Dear families and friends,

Welcome back to Term Four! I hope everyone had a good break and are ready for a busy term. Term four is always special for our Year 6 students, as they prepare to graduate and move onto their secondary schools. This year, we have Stephanie in Year 6 and she has already started her transition to her 2026 school. We will be also be welcoming Stephanie's younger sister Charlotte to Merino CS later in the term, when she has her own transition days to her Foundation year.

Some important dates for the calendar

Monday 3rd November - Student free day (assessment/reporting day)

Tuesday 4th November - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Tuesday 16th December - Students' last day of school and Presentation evening

Wednesday 17th & Thursday 18th December - 2026 Planning

Friday 18th December - clean up and staff's last day

Permission Notes

There are some permission notes being sent home this week for upcoming events - a music performance at Casterton PS, a sports day with Dartmoor PS and gymnastics lessons in Hamilton. Please complete these notes and return to school as soon as possible.

Glasses for Kids Delivery

Last term, our students had their vision tested thanks to the Glasses for Kids program. This week our delivery of brand-new glasses arrived. A big thank you to State Schools’ Relief for providing this program and to our families for supporting students in wearing and caring for their new glasses. Four of our students received free glasses to support their learning at school.

Quick Facts:

Free vision testing for Prep–Grade 3 students (we were lucky enough to have all students tested)
Glasses provided if needed, at no cost
Managed and delivered by State Schools’ Relief
Helping students see clearly, learn confidently and thrive at school

End of Term – Family Breakfast and Footy Day!

On the very last day of the term, we kicked off the morning with a delicious cooked breakfast, giving everyone the energy they needed for a fun-filled day! Students then enjoyed a variety of footy skills, with a sea of team colours on display. A big thank you to all the families who joined us for breakfast and participated in our footy-themed morning. A special mention and thanks to Will for helping run the footy activities. To top it off, everyone enjoyed a hotdog lunch — a perfect way to finish our footy-themed morning and celebrate end of term!

Teaching Excellence Program 2025

Our school values the learning and development of our staff, and the positive impact this has on student outcomes and school improvement.

We are delighted that Miss Bailey has continued her professional learning journey through the Teaching Excellence Program at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. This program enables teachers to advance their capabilities and excellence in teaching.

So far this year, Miss Bailey has participated in three discipline days and three Teaching Excellence Community Learning days. She has also completed a teacher inquiry project where she focused in on a particular teaching practice to improve the outcomes for students in her class. Currently, Miss Bailey is completing another inquiry to strengthen her teaching practice even further.

We have enjoyed the learnings that Miss Bailey has brought from the program and look forward to this continuing to support student outcomes and wellbeing at our school.

We are proud that we have Miss Bailey representing our school and supporting the Academy in raising the status of this amazing profession!

New Japanese Teacher

We are very pleased to welcome our new Japanese teacher, Mai Lovelock, who will be teaching our students each week via Webex.

Mai is joining us from from the Victorian School of Language and will bring her knowledge and enthusiasm for language learning to Merino CS. Our Japanese lessons will now take place at a new day and time, 2:00pm on Tuesdays. We are looking forward to learning more about the Japanese language and culture with Mai.

Kind regards,

Lisa Ferrier

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