Principal’s Report

Welcome to Term Two! We have had a very settled and positive start to the term.

I would like to express my congratulations to the School Leaders for organising a special ANZAC Day presentation online on Thursday 24th April. The leaders demonstrated great reverence towards the brave soldiers who fought and worked tirelessly to secure our freedom in times of war. Through their tribute, they reminded us all of the significance of ANZAC Day and its roots in the landing of troops from Australia and New Zealand on the Gallipoli Peninsula in World War I on April 25, 1915.

It is important to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of individuals who have contributed to making this presentation a success. It's commendable to see the school community coming together to honour the memory of our brave soldiers and pay tribute to their sacrifice.

Mother’s Day Stall

Hopefully all our mums, special persons and significant females get spoilt on Mother’s Day. It is a time to enjoy some special treats and quality time with their families. Can I thank PnC and all our amazing parents for their work in sourcing gifts for our Mother’s Day stall, helping to run the stall on the day, organising the raffle and to all our families who donated so many wonderful things, ensuring we had wonderful hampers to sell for our raffle draws.

Special thanks to the amazing super team of Nell, plus all the additional helpers on the day and in the lead up.

Electorate Barbeque, Coffee and Bake Sale AND our Library Resource cenre

A huge thank you to all the parents, helpers and students, that helped to make our Election Day BBQ, coffee and cake stall and toy sale a huge success. A big thank you to Nell for all her work in coordinating the day! We raised an astounding $5870 for our school! A heartfelt thank you to every single person who donated items, baked delicious treats, volunteered their time, or simply came down to spend a few dollars and enjoy the day.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The AGM and our School Council meeting for the term 2 school year will be held on Monday 19th May, from 6.00-6.30pm, following our school council meeting. At the AGM, we will present the Annual Report. The annual report looks at our school context, achievement, engagement and wellbeing and productivity. In this report there is mention of the trend data for both teacher judgement and NAPLAN. The teacher judgment focuses on student reporting, through the Victorian Curriculum and this data indicates that we are at or above in most curriculum areas.

In 2025 there will continue to be a major focus on targeting students at their specific point of need in Mathematics and English. It is important that we maintain and ensure that we are providing authentic assessment and learning that caters for individual differences and utilises our teaching and learning spaces.

Our Annual Implementation Plan has been updated to include the setting of relevant goals and targets. Student data is gathered and collated to ensure we are targeting the individual needs of our students in reading, writing and number. This is essential for effective teaching and learning to take place.

Foundation enrolments 2026

We are now taking tours and enrolments for our 2026 Foundation classes. Please remind family, friends and neighbours that if they have a child starting school next year and would like them to come to our school to enrol them soon. It is important that children are enrolled by the end of Term 2, or early term 3, so that they can participate in our Foundation (Prep) Transition/ School readiness Program in Term 4.

Attitudes to School Survey (AToSS) - WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

The Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school over the coming weeks. The survey takes around 20-45 minutes to complete and occurs during your child’s class time. The survey results will be reported back to the school in an aggregate form throughout the survey period. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified.

The survey results will be communicated to you through our annual reporting mechanisms.

If you would like more information, please speak to your child’s teacher or visit: https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/data-collection-surveys/guidance/attitudes-school-survey

Maria Giordano

Principal

Assistant Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Families,

We hope you had a wonderful break over the holidays and enjoyed the very warm autumn weather. I was packing over the break with my family as I moved into my forever home which has been very exciting.

Please check our your child’s year level Overview for Term 2 which details the learning that your child will undertake this term and the focus of the classes in that community. Thanks as always to Helen for putting them up for you all.

The start of the term has been very busy already with 5/6 students, teachers and Maria enjoying a wonderful time at camp. While they were there the P-4’s had a visit from Tony Armstrong and Emma Beukers to discuss the new picture story books they have written; Maggie the Dragon and George the Wizard. Students were very excited, asked wonderful questions about the writing and illustrating process and some got books signed. Thank You to Simon our 3/4 teacher for organising a wonderful visit.

Parents of Year 3 and 5 students should receive their child’s results from Naplan testing in late July/early August, the school will receive them and send them home to you.

At the end of Term 2 parents will be receiving their child/children’s reports. This year the reports for Maths will look a little different due to updates to the new curriculum. Joe, our Numeracy Leading Teacher will keep you updated. Parents will have the opportunity to meet with teachers on Tuesday the 1st of July (in the last week of term) to discuss their child’s progress.

Maria, myself and the leadership team are consistently engaging with up to date educational research. This quote was identified as a powerful description of our beliefs around learning and we have this up visibly in all staff learning areas to remind us; “We believe all children can learn given the right support and pace of instruction.”

We hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend celebrating Mother’s Day and everyone who has a special person in your family.

Bianca Hudson

Assistant Principal

Merri-bek Mail

Issue 3 · 09 May 2025

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