Assistant Principal's Message  

Dear students, parents and guardians,

What a busy start to Term 2 it has already been!

Firstly, I would like to wish Billy Barnes all the best in his new role as Acting Principal at Tatura Primary School for the remainder of the year.  As we know, they are very lucky to have him and it is a great learning opportunity for Billy, and there is no doubt he’ll came back to the school as a better practitioner than when he left.  To fill his shoes, Doreen Smider will be taking on the Acting Assistant Principal role while Bec Larcombe will be the Acting P-2 Community Leader in her stead.  Both Doreen and Bec will do an excellent job in their respective acting roles and are very much looking forward to working with the students in a new capacity.  Further staffing changes include the appointment of Roisin Cleary as classroom teacher in place of Doreen Smider while Larry Nkomo joins us to teach maths and science and Phyllis Nyamande will be teaching both science and foods.  On the other side of the equation we have Kan Cheng going on leave for the remainder of the year and Leah McLoy has taken a position at Rushworth.

When it comes to our students it is always amazing to see how many great opportunities are available to our students, both to improve them academically, but also to further strengthen connections to the community.

Our ANZAC ceremony in particular was a credit to the students involved and the community as a whole. Building upon this, the Applied Learning and Engineering students did some great work at the Kyabram Lawn cemetery by creating flag holders for the graves of our veterans.  It was an incredibly moving unveiling ceremony with our current RSL members quite emotional and thankful for all the work our students have done.  These opportunities have kept coming early this term, with Cross Country taking place at Parkland Golf Club, along with our inaugural Year 9 camp, the Year 10 Careers Day Out and the VCE Careers Expo.  Beyond this, it was great to see some new faces at the Year 7 Information Night and the Open Night, with the Prep Information Night to take place on Monday 12 May at 5:30.  Equally, it was great to see our students appreciating the significant women in their lives with both the Mother’s Day Breakfast and stalls being incredibly well-attended.

Exciting events coming up include the Year 1-2 Melbourne Zoo trip, the Year 3 & 4 excursion, the Rio Tinto Science Competition, the LaTrobe Nursing student for a day event and the ever-popular Inclusion and Diversity Day which will take place on the 14/05/25 during periods 3 and 4 which will really add to the excitement of the middle of the term.

The start of the term has been quite engaging for our students, with great learning occurring across the board.  It is humbling to realise how much growth so many students have had already in such a short period of time.  This will only continue as the year goes on, so thank you to all involved for the continual support you offer at home.

Enjoy the remainder of Term 2!

Regards

Mitch Coombs

Assistant Principal