From the Principal

Dear families,

Industrial Action - Tuesday 24th March

As you may be aware, there is a planned Stop Work (strike) on Tuesday 24th March. This industrial action will significantly impact staffing across all government schools, including Williamstown Primary School.

As outlined in the email sent on Thursday morning, due to the level of anticipated staff participation, all classes will be unable to operate on this day.

The school will only be able to offer minimal supervision for students from families experiencing critical or complex circumstances, where no alternative arrangements can be made. Please note that TeamKids will not be operating during the day.

I strongly encourage all families to make alternative arrangements for their children.

Further confirmation of arrangements will be provided by 2:00pm on Monday 23rd March, in line with Department of Education requirements.

Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to ensure student safety and meet our duty of care obligations.

If you believe your child may require supervision due to critical or complex circumstances, please contact me via email at mathew.montebello@education.vic.gov.au

School Council Executive Appointments

We are pleased to announce the appointment of our 2026 School Council Executive team.

Congratulations to Nita Rege, who has been elected as School Council President, Hayden Djakic as Vice President, and David Oakman as Treasurer.

We thank Nita, Hayden and David for their willingness to take on these important leadership roles within our school community. School Council plays a vital role in shaping the strategic direction of the school and supporting positive outcomes for all students.

We look forward to working closely with our Executive team across the year ahead and greatly value their commitment to Williamstown Primary School.

Easter Hat Parade

It is not that far away! The world famous Williamstown Primary Easter hat parade. The parade will be held on the front basketball court at approximately 9:15am on the last day of term 1 (2nd April) and is a community event and we would encourage all families to attend. So get your raffle tickets in and come and join us for the fun. We are even expecting a special guest to be in attendance.

Teaching and Learning Series

At Williamstown Primary School, we are continuing to strengthen our teaching and learning through the implementation of the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0). This model brings together what we know about how students learn best and the teaching practices that support this.

At present, our classrooms are focusing on strengthening routines and expectations, particularly around lining up and transitions between activities. While these may seem like small moments in the day, they are critical in supporting strong learning.

The VTLM 2.0 highlights four key Elements of Learning:

• Attention, focus and regulation – students need to be ready to learn, able to focus, and regulate their behaviour
• Knowledge and memory – students connect new learning to what they already know
• Retention and recall – students practise and revisit learning so it sticks
• Mastery and application – students apply their learning with confidence

Clear and consistent routines, such as lining up calmly and transitioning smoothly, directly support these elements. When students know what to do and can move efficiently between tasks, they are better able to focus, engage and retain their learning.

The model also identifies four Elements of Teaching, which outline how teachers create the conditions for learning:

• Planning – carefully sequencing what students need to learn
• Enabling learning – building positive relationships and clear expectations
• Explicit teaching – clearly teaching and modelling what success looks like
• Supported application – giving students opportunities to practise and apply learning

In our classrooms, teachers are explicitly teaching and modelling routines, reinforcing expectations, and providing students with repeated opportunities to practise these behaviours. This consistent approach helps create calm, predictable environments where students can thrive.

As highlighted in the model, strong classroom expectations and management support students to develop self-regulation and confidence, while explicit teaching and practice help them move towards mastery of both academic and behavioural skills .

You may hear your child talking about being “ready to learn”, lining up respectfully, or moving calmly between spaces. These are important skills that support both their learning and their development as responsible members of our school community.

We appreciate your ongoing support in reinforcing these expectations at home. Together, we are building strong foundations for every child’s success.

2026 Annual Implementation Plan

Our Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) is the school’s roadmap for the year ahead. It takes the longer-term goals from our Strategic Plan and turns them into clear, practical actions that guide our teaching, learning and school improvement work across the year.

The purpose of the AIP is to ensure that everything we do as a school is aligned, intentional and focused on improving outcomes for all students. It outlines our key priorities, the strategies we will use to achieve them, and how we will monitor progress along the way. Importantly, it keeps us accountable and provides a shared direction for staff, students and our community.

To support understanding and transparency, we have developed a visual AIP poster. This provides a clear and accessible snapshot of our key improvement priorities and the work happening in classrooms and across the school. We encourage families to engage with this visual as a way of better understanding our focus and how it supports every student’s learning journey.

REMINDERS

Student Leadership Badge Ceremony

On Friday 20th March we will be holding our student leaders badge ceremony. This will take place at our fortnightly whole school assembly. All Junior School Councillors from Prep-6 and House captains will be presented with their leadership badges. We welcome all families and in particular families of student leaders to join us for this special assembly commencing at 2:40pm. (Note this is 5 minutes earlier than usual)

Term 1 Open Afternoon

On Wednesday 25th March 3:30-4:15 we will be hosting our term 1 open afternoon.

This afternoon session gives parents/carers and family members the opportunity to visit classrooms and share work students have engaged in this term.

We look forward to seeing as many families as possible.

(Please note the change in time for this event to support families)

Warm regards,

Mat Montebello