Welcome Back

A warm welcome back to all families, especially to those who are new to the Lucas Community. It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating the end of the year, bidding farewell to our graduating class of 2024, and preparing for the holidays.

A big thank you to all families for the wonderful job you’ve done in preparing your child(ren) for the 2025 school year. The students have returned excited and ready to learn, looking sharp in their uniforms, and exemplifying our school values. We know how stressful the lead-up to the start of the year can be, so well done for handling this busy time so smoothly!

There’s a lot to look forward to this term, including:

Our Meet and Greet afternoon
NAPLAN weeks
A variety of sporting activities, including swimming and the Year 3-6 Sports Day.
Harmony Day Celebrations
The Term 1 School Picnic

Catherine King Community Award

At the conclusion of 2024 the recipient for the Catherine King Community Award was announced. The winner of this award for 2024 was Marc Oliver.

Marc has been an integral member of the Lucas Primary School community since the beginning. He is always an advocate for our school and has had students attend since the first year. Marc has led our school council as president for a number of years and is always willing to help out and assist the school community wherever he can .

Marc played a pivotal role in assisting the school in becoming registered with our Lucas LEAP program and we thank him for his assistance and guidance in this process.

Term Planner

Although a Term calendar was sent out last week, we have also included it in this edition to help keep everyone informed of the important dates that lie ahead. Please keep checking the newsletter for updates to this calendar.

Please find a copy of the planner below for you to print out at home.

Meet and Greet

Our Meet and Greet afternoon is a wonderful opportunity for parents and staff to meet at the start of the year. Our Meet and Greet afternoon will be on Thursday February 20 beginning at 2.00pm. Please note that school finishes at the earlier time of 1.30pm on this day.

The purpose of these meetings is to:

Gain a parent’s perspective that helps to further build knowledge of your child’s needs.

We use this opportunity to:

Connect with parents/carers.
Gain a parent’s perspective of their child.
Ask questions of parents about their child.
Let parents know about school routines.
Let parents know how their child has settled into the year. This time is not about providing information on academic performance. Bookings for the Meet and Greet sessions are currently open and will close Tuesday February 18. Bookings are made on Compass.

New staff

In 2025, we welcome a number of new staff to Lucas Primary School. Our new additions bring a range of experiences to a variety of positions across the school and have already settled into the new school year. Please join with me in welcoming:

Mr Tim Haase - Mr Haase joins us from Waubra PS and will fulfill the position of Prep Leader.

Miss Madeleine Rosewarne - Miss R comes to us from Gordon PS and will lead the Year 1/2 team.

Miss Rebecca Cuff - Miss Cuff begins her teaching career in the Year 1/2 class.

Mrs Erin Lindsay - Mrs Lindsay returns to Lucas PS after a period of family leave and will be teaching in the Yr 1/2 team.

Mr Will Henderson - Mr Henderson comes to Lucas PS from the Geelong area and joins the Year 1/2 team.

Miss Kirrily Moran - Miss Moran has been teaching at Buninyong PS and joins our Year 3/4 team.

Miss Eliza Stebbing - Miss Stebbing has been working as a CRT at Lucas PS and other schools across the Ballarat area and joins our Year 3/4 team.

Mrs Hayley Inglis - Mrs Inglis comes to us from Buninyong PS and joins our Year 3/4 team.

Mr David Collins - Mr Collins comes from Delacombe PS and will join our Year 3/4 team.

Miss Chanelle John - Miss John returns from a period of family leave and joins our Year 5/6 team.

Mr Darcy Laffin - Mr Laffin arrives from Bannockburn PS and will be teaching our Performing Arts program for 2025.

Mr Jonte McCann - Jonte joins our Education Support team.

Mr Noah Shearer - Noah continues his education support work after working with several students in 2024 on a casual basis.

Mrs Carrie Isley - Miss Carrie joins our Education Support team after completing her certificate in ES in 2024.

Mr Chevy Smart - Chevy continues his education support on a more permanent basis this year.

Traffic Safety

Thank you to everyone for being patient in and around the school at drop off and pick up times during the last few weeks. Something we have become used to is the congestion in O’Shannassy Pde between 8.30 - 9.00am and 3.00 - 3.45pm. Patience and good planning is going to be the best way to tackle this challenge. There are a few things you can do to assist:

Ride your bike: The wide pathways are conducive to safe riding to and from school. The bike shed has lots of space and bikes are secured during the day.
Use the Children’s Crossing - Please ensure you use the school crossing when crossing O’Shannassy Pde. This street is very busy before and after school, as cars are parked on both sides of the street. As adults, we must also model safe pedestrian behaviour. Mark, our school crossing supervisor will be pleased to see you.
Use the bus service - There is a student only bus service that drops off and picks up at Lucas PS. It has many stops between the school and Cardigan Village. Please contact the office for a schedule. Please note, a Myki card will be required.
Have a pickup plan - discuss with your child where to meet you after school away from the school gates. The bus stop at the front of the school is a no parking zone between 7:30am and 9:00am The parking officers are regularly in and around Lucas issuing fines for people parking illegally. They are targeting school zones.
Park and walk - we are lucky to have lots of parks and wide pathways around the school. Please consider parking away from the school and enjoy a stroll in the morning and in the afternoon. (This could calm some nerves).

Over the holiday period the Bus Zone and Disability Carparks have been upgraded to assist with appropriate use of these spaces. We kindly ask that all families respect the rules associated with these areas.

Safe to School Project

Lucas PS is pleased to announce a partnership with RoadSafe Central Highlands, the local community road safety council, to undertake a project to develop a plan to make our traffic management around the school safer for all in our community.

The project will be based upon the Department of Transport and Planning 'Safe Routes to School' program and will include consultation with local council, a broad range of the school community and broader local community to develop strategies to address local school related road safety issues.

Initial planning and preparation of the consultation steps are currently being undertaken, and the broad school community will be part of this early this year, with the aim of having an integrated plan of actions in place and starting to be implemented by the end of term two.

This project is going to be an important opportunity to focus on road safety within our broader community and consider how active transport to and from school can make our environment safer for our children.

Administration Reminders

As we start the year, it is always good to remind ourselves of some of the routines and rituals that ensure we have clear communication and maintain a safe and orderly environment.

• We ask all students to arrive prior to our 8.50am bell. The 10 minutes before lessons start is an important time for your child to set themselves up for the day.

• Supervision at school is from 8:40am to 3:45pm. As a safety precaution we ask that students do not arrive at school earlier than 8:40am and are collected from school by 3:45pm as they will not be supervised outside these times. We encourage families to utilise our Lucas LEAP Program should an early drop off or late pick up is required.

• Any arrivals after 9am must come through the office to receive a Welcome Pass and be signed in by administration staff.

• Any parents/carers/visitors coming on site at any time other than drop off and pick up (8.50am and 3.30pm) must report to the office upon arrival.

• The Compass Education App and Seesaw are our two online communication channels. Please keep an eye on these for important messages. If you are a new family and have not received your Compass Login details, please contact the office.

• The school must be notified of all absences. You can do this by:

-Entering an absence note on Compass.

-Phoning the school office.

-Dropping into the office.

(Please note that a Seesaw message to your child’s teacher is not an option for recording your child’s absence)

SECOND- HAND UNIFORM SALE

On Thursday the 27th of February we will be having a second-hand uniform sale.

All items $5.00 each. Cash or EFTPOS.

The sale will be in the administration building from

3:30-4:00pm

If you have any items of uniform that you would like to donate, they can be dropped off at the office at any time.

Thank you to all the families who have sent in donations of uniform. We are always very grateful for any donations we receive.

MEET OUR TEAM

Whole School Staff