Good Afternoon Parents Students, Staff and Friends of Derinya,

Our school year has commenced with a great sense of calmness and joy. It has been delightful to welcome all our students and families back to school with a great feeling of excitement for a wonderful year of learning and friendship.

As our first full week comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to announce this year’s student leadership team who have commenced the year with great maturity. I look forward to our badge presentation tomorrow at the year’s first assembly.

School Captains – Spencer Graham, Sam Long, Max Wallis, Matilda Minehan

Learning Leaders – Edward Meyers, Eve Anthony

Wellbeing Leaders – Ky Dennis, Penny Clews

Sports Leaders – Cameron Thwaites, Charlotte Stevens

Visual Arts Leaders – Charlotte Barr, Amaya Charles

Performing Arts Leaders – Kayla Last, Aria Wylie, Lila Gleeson, Sophie Bauer

Japanese Leaders – Lewis McCullough, Evie Smethurst

Science Leaders – James Ye, Maddie Brown

STEM Leaders – Mark Gotama, Fletcher Smith

Sustainability Leaders – Chloe Stephens, Adelle Karto, Holly Barnett, Zoe Pikines

Journalism Leaders – Kate Tedesco, Lilah Moseley

House Captains

KURMILE House – Lucas Corn, Siara Beattie

DANTUM House – Olan Jones, Ever Butcher

NEARNUNG House – Seb Donchos, Chelsey Moore

WARGILL House – Richie Pezzimenti, Addison Artico

These leaders presented to both their peers and teachers at the end of last year and are to be congratulated on their appointment to these roles. I wish them the very best of luck for the year ahead. Our Student Voice Team will shortly be elected where all years 3-6 classes will have a nominated leader and will be buddied up with years P-2.

Baby announcement

It is with great pleasure that I share that Mrs Abby Toman welcomed her little girl Lana Rose Toman into the world on Friday 16th January. Congratulations to Abby and Mav!

Teaching and Learning

This year much of our learning as a staff will continue to involve the implementation of the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 and the Victorian Teaching and Learning model 2.0. This year we will be focusing on the area of explicit teaching, specifically looking at monitoring progress through both formative and summative techniques.

Our comprehensive suite of wellbeing programs will continue with additional components from our partnership with Real Schools being added as the year progresses. As always, we will be looking to establish predictable routines and procedures across the first few weeks along with essential agreements co constructed with students around general conduct and learning behaviours.

Uniforms, hats and sunscreen

Wearing our uniform with pride creates a sense of belonging and sets a high standard of presentation. If your child requires any new uniform items, a reminder that our supplier is Primary School Wear in Mornington. Our second-hand uniform shop will also be open once volunteers for the year are confirmed. It is essential that all children have a hat in term 1 & from August onwards in line with the department’s SunSmart Policy. Your assistance with this is appreciated. We have a small number of hats for sale at the school’s office for your convenience.

Please ensure that you assist your child in applying sunscreen prior to the commencement of the day. Reapplying at lunch time prior to going outside is also a good habit to encourage. Please note that staff do not apply sunscreen for children.

Please remember to label all items.

Mobile phones and devices

The Victorian Government has issued a statewide ban on mobile phone use by students in schools. If your child needs to carry a phone to and from school, it must be placed in their school bag upon arrival, handed to the teacher at the beginning of the day who will secure the device and will return at the end of the day. All phones and devices as children depart also need to be placed in their school bag. These expectations also apply to smart watches. Please note that air plane or safe mode settings are not considered a measure that meets the expectation of the Government’s position that devices in schools are banned. If your child carries a device a permission slip will be shared and needs to be signed.

In the instance that you need to be contacted throughout the day, a phone call will be made either by your class teacher or the school’s office staff. Therefore, there is no need for children to access their devices throughout the day. We appreciate you supporting this.

Class Representatives

It is great to see nearly all classes have established a group chat. This is such a wonderful way to become or stay connected as a class group.

Each class will need at least one official class representative who will become a part of the school’s Community Connect team. The role involves:

Coordinating your classes contribution to events.
Helping your class to establish connection.
Being the teacher’s point of contact to support families.

You may like to initiate other things such as class dinners, parent catch ups, play in the park. This is all optional. Once we have established a representative for each class, we will meet together to discuss the role in more detail. Please make contact with your child’s teacher if you are interested in this role.

Connecting Your Class (Parent information sessions)

Next week we will be welcoming parents and carers into classrooms to connect with their teacher and other families. All sessions will be held on Wednesday 11th February.

We will also be holding a sausage sizzle in the centre of the school run by our specialist team. This will commence our fundraising efforts for 2026 with sausages and cold drinks for sale between 4:30pm and 6pm.

Class sessions will run as follows.

3:45-4:30pm Years 1 & 2

4:45-5:30pm Years 3 & 4

5:45-6:30pm Years 5 & 6

Prep families will have an opportunity to chat with their child’s teacher following their one on one interview that will take place on a Wednesday throughout February.

For year 4 families we will also be holding an information session around our Chromebook program at 4pm and 5:30pm in the Staff Room. It is essential that each family is represented at one session only as we will be sharing important information around Chromebook use and online safety prior to these being distributed to children.

Becoming Involved

We love having parent volunteers at school. Some of the regular voluntary roles include:

Derinya Kitchen Days (DKD)
Kitchen Garden Program
Class reading assistance
General gardening
Second hand uniform stall
Lost property management

Events that you may like to be involved in include:

Discos
Mother’s/Father’s/Special Person’s Day stalls
Book Fair
Working Bees

This year we will be asking all families to volunteer in some way to our Derinya Art and Craft Exhibition (DACE).

School Council Call for Nominations

Each year the school embarks upon the process of establishing a core group of parents and department representatives to form our School Council. This formal process commences today with a ‘Call for Nominations’. School Councils directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students. Parents viewpoints and valuable skills can help shape the direction of the school maintaining high performance, success, safety and most importantly a positive culture. Please find attached information about being a school council member, the election process and the Call for Nominations.

Wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead.

Ritchie's Community Benefits