From the Principal
GREAT NEWS TO SHARE
We’re excited to share that our school has been ranked 7th among government schools in Victoria and 18th across Australia in this week’s Herald Sun rankings, a reflection of the strong learning culture we continue to build together. We are fortunate to have a diverse and highly engaged parent community who value education and actively support their children’s learning, from early language experiences at home through to involvement in school events like our Unit Shares.
While we are grateful for our context and community, we are especially proud that these results stand strong even when compared with schools of similar demographics, which we attribute to the outstanding work of our teaching and education support staff. Our ongoing focus on student wellbeing, engagement, and developing student agency, helping students build confidence and take ownership of their learning, continues to drive this success, and we sincerely thank our staff and families for the partnership that enables our students to thrive.
Continuous Improvement
Whilst the school has a clear understanding of its strengths and areas for growth through our four-year Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan, feedback from the 2025 Parent Opinion Survey has shown that many families are not fully aware of this work.
As a result, we have developed a pamphlet to provide parents with an overview of the school’s mission, goals, and the actions being taken to support ongoing improvement. The pamphlet also includes information about the IB PYP to continue building parent knowledge and understanding of our teaching and learning approach.
The pamphlet will be shared both digitally and in hard copy, perfect to read and enjoy with a cuppa on the couch.
Please click on this link to read the pamphlet.
EMERGENCY DRILLS
Regular lockdown and evacuation drills are an important part of keeping our school community safe. They help students and staff practise what to do in an emergency, build calm and confident responses, and ensure everyone knows their role. These rehearsals also allow us to test our procedures so we can respond quickly and effectively if ever needed.
We also ask for your support in keeping our records accurate. While all parents and visitors sign in at the Compass kiosk on arrival, it’s just as important to sign out when leaving. This ensures our staff can account for everyone on site during a drill or real emergency, and avoids unnecessary concern when people have already departed. Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe.
CHILD SAFETY
Our school has a broad range of established child safety practices in place to support the wellbeing and safety of all students. These include explicit teaching of digital safety, clear visibility into classrooms with uncovered windows, active supervision across the yard, and regular monitoring of less visible areas such as toilets and other out-of-sight spaces. CCTV is in place in the Star Room during instrumental music lessons, and all staff are trained in risk management and mandatory reporting procedures to ensure appropriate responses to any concerns.
This year we have introduced Child Safe Champions: Mr Roberts, Miss Kurts, Mr Mountney and Mrs Hahn, who are working with school leadership to review and strengthen our alignment with the Victorian Child Safe Standards. Their role is to help promote a strong child-safe culture across the school and ensure students know who they can speak to if they ever feel unsafe or need support.
MOTHERS DAY
A big thank you to our Social and Fundraising Sub-Committee for once again coordinating a very successful Mothers’ Day Stall. Students thoroughly enjoyed browsing the wide range of gifts and selecting something special for the important mother figures in their lives. The stall was a lovely highlight of the week and created a wonderful sense of excitement across the school.
The evening screening of The Devil Wears Prada 2 was also well attended and thoroughly enjoyed by those who came along. It was a great opportunity for parents and carers to relax together and strengthen connections. I believe the special little treat each person received was a welcome bonus making the event even more special. Thank you again to everyone involved for your time, effort, and support in making these events so successful.
EDUCATION WEEK
Education Week will be celebrated across Victoria from Monday 18 to Friday 22 May, with this year’s theme, “Showcase Your School.” At our school, our School Captains are currently working on creating a special video for our website, which will be shared during Education Week. The video will highlight what our students believe is the best part of our school and what makes it unique.
Across the week, our teaching staff will be focusing on Mathematics, with our Maths Team organising a range of engaging lunchtime activities for students. Families will also be invited to get involved, with fun problem-solving challenges shared to complete together at home, as well as a Maths scavenger hunt for students to enjoy. On Wednesday 20 May, our Prep students will also be entertaining grandparents and special friends in a mini concert, celebrating learning and connection across our community.
WEBSITE UPDATE AND FEEDBACK
We understand that families receive a large amount of information each week. While Compass newsfeeds provide timely updates and reminders, we are currently reviewing and updating our school website so that important information can be easily accessed by parents and carers at any time.
Our goal is to ensure the website contains current and relevant information for each school term. This is a significant project and very much a work in progress, however we hope to have the revised website in place by the end of the year, with relevant staff regularly updating their allocated pages.
We have also introduced a new chatbot feature on the website to help families quickly access information and answers to common questions. As this feature is still in its early stages, we warmly welcome community feedback. Feedback can be emailed to the school with the subject line “Website Feedback”.
Chellee Plumb