Message from the Principal 

SPRING IS IN THE AIR….

The weather has been a little bit warmer and there are lots of signs that Spring has arrived. This is a time of the year that many of us really love and there is light…indeed longer daylight at the end of the tunnel. This is a reminder for all our students to start wearing their school hats outdoors!

We have all worked hard to get this far this year and with only a couple of weeks of term left we are in the final stretch. There is lots to look forward to including our Jungle Book Production and our Student Agency Conferences which are both powerful opportunities for you to be involved in your child’s education.

THANK YOU PARENT ASSOCIATION FOR A WONDERFUL FATHERS & SPECIAL PERSONS BREAKFAST

Thank you to our wonderful Parent Association for a GREAT morning last Thursday. Lots of happy dads, grand-dads and special people were there to enjoy the morning together and this event is just another example of how good it is to be a part of our school community. Events like this do take significant time and organisation. A big shout out to Amanda Mooney and the Parent Association Team for making sure it was such a special and memorable day.

Also – please put these dates in your calendars:

Friday 13th September – End of Term BBQ (after our assembly)

Friday 25th October – School Disco

Saturday 23rd November – Trivia Night 

NAPLAN READING RESULTS 2024

We are pleased with our 2024 NAPLAN Reading results. In both Year 3 and Year 5 we have a very high percentage of students who achieved results in the “Exceeding” or “Strong” bands. This was 86% in both Years 3 and 5. This is 5% higher than the similar schools we are compared against in Year 3 and 2% higher in Year 5. (*these measures include size of school and socio-economic, family education index). 

These reading results indicate that what we are doing is working. Our focus on developing a love of reading is relentless, but we still have more work to do. This includes ensuring that our literacy program is planned and delivered around the “Big 6” (Oral Language, Phonological Awareness, phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension). We also need to keep raising the bar and ensuring our weekly planning challenges all students. This will enable us to provide that stretch which will see more students move into the exceeding range. 

TRANSITION PROGRAM

Our 2025 Preps have continued to participate in our Experience Greenhills sessions and we look forward to building momentum around our transition and preparation for next year. Thank you to our Prep Team of Sam, Abby, Shirley, Andrea and Ashley for their organization and for doing so much to set our current prep students up for success. At this stage we are planning to run 3 x prep classes of 20 or 21 students for next year.

iPad INFORMATION NIGHT

Last night, David Symeonidis facilitated our iPad Information Night for our Year 2 families moving into Year 3 next year. A link to the recording of this session will be made available shortly.

RIGHT TO DISCONNECT

On Monday 26 August 2024, an amendment to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023 came into effect. The new provisions will be adopted alongside the department’s existing industrial and employment obligations, including occupational health and safety commitments.

The legislation makes explicit that all employees have the right to refuse contact from their employer or a third party (such as a student or a parent) outside of their normal working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable. This means an employee can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact that occurs outside their normal working hours.

We are promoting and communicating this message to our school community. There are clear boundaries for expectations for communications from our team, including that staff have a right not to respond outside working hours. We certainly appreciate your support and understanding of this. 

We also understand that there may be times outside of working hours where you may need to contact the  school urgently. If this is the case please email one of our Principal team members :

James.penson@education.vic.gov.au

Janine.hough@education.vic.gov.au

Bradley.ryan@education.vic.gov.au

END OF YEAR DATES FOR THE DIARY

Planning for Term 4 continues, and we would like to communicate that we will be holding a Professional Practice Day on Thursday 19th December. (This day is part of the current Victorian Government School Agreement). I understand that these days can be difficult and inconvenient for parents, so we have carefully considered the timing of this day to ensure the least interruption to student learning. 

Having this in the last week of school, rather than during the term will minimize any lost learning time for our students which is our highest priority. With our Year 6’s attending their final excursion to Funfields on Wednesday 18th December, we have scheduled our final end of year assembly for Tuesday 17th December.   

So, to confirm these arrangements: Semester 2 reports will be available via Compass on Wednesday 11th December. Our Year 6’s will have their Graduation evening on Thursday 12th December. Friday 13th December will be our special positive Gazillions reward.  We will have our last school assembly on Tuesday 17th December. All class parties will be held by this date. 

Thursday 19th December is a pupil free day and our last day of school will be Friday 20th December with a 1pm dismissal time for those students that do attend. 

James Penson 

Principal