Welcome to the 2026 school year! It was a pleasure to welcome our students and their parents and caregivers to school on the first day of term! The atmosphere was one of excitement and positivity and there was a very strong sense of our nurturing school community.

Our tradition is to make the start of each term special and the first day of the school year a celebration. This year, we decorated, had a welcome arch, played music, provided bowls of free fruit and invited children to contribute to a significant, collaborative art piece. Professional artist, Zoey Hart, generously painted a canvas for us that represents a story about our school community and the four habits of The Tally Way (i.e. Gratitude, Optimism, Empathy and Self-Regulation). Our students were able to add their fingerprints to this artwork and it will be displayed in the library.

Zoey Hart is also the talented artist responsible for our stunning new mural on the wall facing the Senior Oval in front of T Block. We will share more about that important piece later in the year after the final touches are added to complete it. Thank you to Zoey Hart for this contribution to our school. If you are interested in a sneak peak of our mural, you can see it via Zoey's Instagram page @zodulgo_art.

Incredible Start

School is off to an incredible start with our students showing outstanding levels of conduct, care and application to their learning. Our teaching team have focused on providing opportunities for children to get to know each other in their new class groupings and learn new routines. Furthermore, our staff are working hard getting to know their students as learners and as individuals so they can help each child feel and know they belong and are cared for.

This term's educational programs are well underway and are consistent across year levels and quality assured through collaborative planning and oversight by our Head of Curriculum, Sharna Gordon, and Deputy Principal Teaching, Learning and Curriculum, Rachael McNabb. Curriculum information presentations have been made available to parents and carers online and followed by a Meet the Teacher and Curriculum Information afternoon last week. Thank you to all parents and carers who attended this event to meet teachers and ask curriculum questions and watched the Curriculum Information presentations to be informed about what's happening at school.

Chappy Steph

We are pleased to welcome Chappy Steph back after her maternity leave last year. Chappy Steph is another friendly ear and caring person to help children in our school. She runs lunchtime activities for students to enjoy and via our Learning Needs Committee, provides extra support for individuals and groups.

Thank You YMCA (The Y) (onsite out-of-school-hours-care)

The YMCA team have been very busy contributing to our school community this year and we thank them for that! So far this year, The Y Team have provided a coffee van for free coffees and cold drinks for parents and carers on the first day of school and cooked a free sausage sizzle on our Meet the Teacher and Curriculum Information afternoon. We appreciate the sense of community connection these contributions support and know they were thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated.

Student Leader Badge Ceremony

Congratulations to all students who have been appointed to leadership roles this year. 2026 student leaders were presented with their badges at a ceremony on Monday. These students are impressive young people and we appreciate their enthusiasm and commitment to helping our students, school and community.

2027 Prep

The first activity for our 2027 Preps is this term. Our Talk This Way – Foundations and Friendship sessions are an important part of the preparation for school and we ask that if possible, all 2027 Prep students attend. Once you have submitted your enrolment application, you will receive invitations to attend events like this and important information.

Do you have a child who is due to start school in 2027? Children born 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 are eligible to start prep in 2027.

We are inviting parents and caregivers of 2027 Preps to a Prep Information Session and School Tour on Tuesday 17 February. Please see the flyer below for details including how to RSVP.

2027 enrolment paperwork may be collected from 17 February and out-of-catchment applications may be submitted from 18 February. We are an enrolment managed school and out-of-catchment offers are subject to available capacity and considered in order of receipt.

Tally Way CommUNITY Day

Later this term, we will hold our annual Tally Way CommUNITY Day. This school event is a day of unity for community wellbeing, kindness and antibullying.

Students may wear an item of orange with their school uniform and school shoes to reflect their stand against bullying and for kindness and respect. Orange socks, hair accessories or t-shirts are great options and need to be sun safe (e.g. no strapless and midriff shirts).

A date claimer for this event has been shared via ClassDojo and event details will be shared closer to the date.

Parent School Council Member Announcement

Thank you to the people who recently nominated for membership of our school council. Congratulations to Glen Parsons who was elected as the Parent School Council Member. Glen will join the current school council members: Rebecca Plant (parent member), Stephen Gaggin (teaching staff member), Kathy Wright (non-teaching staff member), Zoe Harlow (Principal) and James Hill (P&C President).

iConnect and Cyber Safety Session

Last week, eLearning Mentor, Matt Tengdahl, provided in-depth sessions to our Year 3 - Year 6 students about the appropriate use of iPads within the iConnect Program and safe and appropriate online behaviours. A copy of the ICT agreement and slides that supported the presentation are available to students via Student Hub (our password protected online learning platform) and can be viewed at home. Important messages related to safe, respectful communication, privacy and to talk to an adult if there are any concerns.

Volunteers

Our volunteers help in a range of ways including: at the tuckshop, in the library, with the P&C, during events and in classrooms when the need arises. A ClassDojo post was made this week about volunteering in the school and information about the annual mandatory training. If our school parents or caregivers have any questions or would like to volunteer please call our helpful office team on 5568 5222.

Communication

We use ClassDojo for regular communication with parents and caregivers and share an abundance of information such as what is being taught, event details, updates about our school and reminders. It also enables convenient communication with teachers. We encourage all parents and caregivers to use ClassDojo to stay informed.

Uniform

Uniform standards have been excellent at the start of the year, so thank you to parents and carers for your support. The plain black shoes and plain white socks complete the uniform and are looking fabulous throughout the school. A friendly reminder that students need their school unform hat every day and it needs to be clearly labelled inside.