The School Year Comes to a Close

As we approach the end of the year, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on our outstanding 2025 school year and express my heartfelt gratitude to our entire Springvale Rise Primary School community — our students, staff, parents / carers, and partner organisations. Thank you for your dedication to your learning and work, and for the unwavering support you have shown throughout the year. Springvale Rise Primary School continues to hold a very special place in my heart, and I feel truly privileged to serve as the Principal of this exceptional school. It has been a joy and an honour to lead our community through such a successful and inspiring year.

Importantly, 2025 marked the final year of our 2021–2025 School Strategic Plan and the completion of our Triennial School Review. The review process was a valuable opportunity to reflect on our progress, celebrate achievements, and identify areas for continued growth. We were proud to hear from our external reviewer, senior education improvement leader, and challenge partners that Springvale Rise Primary School is excelling in many areas – with community engagement, student wellbeing, and leadership practice standing out. The insights gained through the review will directly inform the development of our new 2026–2029 School Strategic Plan, which will guide the next exciting chapter in our school’s improvement journey. This was celebrated last week at our community morning tea.

We were also able to share that morning that our school had been selected to feature in a report on both ABC News and in the Herald Sun, recognising the exceptional growth in our NAPLAN results from Year 3 in 2023 to Year 5 in 2025.

This growth is the result of the collective effort that begins from the very first day students and families join our school — whether that’s in Foundation or through our Hub programs. The recent articles highlight the role of Explicit Teaching in our success, and we are proud to share that we have been refining and strengthening our practices in this area over many years. Our commitment to continuous improvement remains steadfast, and Explicit Teaching will continue to be a key priority as we implement our new School Strategic Plan.

Find the links to those stories click the two links to follow:

Springvale Rise ABC News - YouTube

The secret sauce powering the schools punching above their weight in NAPLAN - ABC News

It wasn’t until the MySchool website data was released that we discovered Springvale Rise Primary School had been ranked equal third in the entire state for recording the most student progress.

I cannot emphasise enough what an incredible achievement this is for our students, staff, and community. This outstanding result reflects the hard work, commitment, and belief that every learner can thrive — and it is something we should all be immensely proud of.

Later that day, our 2025 Community Gathering will return to the Springvale Campus, where the celebrations will continue with further presentations, performances, and opportunities to connect as a community. We warmly welcome all immediate family members to join us for both occasions as we come together to reflect on a wonderful year and celebrate our students’ successes. Please note that photographs from the event will be circulated via a special link to your mobile phones so you can view them and download your favourites.

Each Learning Centre will also be enjoying a number of very special end of year activities, and all Year F - 5 students will get to meet their 2026 teacher on the very last day of term.

Finally, please . . . . . . . . . don’t forget that Term 4 concludes at 1:30pm on Friday, December 19th.

And last, but certainly not least, I invite you to join me in extending our heartfelt best wishes to the graduating Class of 2025. We are immensely proud of the young people they have become, and we cannot wait to see where their journeys take them. We look forward to hearing about their achievements in the years ahead and celebrating the many successes we know are yet to come.

Best wishes for the summer holiday break. And, keep smiling.

Debbie Cottier

(Principal)

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