Principal's Report

2026 – New school hours for LPS

School Council have approved a change to our start/end of day school times for 2026 onwards. From next year, our first bell will ring at 8.45am.  This is what we call a ‘soft start’; this means that classrooms are open and students, and any parents that want to have a quick chat to the teacher can make their way into the classroom.  Our learning bell will then ring at 8.50am, this means the teacher will mark the roll and our learning circles will begin.  We ask that all students are in their classroom and all parents have left the classrooms by 8.50am so that we can get started with our learning promptly.  Our end of day finishing time will be 3.20pm.  Our outside black gates will open at 3.10pm allowing any parents and siblings wanting to meet students onsite/at classrooms doors to make their way on to the school grounds.  This means that Team Kids will open 10 minutes earlier to accommodate our earlier finish time.

Along with our changes in start/finish time, this will lead to some changes to our session times and play breaks during the day.  Our new learning timetable will look like this:

Drop off and Pick up zone

In recent weeks we have had 3 situations where parents cannot get into the school to collect a sick or injured child.  This is because parents/carers are choosing to stop and sit in their car in the slip lane at the unmanned crossing, usually in the 3.15pm – 3.30pm timeframe.  I ask that parents do not STOP and block the lane, you need to keep moving to allow the flow of traffic until such time as you are required to stop due to our staff being on crossing duty so that students can cross safely.  We reserve the four drop off/pick up spots for parents needing to pick up sick or injured children at anytime of the school day.  I ask that these are not used and that access to them be accessible for all unless it is drop off time (8.30 – 9.00) or pick up time (3.30 – 3.45).

The main traffic congestion occurs from 3.15pm – 3.30pm where parents are sitting in traffic lines …..waiting…..and this means waiting for over 15 minutes, as the students are not dismissed until 3.30pm, with the first students getting to the front gate at approximately 3.34pm.  I am asking parents to refrain from coming so early, the suggested time to arrive at the slip lane is around 3.35pm.  This is likely to give you the best flow as students are out the front and cars can drive and collect students immediately, avoiding holding traffic up as we wait for your child to arrive.

I also ask parents and carers not to instruct their children to get out of the car in the middle of the slip lane.  This is extremely dangerous and puts our little people in a dangerous position. Please allow students to exit the car from the safety of the drop off zone under the supervision of staff.

The safety of students, staff and families is and always will be our priority.  I thought it was timely to share a few reminders about how you can help our drop off and pick up zone work effectively.

1. Please drive through at a slow pace.  Move up and leave no gaps to ensure we have as many cars as possible within the slip lane. This reduces the number of cars waiting on Warrandyte Road.
2. Use your indicator (left) in the slip lane to indicate that you are going into the drop off / pick up zone.  This assists the slip lane crossing staff to know where cars are going.
3. We will continue to put traffic cones out to guide cars in to the drop off / pick up zone.
4. When pulling into the drop off / pick up zone, please drive as far forward as possible; this allows us to fit 4 cars in at a time.
5. Please remain in the car.  Having your passenger window down can help staff when asking the name of the student/s.
6. We will assist with car doors, bags and seat belts as required.  We will walk any students that need to enter or exit from the driver’s side.
7. Once cars are filled with students, cars will exit in order out of the pick up / drop off zone to re-enter the slip lane and then exit on to Warrandyte Road safely.
8. In the situation where we have several cars loaded with students and you are situated in the front bays, if your child/ren has still not arrived at the pick up zone, you may be asked by staff to exit to Warrandyte Road and return again.  This allows the traffic to keep moving in the pick up / drop off zone and cars to collect children who are ready and waiting.

9. Similarly, if you have a child who is having difficulty exiting the car in the mornings, you may be asked to exit back onto Warrandyte Road and try again, or find a parking bay.

    

What we do ask for is patience and respect towards our staff.  When dismissing 670 students at the same time, along with two other schools on the same road, it is going to be busy.  We appreciate your support with this.

Colour Run – Friday 7th November

Parents are welcome to come and watch our Colour Run next Friday – P-2 at 11.30am / 3-6 at 12.15pm. There will be a designated parent zone that we ask parents to stand and cheer from, this is to ensure our runners have free run on the track and we have no colisions.  Parents are also welcome to stay and attend our ‘slime the teacher’ which will take place at 12.50pm just prior to the students going out to lunch.

If you haven’t started collecting donations, its not too late.  Log onto www.myprofilepage.com.au 

Also remember that if you would like your child to participate , they will need to be in a white t-shirt.  If you want them to join in but not have colour thrown on them, they will need a black t/shirt.  If you don’t want your child to participate please send us an email to Langwarrin.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Planning for 2026

We are busy planning for the 2026 school year. If you know that you will not be attending LPS in 2026, could you please notify the office as soon as possible. This will then show up in our student numbers as we plan classes for next year.

Classes for 2026

Speaking of classes, we are currently starting the process of creating them. Creating classes is an arduous task and takes several weeks to complete. When making classes, the following needs to be considered to ensure our school runs successfully:

• even numbers of students in classes
• close to even numbers of boys and girls
• a range of academic abilities
• a range of social and behavioural abilities
• special considerations from parents
• LPS teachers putting in their considerations for what works best for students
• student friendships
• new students starting at LPS in 2026

Each year we give parents the opportunity to submit any ‘special considerations’ they would like us to look at prior to making classes. 

Any considerations submitted by parents must focus on issues that impact the educational wellbeing of their child. 

Requests for specific teachers will not be taken into consideration. We have complete confidence and respect for all staff who work at Langwarrin Primary School.

It is also important to remember that these are just considerations. Making a request in no way guarantees that the request will be fulfilled.

In preparation for 2026 class creation, could you please send any special considerations you have for 2026 to Mr B.  His email address is -  rowan.balzary@education.vic.gov.au and as always we will do our best to accommodate your consideration. However, as you can see from the above, there are many mitigating factors that may stop a consideration from occurring. It is a very mathematical process and one that we’ve been doing now for a long time. All requests are due to Mr B (not the class teacher) by Friday 31st October.

As we did in 2024, students will have come home with a list of the five friends they have listed at school, who they’d like the opportunity to be in a class with in 2026. When your child’s list is sent home, please discuss it with your child, make any changes, sign it and then send it back to the classroom teacher. This alleviates any problems where parents believe that their child has been placed in a class with no friends, as parents will be aware of the students that their child has listed and will have had the opportunity to make any changes at home. It is also important to note that the names are not preferential – we don’t look at first choices, second choices, we just guarantee each student has friend from their list. These sheets are due back to classroom teachers by Friday 31st October.

Reminders - Curriculum Days

This coming Monday 3rd November is a curriculum day.

Friday 28th November is our last curriculum day for the year.

Have a great fortnight, 

Nicola Pepper