PH: 8560 6079

Email: dohertys.creek.p9.co@education.vic.gov.au

.co@education.vic.gov.au

2025 TERM DATES

Term 1 - 30th January to 4th April

Term 2 - 22nd April to 4th July

Term 3- 21st July to 19th September

Term 4 - 6th October to 19th December

2025 Curruculum Days

Term 1

1st Curriculum Day- Tuesday 28th Jan

2nd Curriculum Day- Wednesday 29th Jan

Term 2

3rd Curriculum Day- Tuesday 22nd April (1st day Term 2)

Term 3

4th Curriculum day - Friday 29th August

Term 4

5th Curriculum day - Monday 3rd November (Professional Practice Day)

2025 End of Term Finish Times

Term 1 - 4th April (1pm finish)

Term 2 - 4th July (1pm finish)

Term 3 - 20th September (1pm finish)

Term 4 -19th December (12.30pm finish)

Just a friendly reminder that the School Council has established parent discussion forums where parents can seek help from fellow parents and reach out directly to current School Council members to address concerns. Your child's teacher, Lead teacher or Principal team are always happy to talk with you and we encourage you to raise concerns with them in the first instance, however if you feel uncomfortable raising any issues directly with the school, the School Council is more than happy to raise them on your behalf. We eagerly anticipate your participation in our parent discussion forums.

Telegram link: https://t.me/+_FytB6CZoDNiMmI1

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/595226818708636

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open, and Doherty’s Creek P-9 College is excited to be taking part!

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 and aims to help young readers develop a lifelong love of reading.

It is not a competition; it is a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 5 September 2025.

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

This year, the Challenge is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the theme ‘20 years of words and wonder’ and a year of special activities. For details, follow the Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge Facebook

Since it began in 2005, more than 4.5 million young readers have taken part and together read more than 63 million books!

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge

You can also contact your class teacher, with any questions.

Happy reading!

COMPASS COMMUNICATIONS & NOTIFICATIONS

Please note it is imperative you use compass as all school communications are sent through this platform. It's a good idea to get into the habit of checking your notifications in compass each morning. This will ensure you do not miss anything. For assistance with navigating the Compass app, refer to our dedicated Compass page later in this newsletter.

Discover how to get the most from your Compass Parent Portal

This FAQ will answer any questions you might have about how Compass works and guide you to getting the most from your Parent Portal.

https://www.compass.education/support/parent-faq

Uniform - Buy, Swap, Sell

Dohertys Creek College BSS uniform page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/247480763606501/?ref=share

Lost Property:

We always aim to return what we can but often when items are unnamed, they are added and remain to the ever increasing lost property pile.

We hope to reunite as many items as possible with their rightful owners. If you think your child may have misplaced anything at the school, please take a moment to look through the wooden create located in the library entrance.

Please LABEL your children's belongings!

We have an enormous amount of lost property that was not labelled. Please make sure that all of your child’s uniform is labelled with their FULL NAME, as well as their lunch boxes, drink bottles etc, so that we can ensure that the lost hats, jackets, jumpers are returned to their rightful owners.

If you have already labelled these items, it is also a good idea to check that they are still legible, as a lot of them have faded or smudged in the wash, making it difficult to identify them.

Accident Insurance

REMINDER – the Department (which includes our school) does not have accident insurance. Items of personal property that are lost, stolen or damaged at school is not the responsibility of Dohertys Creek P-9 College or the Department. Staff and students are reminded not to bring items of value to school. Our Personal Property policy can be viewed on our website (Policies – Dohertys Creek P-9 College)

Privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy (click here), describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

Amharic
Arabic
Chinese
Dari
Gujarati
Mandarin
Somali
Sudanese
Turkish
Urdu
Vietnamese

Acknowledgement of Country