the adventures had with family and friends. There certainly were lots of opportunities experienced and memories made.

Everyone has settled back into learning well and there's been great excitement and anticipation building around the upcoming Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA) ceremony to be held next week. YABBA is a not-for-profit volunteer-run incorporated organisation working to bring Australian books alive. Children can Recommend, Read, Rate and Reward their favourite Australian books.

Icy pole Thursdays are back this term and proving to be very popular.  As this event will run every week, don't panic if your child forgets their money one Thursday, they can always bring it the next week. Thank you to all the team coordinating this each week as a fundraiser to support Year 6 Graduation.

Next week we have another full week of activities. We will be welcoming the Viewbank College band, who will perform in the COLA during the lunch break on Wednesday for any student interested in coming along to be in the audience. Our Year 2 students will have an excursion to the Melbourne Museum and Year 4 students will participate in an excursion to Heide Museum of Modern Art. On Thursday School Pix will be at school to photograph the Year 6s for their graduation photo as well as the Student Representative Council and interschool sport teams. On Friday morning we look forward to welcoming our 2025 Foundation students, who begin their transition sessions.

2025

We are at that time of the year where we begin planning and preparing for 2025.

Part of this planning is determining the number and structure of classes across the school, based on our overall enrolment numbers.

If you are moving house to another suburb, state or country resulting in changes to your child's enrolment at Heidelberg PS please inform the office as soon as possible.

Once that piece of the puzzle is determined, the organisation of class placements will occur. 

Soon there will be information sent out to communicate the process and timeline for students to identify friends they wish to be placed in a class with next year. Stay tuned for more info.

Building works

Please be aware of the VSBA managed works that will begin on Monday to replace the retaining wall on the perimeter of the school along Rosanna Road and around the corner into Darebin Street. More information is available in the newsfeed that was sent to families on Monday 7th Oct.

We are awaiting further information on ramp rectification works that will take place in the school to complete the Ramp Compliance Project. I will provide more information as it is received to ensure the community are aware of the location and impact to accessing certain areas as they are known.

Both these building works are being coordinated and scheduled to be finished before our new building works begins at the start of next year.

School Saving Bonus

The School Saving Bonus provides a one-off $400 support for Victorian students in Term 4, 2024, for use on 2025 school costs. Please refer to page 5 of this Capers edition to find out all you need to know!

Safety Reminder

Please continue to model safe behaviours to our students when dropping off and collecting from school grounds. The crossings around the school are the safest place to cross the roads whether the crossing supervisors are present or not. We have a lot of traffic moving past the school and currently buses are replacing trains regularly. There will also be increased trucks as we complete all the projects outlined earlier. 

Students who are not accompanied by an adult are strongly encouraged to use the pathway inside the school boundary between the front gate and gate 3 on Darebin St. This provides a safer route away from the busy roads.

Drivers, please adhere to speed limits and parking signs as another way of helping to keep our children and community safe. 

Upcoming Dates

Wishing you a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead!

Naomi Ivers

Principal

Heidelberg Primary School