Principal's Report

November Update 

As we rapidly move towards the end of the year, there is plenty happening and plenty to tell you about. Planning for 2016 is well in progress and it’s all a bit frantic at the moment with teacher interviews, budgets, excursions, new classrooms and the list goes on. So let’s get started!

Enrolment Update

Enrolments of 2016 continue to wax and wane whilst some families leave and some move in. Our current projection for next year is for 840 students. If you are a current Lyndhurst family and you will not be with us next year, please let us know as soon as possible.

New Buildings on Site

You may have noticed new buildings arriving over recent weeks. Altogether, we will receive 6 new classrooms in readiness for 2016. The new classrooms will all be at the back of the school near the kindergarten. At this stage, it is most likely that those rooms will be occupied by Year 4 or Years 5/6.

Lightning Premiership

Well done to all of our lightning premiership participants this week. It was a great event and it was terrific to see so many participants from other schools sharing the wonderful facilities we have here at Lyndhurst.

Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali to all those who celebrate it and that is many in our community from what I have heard. It’s a wonderful festival with such a positive theme of good over evil represented by the colour and light of the festival.

New Staff Announcements

We are pleased to announce the appointment of several new teachers who will join our staff next year. 

Firstly, Dana Vickers and Caitlin Holley will join us as permanent additions to our team whilst, Claire Cullinane and Shantelle Rizzo will take up replacement positions for teacher on family leave. 

We also need to congratulate Emma Galvin for her promotion to Leading Teacher in the school. Emma has been at the school since the very beginning and she will be a most valuable addition to our leadership team.

Remembrance Day

Thank you to those who conducted our recent Remembrance Day ceremony at the school and thank you to all of the students who took the ceremony so seriously. It was beautifully done and truly respectful of a long-standing tradition of gratitude for our service men and women. 

Special thanks to our year 4 SRC representatives who accompanied me to the Cenotaph in Cranbourne to lay a wreath on behalf of the Lyndhurst community. Rakeah, Ashleigh, Isabella and Emaan were wonderful representatives of our school and shining examples of the confident, capable and respectful students we value here at Lyndhurst. 

They showed that the future of our school leadership program and our country are in good hands.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Off to Maryborough

The HPV team had a fantastic training day recently in preparation for their upcoming event. We have to sincerely thank the Cranbourne Turf Club who allowed us to use their huge covered space as our training venue during the awful weather last week. 

It was a last minute request and they were incredibly accommodating. It’s great when community organisations are so will to help school out. Next week, our HPV team head off to Maryborough for the RACV Energy Breakthrough. 

The team has been working really hard over recent weeks and I wish them all the very best on the challenge they have taken on. I’m sure, for all of them, that it will be something they remember for the rest of their lives.

Art Incursion

There is lots of excitement in the Art room at the moment with canvasses starting to stack up in the dryers. It seems, once again, that our art incursion is a great hit and the children are producing some marvellous, creative paintings. I’m sure you’ll love them when they come home and you will give them pride of place!

Grade Requests 2014

Already there have been parents making enquiries as to which teachers will be in what grades or roles next year so that they can make requests for particular teachers. Please know that it is my firm policy NOT to take requests for particular teachers. 

Certainly there are a very small number of children who may have particular social or academic needs and these will be considered when deciding grade placements. These requests should be submitted to me in writing when we are allocating children to grades. 

Please also note that we do not have confirmed grade allocations for teachers until at least mid-December so don’t start asking teachers which grade they’ll have next year. They probably won’t know and are not allowed to tell you anyway! 

Factors such as the employment of new teachers mean that there may be uncertainties about grade allocations even during the Christmas holidays. The placement of children in grades is a complex task, taking into account the academic and social characteristics of each child, friendship groups, composite grade arrangements and special circumstances. A change of grade after they have been allocated is normally difficult and rarely accommodated. 

Please understand that allocations are arranged with the best interests of each child in mind. This may or may not coincide with your personal preferences as a parent.

Greg Lacey

Principal