Principal's Report

Dear Bundoora families,

What an eventful and action-packed year we have had! Our students have grown and flourished with our wonderful teachers and in our warm school community environment. 

2023 highlights have included:

• family movie night
• Karen Starkiss parent information night
• Cross country
• 2023 food drive
• Bundoora’s Got Talent
• School of Rock (choir and rock band)
• Book fair
• Year two excursion to the Aquarium
• The Concert
• Bundoora Secondary College STEAM day for year fives
• Grade 5/6 camp to Candlebark
• Book week parade
• 5/6 swimming
• School choir and band performing at Lalor North Secondary College
• Social Enterprise Pancake breakfast
• Father’s Day breakfast
• Father’s day stall
• Halloween disco and dress up day.
• Grade 3/4 camp to Adanac.
• Prep Zoo excursion
• Grade two sleepover
• Prep/1/2 activity day
• Year three science incursion
• The Big Morning Tea (Social Enterprise)
• Year one to four swimming
• Preps to grade two moving into the new building.
• New areas of the grounds opening.
• Parent helpers’ morning tea
• Remembrance Day
• Carols night
• Year one excursion to the Botanic Gardens.

We are looking forward to another wonderful year in 2024.

School Leadership Speeches

On the 29th of November Mrs Dunn and I were privileged to attend the student leadership speeches. Students from years four and five had been working hard to learn about what it means to be a leader, write speeches, and practice presenting to their peers.

Students in grades three to six were able to listen in and vote for three students of their choice at the end of proceedings. Teachers also voted for three students. 

On the 30th of November Tanish, Harriet, Grace, Ms Dunn, and I were able to interview all students who had applied for School Captain, School Vice-Captain, or House/SEP Captain. All or our students thoughtfully answered our questions although many of them were extremely nervous. 

Congratulations to everyone who applied to be a student leader. We had fifty-seven students present speeches on the day with only twenty positions open. Although not everyone receives a student badge we all learn a little about ourselves as leaders just by participating in the process. 

Student badges were presented on December 13th and our 2024 student leaders are:

School Captains – Jimmy Quigley and Stella Smith

School Vice-captains – Tilly Goldstein and Harley Taylor

SEP/House captain for Balmoral – Zoe Parkinson

SEP/House captain for Gresswell – Evie Griffiths

SEP/House captain for La Trobe – Ebony McGillivray

SEP/House captain for Plenty – Destiny Martin

Health and PE Captains – Nathan Constable and Michael Longmuir

STEM/Sustainability Captain – Helios Tzikas

Library Captains – Zara Heritier and Oscar Tran

Art Captain – Isobel Strickland

Performing Arts/Auslan – Aaradhana Vijayparthasarathy

Student Action Team Captains – Jeremy Beanland and Heath Cogley

Learning PAL Captain – Sage Baker

Buddy Captain – Amber Thomas

Learning PAL and Buddy Captain are new positions this year. Sage and Amber will work with the year prep and one teacher to plan activities for year five and the preps, and year one and the year sixes. We hope that this will extend the relationships across our school.

2023 Student Excellence Awards

Each year we present student excellence certificates to our outstanding students. The awards are given for Excellence in academics, and citizenship. We also present a certificate for an outstanding student at each year level. These students are also given a book to celebrate their success.

This year certificates were presented to:

Academics:

Prep – Belinda Ding, Izaiah Tonga, Olivia Robb Santivanez

Year one – Jett Parkinson, Tanmai Shetty

Year two – Oliver Wilkie, Charlie Flack,

Year three – Tim Sutton, Steven Ren

Year four – Angus Knights, Casper Cheung

Year five/six – Zayna Raza, Christopher Evans, Tiffany Holden, Ashton Treweek

Performing Arts – Aaradhana Vijayparthasarathy

Visual Arts – Tevani Newell

ICT 3 to 6 – Archie Gaynor

ICT P to 2 – Jeremy Pike

Citizenship:

Prep – Willow Sharrad, Elyse Merola, Eagan Smith

Year one - Terrence Sansbury, Roland Hodda

Year two – Skyler Kutrolli, Harriet Armstrong

Year three – Jasmine Horwood, Raffy Stanyer

Year four – Zara Heretier, Ethan Amsterdam-Bagdas

Year five/six – Isobel Strickland, Kristie Kallis, Amelijah Spiteri, Ellie Constable

Performing Arts – Tilly Goldstein

Visual Arts – Eric Humbke

ICT – Isla Bailey -Tuck

PE – Taylor Rowell (Prep to two) and George Humbke (three to six)

Student of the year awards:

Prep – Iris Simpson

Year one – Irene Golafrouz

Year two – Benjamin Evans

Year three – Aryana Tarash

Year four – Pippi Stone

Year five – Stella Smith

Year six – Oliver Stanyer

Congratulations to these deserving students.

Prep transition has concluded.

Prep transition for 2024 preps has finished. The children were so settled and enjoyed their last session with their new teachers, Ms Dean and Ms Tsiaras. The preps first day for 2024 will be February 5th, but before that they will come to school for on hour on either January 30, February 1, February 2, or February 3 to complete some pre-school testing in English and Maths. This tells the students’ teachers what their starting point for learning is so that we can meet them their Zone of Proximal Development. 

Prep Zoo Excursion

On November 10th, our prep students enjoyed a zoo excursion with their teachers and some parent helpers. The students had a fantastic day, even though it was extremely hot. The students were all excited to tell us about their favourite animals when they returned. 

Junior Camp day and Sleepover

Our prep/one/two camp day was held on November 17th. The junior students enjoyed a day of camp activities before attending assembly. 

At 5pm the year one and two students returned to school in their pyjamas for, games and meal of pizza, fruit, juice and a Zooper Dooper for dessert. The pizzas were delicious and enjoyed by everyone.

After the year one students left the year two students made sure their beds were organised before watching a movie together. Following this, teeth were brushed, and the students settled into bed. That was when the teachers discovered that the lights in the Learning Centre are motion activated! Although this made it tricky to get to sleep the students eventually settled down to rest.

Thank you to all our teachers and Education Support staff who attended on a Friday night/Saturday morning to ensure our students had a memorable experience.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Harriet Collet who played Ariel in her dance school’s end of year theatrical production.

In previous years she has accepted small parts in other productions (such as Matilda) but this year she decided to apply for the lead as Ariel in The Little Mermaid.

She was lucky enough to be chosen for this role and has spent the past 4 months rehearsing (sometimes up to 7 hours on a Saturday). The theatrical was a 30 minute long mini-musical performance. She also had a solo dance as well as many costume changes. 

In addition, she also participated in the main dance concert with jazz and contemporary dances as well as an opening tribute to Taylor Swift and a whole school finale dance.

Fantastic work, Harriet!

Parent Helper Morning Tea

On December 5th school staff thanked our band of dedicated helpers with a celebratory morning tea. We are glad that so many of our helpers were able to attend so that we could thank them for the work they do in the school.

Parents, Teachers, and Education Support staff form a wonderful team to support our children.

Thank you!

Remembrance Day 11/11

Congratulations to our wonderful school captains and vice captains who represented our school and laid a wreath on our behalf at the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Watsonia RSL.  I was so proud of them and their reverence and respect for the occasion. 

Thank you

Thank you to Theircare for the wonderful addition to our Office. Please come to the office if you get time to see the fantastic work of a wonderful artist.

Christmas Carols Community Evening

Thank you to everyone who was able to come to our Carols evening. It was a wonderful way to wrap up the year, with so many in attendance.

The event was held in the new “Heart” of the school, which provided a relaxing and enjoyable community atmosphere.

Thanks must go to our students and staff who worked hard to prepare their Christmas songs for us; to Mr Cass who prepared the sound and to Miss Mitchelhill who did a wonderful job comparing; to community members who donated prizes for the Christmas raffle; and to our Parents Association members who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare raffle tickets and raffle prizes, order supplies of drinks and Zooper doopers, and for the work on the night in selling all of this to raise money for our school. 

Finally, thank you for Corrie Q for organising our special visit from Santa on the night, always a popular hit with the children!

Step Up

Yesterday was Step-up day and all students were able to meet their new teachers and fellow classmates. Students met in their classrooms for next year and participated in games and learning activities to get to know each other a little ahead of 2024.

There are quite a few changes to staff in 2024 and we know that students can sometimes feel a little anxious with change, but we are confident that 2024 will be a wonderful year! 

Teachers, ES, and classes for 2024 are:

Prep A – Ms Vicky Tsiaras and Mrs Gomez

Prep/1 B – Ms Tiffany Dean and Ms Jules

1C – Ms Cristal Flood

1D Ms Kylie Smith and Ms Courtney

2A Ms Rhiannon Evans (four days), Ms Rebecca Bruce (one day) and Mrs Noor

2B Ms Jacqui Mitchelhill and Mr Collins

3A  Ms Janine Ceola and Ms Di Martino

3B Ms Susan Winter and Ms Fong

4A Ms Julia Patatsos and Mrs Rowe

4B Ms Lauren Taglieri and Ms Heidi 

56A Mr Steven Meagher and Mrs Morton

56B Ms Michelle Agar (three days), Ms Amy Armstrong (2 days) and Ms Hull

56C Mr Jamie McDonald and Mr Cass

56D Ms Pina Saliba and Ms Taylor

ICT prep to two – Ms Karen Oke

ICT three to six – Mr Daniel Kret

Performing Arts – Ms Nerida Newell

STEM – Ms Amy Armstrong

Visual Arts – Ms Penny Allibon

Tutoring staff

Mrs Jenni Sheppard

Miss Jules (from term 2)

Ms Courtney (from term 2)

Office staff

Mrs Russell (office manager

Mr Dinghra (business  manager)

Wellbeing

Mrs Bonaz

Year One Royal Botanic Gardens Excursion

Today the year one students, staff, and parent helpers went to the Botanic Gardens for a wonderful wrap to their learning this term. The students visited the children’s garden and other areas of the gardens, participating in wonderful activities and a group picnic lunch.

Ms.  Val Petrovski

Today is the final day that Ms. Petrovski will work for us in the canteen. She has given the school 12 years of service, and we thank her for all the wonderful years she has given us. I know you join me in wishing her all the best for her future. 

In 2024 the school is moving to a delivery service, where parents can order lunches online and they are then delivered to the school in time for lunch.

We will not provide recess service, but the SEP will sell Zooper Doopers at lunchtime.

Best wishes to our staff who are leaving this year.

We are sad to see some of our staff members leaving us at the end of this year. We are grateful to all of them for their work with the students and for all that they have brought to the school. We wish all the best for 2024 to:

Ms. Amanda Willcocks

Ms. Chloe McKay

Ms. Sarah Lyall

Ms. Ella Ryan

Ms. Hannah Wang

Mr. Josh Quarrell

Ms. Kim Mavrogiannis 

Reminder: Early finish last day of school

2024

• The first day of school for students in years one to six will be Tuesday January 30th. Prep students will commence on Monday February 5th. 

• Ms. Karen Starkiss will once again run two parent information sessions for us about literacy in our school. These sessions are at 9 am and 5 pm on the 12th of February.

I highly recommend that all parents attend one of these two sessions so that you can learn about the changed way of learning at Bundoora Primary School and understand when your child comes home talking about split digraphs!

Next year we will ask you to sign up for this evening so that we can prepare an appropriate number of resources. 

• Extracurricular activities will continue to be offered in 2024 including The Music Bus, chess, robotics, street dance, drama, and basketball.
• February 26th is a pupil free day with parent/teacher interviews occurring from 12 pm to 5 pm.
• 13th March – NAPLAN for years three and five commences.
• 28th March – last day of term one – 2:30 pm finish (please note the changed time).

I would like to thank our teachers for their work this year. All our staff genuinely care about our students and helping them to achieve their best, emotionally, socially, and educationally.

It is important that we work as a community to continue to share the things happening at our great school so that we can build the school’s reputation in our community. This will allow us to provide a wider range of opportunities for our students as we build the school’s numbers a little further. 

To all the families leaving us this year, we wish you all the best in your new school

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. I look forward to collaborating with you next year.

Sherrin Strathairn

Principal