Principal's Report 

2024 Student Leaders

We are very pleased to announce that following a process that involved self-identification, shortlisting, speeches and presentations to all Year 4, 5 and 6 students, a preferential voting process and an interview, our student leadership team for 2024 are:

Our School Captains and House Captains make up our formal student leadership team and will be presented with their badges and certificates at a special assembly to be held at the beginning of next year. We are very much looking forward to working with them throughout their final year of primary school and to see the impact they will make and the legacy they will leave behind for the future Bimbadeen students to enjoy.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our current 2023 Student Leadership team for their contributions to our community throughout this year. These young leaders have worked hard to make a difference and lead our student body and have done so with enthusiasm and passion for their roles. We wish you all the best for your continued leadership journey into secondary school.

Planning for Next Year

We are now in the final stages of planning our school structures and classes for next year. Teachers are working diligently to finalise our 2024 classes and prepare for our Whole School Transition Meet the Teacher and the Class session that will be held on Tuesday 12 December. During this session, students including all current and new students attending Bimbadeen Heights PS in 2024 will meet their teacher and spend some time with their new class for next year. 

On the same day, our Year 6 students moving onto government secondary schools will have their Year 7 Transition Orientation where they will spend the day preparing to begin their secondary schooling in 2024. 

Our teachers also complete comprehensive handovers from 2023 to 2024 teachers including student learning and wellbeing needs to ensure our students are supported in their transition to their new year levels and classes. 

To support our planning for next year, we need to have a clear idea of exactly who will be here. This information is very important for us as we form classes so we can ensure that our classes are balanced in all aspects including friendships. One child moving away can leave another child without a friend in the new class. If you know that your child will be moving away next year, please send us an email to bimbadeen.heights.ps@education.vic.gov.au letting us know where your child will be attending school next year. 

Class Parties and End of Year Celebrations

Year level class parties will be held on Friday 15 December for students in Years 1-5. This is the same day as Year 6 Graduation. Foundation will be holding their end of year celebration at their Aussie Day excursion to Lilydale Lake on Thursday 14 December, and Year 6 will be holding their end of year celebration at their Big Day Out on Monday 18 December. Teachers will send out information to families with specific information about their end of year celebration for each year level. 

Please keep an eye out on Sentral over the coming weeks. 

2023 Final Assembly and Early Finishing Time for Final Day

Our final assembly for the 2023 school year will be held on the final day of school on Wednesday 20th December. The assembly will be held in the Hall and will begin at 12:45pm and conclude by 1:30pm. All students will be attendance at this year’s final assembly and parents and carers are also welcome to attend.

All students will be dismissed by their classroom teacher at the conclusion of assembly at 1:30pm. 

Parents and carers of Year 6 students are invited to meet their children on the running track at the conclusion of the assembly, and we ask that all parents and carers of students in Foundation – Year 5 students wait for their children near their classrooms where their teachers will dismiss them from.

TheirCare will be running an extended after school care program to begin at 1:30pm. Information about TheirCare’s program is available via our School Website.

Last Week of the 2023 School Year

Many families have indicated to classroom teachers and the office that their child’s final day will be Friday 15 December. If your child will not be attending school on Monday 18 December, Tuesday 19 December and/or Wednesday 20 December, please ensure you enter their absence into Sentral as soon as possible so we can finalise our student attendance records for the school year.

2024 School Term and Pupil Free Dates for your diary

With the end of the 2023 school year fast approaching, we can confirm the following key dates for our school terms and pupil free days next year. 

The 2024 Victorian school term dates are:

• Term 1: 29 January (students start 31 January as 30 January is a pupil free day, please see below) to 28 March
• Term 2: 15 April to 28 June
• Term 3: 15 July to 20 September
• Term 4: 7 October to 20 December.

For the list of school term dates until the end of 2030, refer to School term dates and holidays in Victoria.

Our 2024 Pupil Free Day Program dates are:

• Term 1:
  • Monday 29 January 2024 - State-wide Pupil Free Day
  • Tuesday 30 January 2024 – Berry Street Education Model Professional Learning for staff
• Term 2 - Wednesday 29 May 2024 – Common Teacher Professional Practice Day
• Term 3 - Friday 9 August 2024 – Berry Street Education Model Professional Learning for staff
• Term 4 - Monday 11 November 2024 – Report Writing / Assessment Day.

2024 Start of Year Key Dates 

The 2024 school year will look a little different to previous years, with a change in our Foundation Literacy and Numeracy testing schedule from last year. Key dates for the 

beginning of the 2024 school year are below (please add these dates to your diaries):

• Monday 29 January – Statewide Pupil Free Day / Teachers and Education Support Staff begin / Office is open
• Tuesday 30 January – Pupil Free Day / Staff Berry Street Education Model Professional Learning
• Wednesday 31 January - Students in Years 1-6 begin 

(Foundation students are not required at school and will instead attend an individual Literacy and Numeracy interview / assessment at a scheduled time between Wednesday 31 January and Thursday 1 February)

• Friday 2 February - Foundation students begin (9:00am-3:30pm)
• Wednesday 7 February – Foundation students’ Individual Literacy and Numeracy testing (Pupil Free Day for Foundation students only).
• Wednesday 14 February – Foundation students’ Individual Literacy and Numeracy testing (Pupil Free Day for Foundation students only).
• Wednesday 21 February – Foundation students’ Individual Literacy and Numeracy testing (Pupil Free Day for Foundation students only).

2023 End of Year Summary Student Report Cards

Our staff have been busily compiling End of Year Summary Student Report Cards that will be available through Sentral on Friday 8 December. These report cards provide information about your child’s progress against the Victorian curriculum for the second semester this year (Terms 3 and 4). 

As part of our end of year student reporting process, we will also be providing the opportunity for parents/carers to discuss their child’s learning and progress with their current classroom teacher, if they wish to do so. If you would like to book a time to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss their report before the end of the school year, please get in contact with them via Sentral or direct email.

2024 Foundation Transition

We have completed three of the four transition sessions for our 2024 Foundation students, designed to support our incoming students to familiarise themselves with our school community and help them to prepare for a smooth transition into primary school. 

We look forward to welcoming our new families to our community at a 2024 Foundation BBQ later in the term and implementing our Orientation session for our 2024 Founders in coming weeks. Information about the program has been sent directly to families of enrolled children about the remaining sessions.

2024 Student Supplies – November 20 cut-off date for Book Pack orders with free delivery

Information about 2024 parent payments were sent to families via Sentral and a hard copy at the beginning of this term. This information includes advice and instructions about how to order 2024 Book Packs. Bimbadeen Heights Primary School recommends you purchase 2024 Book Packs from Maxim Office Supplies for your child to individually own 

and use. 

Book packs ordered before 20 November 2023 will be delivered to the school on 11 December 2023 and will be sent home with your child that day. You can still order book packs through Maxim until the 9 February 2024, and they will be delivered to school on 16 February, however these will incur a late fee of $15.00.

Please make sure you order the pack for the year level your child is in for 2024. If the incorrect year level is purchased the refund needs to be requested by 8 December 2023 from Maxim directly. After this date no refunds can be processed.

COVID-19 Increase in Community Transmission

There is at present an increase in community transmission of COVID-19 in Victoria. You 

can help us keep our school as safe as possible by taking 2 important steps:

1. Ensure your COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date. Information on how and where to get vaccinated is available on the Get vaccinated webpage.
2. If your child shows symptoms of COVID-19, please ensure they stay home and get tested. The easiest way to test is to use a rapid antigen test (RAT). We have a limited supply of RATs available at our school for collection. Free RATs are also available from your local council where you can collect 2 packs of 5 RATs and an extra 2 packs for each person in your household. People with disability and their carers can get 4 packs of 5 RATs. You are not required to have a Medicare card and you can collect RATs as many times as you need. You can also buy RATs at supermarkets, pharmacies, and other retailers.

If your child has symptoms but tests negative, please ensure they stay home until they no longer have symptoms.

If the RAT test result is positive, please ensure they say home for at least 5 days and until there are no more symptoms. Thank you for your support – these steps will help us all stay well.

The remainder of the school newsletter is handed over to Elise and Kira who were our Year 6 Teaching Day Principals…

Year 6 Teaching Day

On Tuesday the 28 of November we had Year 6 Teaching Day. Year 6 Teaching Day is a day where all Year 6 students can either be a principal, assistant principal, classroom teacher or specialist teacher for the day. The Year 6 students get to dress up like a teacher too! The students put in preferences of where they would like to work for the day, and then based on that information the teachers allocated them into small groups and allocated them a role. 

Don’t worry, the actual teachers were still there to help guide the Year 6 students as they took on a new role for the day. 

The classroom Year 6 Teachers will usually teach lessons, play games, and read the class books just like a normal school day. The specialist year 6 teachers teach multiple different classes during the day and join in having fun with them. The principals and assistant principals do jobs around the school like birthdays and organizing things. 

Everyone had so much fun being a teacher and now we all know what being a teacher feels like!

Student Dress Code – Uniform Reminder

One of the things we did on Year 6 Teaching Day was review the newly updated dress code and helped write a Sentral post to families. We would like to remind everyone to make sure that you are wearing the correct school uniform. Our uniform includes a yellow or navy polo top, or if you’re in Grade 5 or 6 you can wear the sports top on the days you have sport. For pants, you can wear navy shorts (not bike shorts) a skort or trackies. Make sure to have a school jumper as well. 

At school, students shouldn’t be wearing makeup or jewellery (stud and sleeper earrings are ok) and only clear nail polish. You also shouldn’t be wearing any big hair accessories. You are not permitted to have your hair in any crazy hair styles or having it crazily dyed. If your hair is longer than shoulder length it needs to be tied up. You need to make sure to wear either white, black, or navy short socks.  Teachers are checking that all students have hats so make sure you have one! You are also allowed to wear sunglasses while you are outside and if it’s sunny. 

You can buy our school uniform directly from Spartan School World website or on our Bimbadeen Heights website. We encourage all our students to wear our school uniform with pride.

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend with your families, and we are looking forward to another fantastic week of learning at Bimbadeen.

By Kira, Elise, Adele Gregson and Sabrina George