Principal's News

School Hats

Just a reminder that all students are required to wear a school wide brimmed hat in Terms 1 and 4. At the moment a small number of students are not wearing the uniform hat option.

We ask parents to assist with this by reminding their children to wear the correct hat.

Changes To Digital Device Use

From 2027, the Victorian Government is introducing changes to the use of digital devices for students from Prep to Grade 6.

Under the new guidelines, schools:

• will no longer invite families to purchase or bring their own digital devices to use at school for Prep to Grade 6
• will follow new recommended digital device times, including minimal device time for Prep to Grade 2; and a maximum of 90 minutes per day for grades 3 to 6.

These changes are intended to support families by reducing cost-of-living pressures. They will also support students by reducing screen-time which can reduce the risk of eye strain, sedentary behaviour, and reduced peer interaction. These reforms complement Victoria’s nation-leading mobile phone restrictions, ensuring an integrated approach to addressing digital distraction and the inappropriate use of technology.

What this means for our school

This means we will be ceasing our current BYOD program for Grades 4 to 6 from 2027. Instead, we will provide class sets of digital devices for use by students. Students who have been using BYO devices prior to 2027 will be able to continue to bring their devices to school, but we will be following the new recommended device use times.

We will be offering students who will be in Grade 4 in 2026 the opportunity to purchase a laptop as part of our current BYOD program for use next year and beyond. As always this is not compulsory and optional for parents.

Students with disability who use a digital device as a reasonable adjustment are exempt from these changes.

These changes are intended to support families with cost-of-living pressures and reduce student screen time.

You can read more about the changes on the department’s website: Digital Learning: Policy.

World Teacher’s Day:

Last Friday was the day to celebrate our teachers and acknowledge their work in teaching, guiding and supporting your children. They are more than teachers – They are nurses, psychologists, counsellors, supporters, advocates and so much more.

We thank them for making DPS a great place to be!

Phones & Wearable technology

We will be keeping a close eye on phones and wearable tech between now and the holidays. In line with DE policy and the Ministerial Order, our policy can be found here.

Should your child need a phone prior to or after school, they can leave them at the admin office before school and collect after school. Wearable technology should be put on ‘school mode’ or turned off and only basic functions available while at school.

We greatly appreciate your support in this space.

E-Scooters & E-Bikes

Please spend a moment to discuss the poster (below) with your children. Personally, I learnt a few new things about the legal aspect of e-Scooters and e-bikes. VicPol appear to be cracking down on them so let’s ensure we are informed and know the laws and keep our kids safe.