Principal Team Message

BOOK WEEK PARADE-A SHOWCASE OF CREATIVITY & CONNECTION

Our annual Book Week Parade was once again a highlight on the Ripponlea calendar. These seemingly small traditions have a powerful impact on children’s sense of connectedness to school. Coming together as a community to celebrate literature, imagination, and creativity reminds our students that learning is joyful, and that their school is a place where they truly belong.

We are constantly amazed by the creativity of our families and students – from carefully handmade costumes to ingenious reinventions of characters from well-loved stories. Each costume, whether elaborate or simple, carried with it a child’s excitement for books and stories. These shared moments strengthen bonds across our classrooms and year levels, while also building bridges between home and school.

A huge thank you goes to Mr Leech, who once again kept the morning running smoothly with his excellent MCing. His energy and humour helped make the event feel like a true celebration.

This year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) theme was “Reading is Magic”, reminding us that stories transport us to other worlds, spark our imagination, and help us better understand ourselves and others.

We also acknowledged the 2025 CBCA Award-winning books, which were:

• Book of the Year – Older Readers: Dancing Barefoot by Alice Boyle
• Book of the Year – Younger Readers: The Raven’s Song by Bren MacDibble & Zana Fraillon
• Early Childhood Book of the Year: Jørn’s Magnificent Imagination by Coral Vass & Nicky Johnston
• Picture Book of the Year: The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukkaran & Michelle Pereira
• Eve Pownall Award for Information Books: Come Together: Things Every Aussie Kid Should Know about the First Peoples by Isaiah Firebrace & Jaelyn Biumaiwai

Throughout the day, students embarked on literary adventures in their classrooms – exploring stories, writing their own imaginative pieces, and reflecting on how books shape who we are.

Book Week at Ripponlea is more than just dressing up – it’s a reminder of how literature brings us together and how celebrations, both big and small, foster belonging. Thank you to every family for supporting your child’s costume, and to our students for making the day such a joyful tribute to the power of books.

SCHOOL REVIEW UPDATES

Our School Review is progressing well, with two days of fieldwork now completed. During this time, our panel members observed lessons across key areas of learning, including phonics, reading, writing, wellbeing, and mathematics.

In phonics, they saw our PhOrMeS program in action, with fast-paced explicit teaching, high levels of student engagement, mini-whiteboard routines to check understanding, and frequent review cycles. In mathematics, they observed fluency games, explicit teaching of proficiencies, and challenging tasks that encouraged students to think deeply. In reading and writing, the panel noted our use of mentor texts, the Six Traits of Writing, and rich author studies to support students as developing writers and readers.

The panel also met with staff teams, middle leaders, and student focus groups across Foundation to Year 2, Years 3/4, and Years 5/6. These conversations provided valuable insights into the learning culture of our school. We are incredibly proud of how our students and staff represented Ripponlea Primary, highlighting the strong sense of community, learning, and wellbeing that defines our school.

The final day of the review will be held on Monday, 1st September, starting with a Parent/Carer Focus Group at 8:45 am–9:15 am in the school library. If you are available to join, please let Mrs Rose know. The panel is very eager to hear from our families, as your perspectives will play a vital role in setting the future direction of the school.

We extend our sincere thanks to all panel members for their contributions to this rigorous process, and to our staff, students, and families for their ongoing support. Together, we are shaping the strategic direction of our school for the next four years.

CLASS PLACEMENTS POLICY & PRACTICES 

At Ripponlea Primary School, we understand how important class placement decisions are for families and students. Each year, our teachers dedicate significant time and effort to ensure that every child is placed in an optimal learning environment where they can thrive both academically and socially.

The process our staff undertake is extremely thorough and carefully considers a range of factors, including:

• Academic needs and learning styles
• Social and emotional development
• Student voice – we provide opportunities for students to nominate peers they work well with
• Teacher insights into classroom dynamics, learning behaviours, and peer relationships
• Equity across classrooms in terms of gender balance, additional needs, and leadership opportunities

While we value friendship groups and recognise that supportive peers can contribute to a positive school experience, we are equally mindful that certain combinations may create distractions that impact learning. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that all parents/carers or students' requests will be met.

We welcome parent and carer input into the process, particularly if there are factors we may not be aware of that could influence your child’s placement. If you would like to provide input, please email Mrs Rose at natalie.rose@education.vic.gov.au

 to begin the process.

We thank families for their trust in our process and the professionalism of our teaching teams. By working together, we can ensure balanced, supportive, and dynamic learning environments for all students in the year ahead.

Class Placements Policy

PLANNING AHEAD FOR 2026

Who can believe that planning for 2026 is already underway? As a school, we are already making a range of strategic decisions that impact staffing, school finances, new initiatives, teacher placements, class sizes, enrolments, events and activities, camps, and future resourcing. We are also conducting a full review of the school’s parent voluntary contributions.

A number of these decisions will be guided by the outcome of our School Review, which will help shape the direction of Ripponlea Primary School for the next four years.

At this stage, we are pleased to inform our community that our class structures in 2026 will remain very similar to this year. Importantly, we will only be accepting two Foundation classes in 2026. This decision has been made to allow us to remain committed to smaller class sizes across all year levels. Instead of creating three Foundation classes, we are adding an additional class in Years 5/6 to reduce the large class sizes of 30+ students that we currently see.

One of the most important factors in our planning is having accurate enrolment numbers. Knowing how many students we have ensures we can be well-prepared and also know whether we can offer places to new families in different year levels.

Here is our current predicted class structure for 2026, as discussed at the most recent School Council meeting. Please note that this may change as new information comes to light.

ANNUAL PARENT/CAREGIVER/GUARDIAN OPINION SURVEY - ORIMA RESEARCH

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education, and we are seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to help schools understand families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.

While the survey is optional, we encourage all families to participate. Our goal is to have at least 80 families respond, giving us a strong and representative sample. Your input will help us identify areas for improvement, guide professional development priorities, and shape our school planning and improvement strategies.

Congratulations, we have 21 completed surveys so far and lots of time to secure some more!

When answering, we also appreciate families making firm decisions on key questions. Responses of ‘neither agree nor disagree’ can be difficult to interpret and may limit our ability to identify patterns for improvement. If you are unsure about a question, please feel free to ask us for clarification. We understand that some questions may be tricky.

Survey Details

📅 Open: Monday 18 August – Friday 19 September 2025

💻 Format: Online (20 minutes to complete)

📱 Devices: Accessible on desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone

🌏 Languages: English plus Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Additional translated resources are available—please contact the school if you require a guide in your preferred language.

How to Complete the Survey

We want our parents, caregivers, and guardians to tell us what they think! Your feedback is important and will directly contribute to making RPS an even better place for our students to learn and thrive.

2025 NAPLAN RESULTS

Back in Term 1, our Year 3 and Year 5 students participated in the NAPLAN assessments – the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy. This national measure assesses students’ skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. It provides schools, families, and education systems with valuable insights into how children are progressing against national standards.

This year’s results are reported using the proficiency scales introduced by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) back in 2023). These scales identify whether students are working towards, achieving, or exceeding the expected level of proficiency for their year group. The focus of the new scales is on what students can actually do in literacy and numeracy, rather than only comparing them to an average score.

We are very pleased to share that our students achieved some strong results across both Year 3 and Year 5. Further work to be undertaken with our Year 3 students.  Families have now received their child’s individual report and should feel incredibly proud of this point-in-time achievement. While NAPLAN is only one snapshot of a child’s learning, it is a valuable tool to help us reflect on our teaching and learning programs and the growth of our students.

At Ripponlea Primary School, we use NAPLAN alongside a range of other assessments and ongoing monitoring to understand how our students are learning and where additional support or extension may be needed. Importantly, our Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) and School Strategic Plan set clear goals and targets to improve student outcomes in literacy and numeracy. Despite the changes to the proficiency scales this year, we are delighted to see the impact of our work reflected in these results.

We congratulate our Year 3 and Year 5 students for their effort and resilience, and thank our dedicated staff and families for the support they continue to provide in every child’s learning journey. 

JUNIOR SCHOOL PLAYGROUND UPDATE

After a significant year of planning, we are delighted to share that School Council has received the final concept designs for our new Junior Playground. Alongside the design, we have also received a professional Opinion of Probable Cost.

This is an exciting step forward, but also a challenging one. The works cannot be staged due to the need for full excavation, removal of the existing playground, and extensive ground works before installation can begin. As a result, the total cost for the project is estimated at approximately $200,000, a major investment for our community, but one that will create an inspiring and enduring space for our students.

Highlights from the Concept Design

The revised design responds to the feedback from both the Sustainability Team and School Council and includes:

• A custom cubby designed for imaginative and creative play.
• Additional sandpit in the lower terraced garden area.
• Productive gardens with ‘Food Cube’ wicking beds, offering opportunities for hands-on sustainability learning.
• Opportunities for First Nations artwork, with identified spaces where a local artist could help bring cultural storytelling into the playground.
• Play equipment options with vertical elements that maximise play diversity in a compact space, with examples provided at a range of cost points.
• Seating areas, with both formal and informal opportunities for students and families to gather.
• Bluestone ‘crazy paving’ and updated surfacing recommendations for durability and to keep our school buildings free of tracked-in dirt and gravel.

The design team has also suggested that our Garden Committee could help select plant species, ensuring the plantings are both beautiful and sustainable.

Next Steps

The School Council will now turn its attention to funding and fundraising opportunities. While $200,000 is a significant target, this project represents a long-term investment in our students’ play, wellbeing, and connection to nature. Together, we have already raised $30,000 and will hold these funds for future years of fundraising.  

We are excited to share more with our community in the coming months and will continue to keep you updated on both design progress and how you can contribute to bringing this wonderful playground to life.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: FENCE UPGRADE WORKS 

From Tuesday, 2nd September, works will commence on the upgrade of our fencing along Carrington Grove. This project includes the removal of existing palings and the installation of new gates at both the Foundation entry and the senior playground.

This upgrade has been fully funded by the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) under a special project. The improved fencing will provide greater security for our school grounds and help protect the assets that our community has worked hard to maintain.

Please note:

• The school will not be “locked up”; our grounds will remain accessible to our community.
• Guardian Fencing will carefully stage the works to minimise disruption, avoiding peak entry and exit times wherever possible.
• Some temporary interruptions may occur at entry points while sections are completed.

We also remind families that construction of the new house across the road is impacting parking and access around the kinder and school entrances. Please take extra care, particularly around large trucks and vehicles in the area.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation while these important works are carried out.

Until next fortnight!

Natalie Rose             &                        Marta Campbell 

      Principal                                         Assistant Principal