Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been wonderful to welcome all our families back to Lucas PS and a very special welcome to those joining our community for the first time. It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating the end of the year, farewelling our graduating Class of 2025 and heading into the holiday break.

Thank you to our families for the care and effort you’ve put into preparing your children for the 2026 school year. It’s been fantastic to see students return so positively, eager to learn, proudly wearing their uniforms and demonstrating our school values from day one. We appreciate that the start of the year can be a busy and sometimes stressful time and we commend you for managing it so well.

There is plenty to look forward to this term, including:

Our Meet and Greet afternoon
NAPLAN weeks
A range of sporting opportunities, including swimming and the Yr 3–6 Athletics Day
Harmony Day celebrations
The Term 1 School Picnic

We’re looking forward to a fantastic term ahead and sharing many exciting moments with our school community.

Catherine King Community Award

At the conclusion of 2025, the recipient of the Catherine King Community Award was announced, with the honour proudly awarded to Casey Jenkins.

Casey has been an exceptional member of our school community. She has served on School Council, been actively involved in school events, consistently volunteered her time to support fundraising initiatives and has always been a positive role model for her own children and for others within the school. What makes Casey’s contribution particularly remarkable is that she so often demonstrated this dedication after completing a night shift.

Thank you, Casey, for your ongoing support and commitment to our school community, and congratulations on being our most recent Catherine King Community Award recipient.

New staff

In 2026, we welcome a number of new staff to Lucas Primary School. The new additions bring a range of experiences to a variety of positions across the school and have already settled in to the new school year. Please join with me in welcoming:

Mrs Sharon Cartledge - Sharon joins us from Bacchus Marsh as our Wellbeing Leader.

Mrs Briony Oldaker - Joins us from Mt Clear PS and will be teaching a Foundation class.

Mrs Sarah Linke - Is well known to us as a casual teacher in the past and joins the Foundation teaching team.

Mrs Stephanie Valentine - comes to us with experience across both public and catholic educational settings and joins our Year 2 team.

Mr Nathan Woodward - Brings enthusiasm to join our Year 2 team.

Mrs Mel Leviston - Returns from family leave to teach in the Year 2 team.

Mrs Mel Young - Brings experience from across public and catholic sectors to join the Year 2 team.

Mrs Ailsa Webb - Comes to us from New Zealand to share her experience with the Year 4 team.

Mrs Michelle Jacobs - Comes to us from Beaufort PS to join the Year 5/6 team.

Mr Shane Harricks - Joins us with a wealth of experience to teach in the Year 5/6 team.

Mrs Rachel Middlin - Comes from Buninyong PS and will be teaching Japanese and Physical Education.

Miss Mattayah Gopi - Joins us from South Africa to lead our Performing Arts program.

Mrs Jess Andrews - Returns from a period of family leave to teach Performing Arts.

Traffic Safety

Thank you to everyone for being patient in and around the school at drop off and pick up times during the last few weeks. Something we have become used to is the congestion in O’Shannassy Pde between 8.30 - 9.00am and 3.00 - 3.45pm. Patience and good planning is going to be the best way to tackle this challenge. There are a few things you can do to assist:

Use our Walking School Bus which leaves from the Lucas Playground at 8.35am each morning.
Ride your bike: The wide pathways are conducive to safe riding to and from school. The bike shed has lots of space and bikes are secured during the day.
Use the Children’s Crossing - Please ensure you use the school crossing when crossing O’Shannassy Pde. This street is very busy before and after school, as cars are parked on both sides of the street. As adults, we must also model safe pedestrian behaviour. Braden, our school crossing supervisor will be pleased to see you.
Use the bus service - There is a student only bus service that drops off and picks up at Lucas PS. It has many stops between the school and Cardigan Village. Please contact the office for a schedule. Please note, a Myki card will be required.
Have a pickup plan - discuss with your child where to meet you after school away from the school gates. The bus stop at the front of the school is a no parking zone between 7:30am and 9:00am. The parking officers are regularly in and around Lucas issuing fines for people parking illegally. They are targeting school zones.
Park and walk - we are lucky to have lots of parks and wide pathways around the school. Please consider parking away from the school and enjoy a stroll in the morning and in the afternoon. (This could calm some nerves).

Please take note of the following image that outlines some of the important traffic behaviours that will help with traffic flow and safety around the school.

Administration Reminders

As we start the year, it is always good to remind ourselves of some of the routines and rituals that ensure we have clear communication and maintain a safe and orderly environment.

• We ask all students to arrive prior to our 8.50am bell. The 10 minutes before lessons start is an important time for your child to set themselves up for the day.

• Supervision at school is from 8:40am to 3:45pm. As a safety precaution we ask that students do not arrive at school earlier than 8:40am and are collected from school by 3:45pm as we cannot provide supervision outside these times. We encourage families to utilise our Lucas LEAP Program should an early drop off or late pick up be required.

• Any arrivals after 9am must come through the office to receive a Welcome Pass and be signed in by administration staff. (See attendance at school page for more information)

• Any parents/carers/visitors coming on site at any time other than drop off and pick up (8.50am and 3.30pm) must report to the office upon arrival.

• Compass Education and Seesaw are our two online communication channels. Please keep an eye on these for important messages.

Seesaw is the app that is used for teachers to communicate with families and celebrate their students learning.

Compass is our whole school communication app, used for attendance, for newsletters, notices, school events, excursions and parent/teacher conferences.

If you are a new family and have not received your Compass Login details, please contact the office. The office can also assist with resetting login details.

• The school must be notified of all absences. You can do this by:

-Entering an absence note on our Compass App.

-Phoning the school office.

-Dropping into the office.

-Emailing the school.

(Please note that a Seesaw message to your child’s teacher is not an option for recording your child’s absence)

Lucas Primary School Newsletter

Respect, Responsibility, Excellence, Growth

Issue 1 · 11 Feb 2026

In this issue