Principal Message

Class Structure 2026

As we look ahead to the 2026 school year, I am pleased to share with you the proposed class structure for Warrandyte Primary School. Each year, we carefully consider enrolment numbers, student learning needs, and staff expertise to create a structure that supports the best possible educational outcomes for our students.

After careful planning and consultation, our 2026 class structure will be as follows:

2 Prep classes
3 composite Year 1/2 classes
2 composite Year 3/4 classes
3 composite Year 5/6 classes

This structure will allow us to maintain strong learning communities across all year levels, providing opportunities for collaboration, peer learning, and a balanced distribution of students.

Our teaching teams will continue to work closely within and across cohorts to deliver engaging, high-quality learning programs that provide explicit teaching in every classroom. In addition to our classroom teachers, we are fortunate to currently have five Education Support (ES) staff who will be working across the school to provide targeted assistance. These dedicated team members will support students within their classrooms, ensuring that individual learning, wellbeing, and extension needs are met. Penny MacDonald has been a successful applicant in the newly created Lead Education Support role for the school, further enhancing the profile of the support ES offer in the classroom. Penny will work with leadership on several programs and help to coordinate this growing team and the varied roles they undertake to support students. It is likely that we will increase the number ES staff across the year as we access more of the new Disability Inclusion programs and resources throughout the year. Penny will be working with students, teachers and families as this role develops next year, and I congratulate her on taking on this new role.

WPS takes pride in creating an environment where every child is known, supported, and challenged to reach their full potential. The 2026 structure reflects our ongoing commitment to providing a nurturing and inclusive learning experience for all students. As always, I thank our staff and families for their ongoing partnership and support.

We will begin our Transition Program next week, which is designed to help students feel confident and excited about the year ahead. The program will run across three sessions — Friday 14th November, Friday 28th November, and Friday 12th December. The final session will be a special Meet the Teacher morning, where students will spend time with their 2026 teacher/s, participate in an engaging activity with their new classmates, and explore their learning space for next year. Transitions are an important part of a child’s educational journey, helping them develop resilience, adaptability, and a positive attitude toward change. Families can support this process at home by talking positively about new experiences, encouraging questions, and celebrating small steps toward independence and confidence.

150 Year Celebration and Opening of Ceramic Wellbeing garden

Community has always been at the heart of Warrandyte Primary School. Our rich, 150+year history has built countless connections with people across the wider Warrandyte area, a fact clearly reflected in the success of last week's celebration. Almost everyone in the community seems to hold a fond memory or connection to “School No. 12,” and our heritage-listed Stone Building remains a proud local landmark. To mark its 150th year, we hosted a special event for past and present students, families, and staff. Guests enjoyed live music, great food, with 2 official ceremonies; of the day — the opening of the 1975-time capsule, sealed into the Stone Building exactly 50 years ago and the grand opening of our new Ceramic Wellbeing Garden.

Inside the time capsule were dozens of photographs dating from the 1880s through to 1975, creating a fascinating visual timeline of Warrandyte’s changing landscape. The special time capsule committee that was formed in 1975 included many historic images of the area, showing how familiar sites looked across different decades, including before and after major fires and floods. In 1975, these locations were photographed once again, capturing the spirit of the town at that moment in time. Now, Warrandyte Primary School hopes to continue this photographic story by inviting community members to help document these same locations today, contributing to a new time capsule to be opened in another 50 years. If you are interested in being a part of this project, please get in touch with me via the office or email.

This school really does hold a special place in people's heart. This week alone we have had several past students visit the school to reminisce and look into the time capsule items to reflect on their journey here, including a gentleman who was here in the 1950's dropping in yesterday to chat and walk around the grounds.

I want to thank everyone who participated in preparation for this event. Specifically, Claire, Dave, Kirsty and Eliza worked very hard behind the scenes to create a positive and long-lasting memory for our students and families. Without the help of all the staff this event would not be as successful. Thanks also to FOWPS for supplying the food and ice-cream (generously donated by George's Milk Bar). Everything sold out and the with good weather in the mix, it felt like everyone was having a great time. Thanks also the Kevin O'Mara and past students, Cameron and Izayah, who came back for the evening and performed for a very large audience. It was great to see the kind of talent that Kirsty has nurtured over the years with Izayah and Cameron having principal roles alongside our current School Captain, Zac at this year's State School Spectacular.

Christmas Carols 13th December

We are not running our school carols this year as it unfortunately clashes with this year's production. However, we will be participating in the Community Carols at Stiggant's Reserve on Saturday evening, December 13. We will be singing 2 songs and getting all our Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2 to learn these songs. You may not be able to attend the carols, but we think it will be nice for our younger students to learn a couple of Christmas Carols and get into the spirit. Our older students from Grade 3 - Grade 6 can opt in to our rehearsal and performance. But we do hope they will get into the spirit as well.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. We are coming up to the halfway mark for Term 4. The last few weeks will be incredibly busy, so I hope you get some time to relax.