Thursday 27th June 2024

Dear Parents, Students and Friends,

It’s hard to believe that we are now almost halfway through the school year. Don’t forget that tomorrow is an early dismissal at 2.30pm. Please ensure your child is collected by 2.45pm (when staff supervision ends) or enrolled in TheirCare.

Synthetic Phonics Mandated Across Victorian Schools

The Minister for Education, Ben Carroll, has announced recently that all schools will be mandated to undertake the teaching of synthetic phonics in Foundation to Grade 2. This direction has been initiated due to the evidence clearly showing that this approach is highly effective in the teaching of reading and spelling.

Highvale Primary School has, for many years, implemented a structured synthetic phonics curriculum. This was further consolidated earlier this year when teachers from Prep to Year 3 all undertook training through the Science of Reading and Learning Lab (SOLAR Lab) through La Trobe University. We now use the Little Learners Love Literacy program which explicitly teaches reading and spelling.

This continues our ongoing commitment to our strong approach to teaching and learning across the school.

New Acting Principal

Term 3 begins on Monday 15th July with our new Acting Principal Carly Epskamp. I have met with Carly a few times now and believe she will be a great fit at Highvale Primary School. I know she is very keen to meet with students and parents and am sure you will make her feel very welcome at Highvale Primary School. I will resume my Assistant Principal duties and will be available as always, if needed, and can be contacted through the office or by email.

Bec Foot

As you would know, our wonderful Business Manager, Bec Foot, will finish up with us at the end of this term. Bec has shown flexibility, dedication, compassion and integrity at Highvale over seven years. In her new role, she will have many new challenges and experiences at Monash Children’s Hospital School and will provide the same service she has shown to our school community. It's been great to see so many parents pop in to thank Bec and she has been genuinely touched by those who have wished her well - including some lovely cards made by students.

Personally, I will miss her amazing support and wish her all the very best in the next step in her career. Good luck and thank you Bec!

Bellamy Latta

On the 11th of June at 5:13am Mr. Latta and his wife welcomed the arrival of their baby boy, Bellamy Latta!

Here are a few of his favourite things:

Book - 10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes by Mem Fox

Toys - Korok and Kirby

Hat - Collingwood beanie

Outfit - Jungle onesie

Mr Latta and his family are happy and healthy, they are looking forward to plenty of fun times together growing and learning.

Congratulations Ben and family!

House Athletics

In May, Mrs. Scott ran our House Athletics Carnival. The results of this competition are as follows:

1st- Banksia (289)

2nd- Heath (267)

3rd- Acacia (262)

4th- Waratah (216)

Congratulations to Banksia House!

The individual results of this event allows for the selection of our School Athletics team which takes place later in the year.

Cybersafety

Please see Engagement and Wellbeing for ThinkUKnow parent/carer session details.

Planning Week

At Highvale Primary School, all of our teachers work collaboratively in teaching teams to provide support and maintain collective responsibility for all students in their level. To support this work, this week has been Planning Week where all teachers are released from their teaching duties for one day. This provides time for teachers to further analyse student progress and complete preliminary planning for the term to come.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews provide a timely opportunity for our teaching staff to discuss your child’s mid-year report as well as discuss the learning goals for the students for the second half of the year. Working in partnership and having consistent expectations between home and school leads to better outcomes for our students.

We have allocated Wednesday 24th July 3.40pm - 7.00pm & Thursday 25th July 3.40pm - 5.40pm as our meeting times. Each meeting will be allocated 10 minutes onsite.

Please see our recent Compass communications for more information including how to book.

There is also information on organising an interpreter if required.

School Tours and 2025 Enrolments

We are nearing the end of our school tours and parents of Preps for 2025 have to complete the online enrolment process.

We have limited spaces in the first two weeks of next term.

School Tours for Prep 2025 and new Year 1-6 students are provided on Wednesday mornings between 9.30-10.45am. Due to demand, tours must be booked through the school office (9887 8000).

The virtual tour is available at https://highvaleps.vic.edu.au/

I wish all families a safe and happy midyear break, I can’t wait to see what our students will achieve in the semester to come!

Take care,

Josh Crozier

Acting Principal

joshua.crozier@education.vic.gov.au

STEAM - Vex Robots