Principal's News

Today marks the oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji in the year 781, it makes me reflect and think about how different day to day life is for each of us in 2026 and how significant events are now captured in media and how quickly we find out about these events. This week saw a significant 6.8-magnitude quake impact Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan, this quickly becomes global news reaching all over the world via the media, how different this must have looked when Mt Fuji erupted in 781. 

School life was busy at Caulfield PS over the last fortnight, thank you for taking a moment to review the news and events from the last two weeks. 

Congratulations

Our last assembly saw us celebrating some of our students throughout the school, receiving awards or participating in our badge presentation. Congratulations to our specialist class award winners – Julian R (STEM), Hariet W (PE), Luka G (Visual Arts), Tomokazu W (Performing Arts) and our Team Kids Making a Difference award winners – Rei A, Lachlan N, Luna M. Our Badge recipients included – Anna W, Charlize , Eva S, Barnabas Z and Aiya A. 

School Council

A big thanks to our school council team who came together on Tuesday evening to meet for the first time this term. Items of note that were discussed included: 

• A review of school holiday maintenance work and upgrades and the creation of a Term 3 working bee for the 4th September. 
• Policy approvals (see Assistant Principal Report) included Child Abuse Policy, Acceptable User Agreement, Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy. 
• An initial discussion around the OSHC contract renewal terms for school council review. 
• The approval of 13 planned events and activities (incursions, excursions or PFC events) for Term 3 including a wonderful Tanabata Day held on Wednesday organised by our wonderful PFC Team. 

Our school council meet for the final term in Term 3 on Tuesday 1st September. 

Delegation Visit

Last Wednesday we were invited by the International Education and Partnerships Division of the Department of Education to host a delegation of visitors of The delegation is 4 female teachers from Kagoshima, Japan. The purpose of their visit to Victoria was to learn and observe education practices in Victoria that support instructional lesson design and diversity in education. Our school was recommended by the department’s multicultural team as we were celebrated as a Japanese bilingual school.

It was lovely to host this delegation as they took the opportunity to further explore and understand our school context and education in Victorian Government schools. 

Final Day for Prep 2027 Enrolment is Today!

Enrolments for Foundation in 2027 close today, Friday July 31st. If you have not yet submitted an application, please do so before the end of school tomorrow. Whilst we can accept late enrolments, having these complete by the due date allows for us to begin planning for next year and communicate with families.

We have received strong interest in our school over the last 7 months with 81 prep applications submitted for 2027. 

Prep - 100 Days of School

On Tuesday we celebrated our 100 days of school for our Prep students.  This milestone was celebrated with students participating in a variety of activities based around the number ‘100’. Thank you to our prep team and families for supporting such a special day for our students and congratulations to our preps in all they have achieved in their first 100 days I extend my thanks to our amazing staff who have supported and nurtured our students throughout this early part of their schooling, setting up a solid foundation for their ongoing learning and wellbeing.

Reported Industrial Action

As I shared earlier this week, families may have heard information circulating about further proposed Stop Work Action for Tuesday 4th August. The Australian Education Union (AEU) has advised that this action has not been authorised through the union's democratic processes and is therefore considered unprotected action. As this industrial action had not been formally authorised and protected under the Fair Work Act, next Tuesday will be a normal day at our school. If there are any changes that impact normal school operations, I will communicate this to families via Sentral as soon as possible as we want to provide as much notice as I understand the disruptions caused.

I would also like to sincerely thank our families for the understanding, flexibility and support you have shown during recent industrial action. We recognise that any interruption to normal school operations places additional pressure on families, and we greatly appreciate the patience and cooperation our school community has demonstrated. Thank you for your continued support.

Working Bee

A big thank you to our Buildings and Grounds Sub-Committee and convenors Joel R (father of Imani – Year 1) and Warwick K (father of Jasmine – Year 1) who have supported our Term 3 Working Bee, setting a date for this to be held on the afternoon of Friday 4th September. We are beginning to create a list of jobs to be completed and hoping to allocate and delegate responsibility for these to occur to specific year level families within the school. 

Please save the date, we are hopeful that you can provide us with a couple of hours of time to support our school. 

Athletics

One of my favourite days at our school each year is our Year 3-6 Athletics Carnival, as a failed and aged sportsperson I fondly recall the excitement of primary school athletics carnivals and the trepidation that we all faced when having a go at an event for the first time or the lactic acid you or stomach churning you feel as you round the bend in the second lap of your 800 meter race. 

It is always such a joy to see our students put forward their best efforts on these days, my sincere thanks to Miss Molloy, our teaching and education support staff and parent/family volunteers who helped out on the day ensuring that students had a go, had fun, put in their best effort and supported one another. Stationed on the hurdles event for the day, is it always a thrill to see students complete their first hurdles race and see them race back to the start to have another go and try and beat their previous time. Well done to everyone who competed and to Miss Molloy for organising such a terrific day for our students. 

Swimming

Since 2017, the Victorian Curriculum F–10 has required swimming and water safety to be taught to all students from Foundation to Year 10 as part of the Health and Physical Education learning area. It is a vital part of the curriculum and can complement existing swimming lessons that your child may be participating in outside of school hours. To that end, we are excited about beginning our whole school swimming program on Monday. Please help our teaching staff by ensuring your child is coming to school each day with their bathers on underneath their school uniform and spend a few minutes with them over the weekend helping them build any independence in getting dry, dressed and changed quickly, this is always a challenge for the first few days of our program but our students become experts at this as the program moves forward. 

Thanking You

Wednesday was recognised as National Outside School Hours Care Educators’ Day, I am really grateful for the work of our Team Kids staff who support our students before and afterschool and during our holiday program and student free days. They take a great deal of time to build relationships with our students, get to know them, support them and extend the school day in a meaningful and enjoyable way for our students. If you see them around over the next week, be sure to say thank you for all that they do. 

Enjoy the weekend ahead, despite the cold weather, it appears like we are set for some winter sunshine over the coming days. I look forward to seeing you around the school over the coming weeks. 

Take Care, 

Edward Strain

Principal