From the Principal's Desk

Dear CGPS Families and Friends,

Congratulations to all of our students on making it to the end of a successful term 3. There have been many exciting opportunities on offer (including our Book Week parade and Book Fair, Grade 5 Camp, Grade 3 Phillip Island Excursion and District Athletics, amongst many others). We hope your students have enjoyed the activities (and learning) on offer.

Exciting News!

We would like to congratulate Luke Apps and his wife Emma on the birth of their beautiful baby daughter Tully! Luke will be taking leave for the first 3 weeks of Term 4 to spend time with his family, and we hope he thoroughly enjoys this time. During his absence, Mr Elliott Stone will be teaching PE alongside Ash Fenech.

I would also like to wish our drama teacher Michelle Baker best wishes, as she takes an extended period of long service leave during Term 4- the first 8 weeks. Michelle will be travelling around the United States of America and getting married! Good luck for the big day, Michelle.

Father's Day Stall

I would like to say a huge thank you to the Parents' Association for the work they did recently to organise and run the Father's Day stall. The stall was a huge success, with excited children relishing the opportunity to pick out a special gift for their dad or special person. I'm sure the kids loved delivering their gifts on Father's Day morning, along with a bit of slightly burnt toast!

Lunches at school

Please be aware that if food is being brought into school during the school day, students will only be able to come to the office and collect this during specific eating times. We are seeing an increasing number of lunches being dropped off to the office outside those times, often with hot food items included.

It is preferable that students come to school with a prepared lunchbox at the beginning of each day, rather than having hot food items delivered to school during the day, as it is not always possible for students to eat food while it is hot. At CGPS, we prioritise learning time, and therefore cannot interrupt classes with messages throughout the day (unless absolutely necessary).

Please also note, that students do not have access to microwaves etc during the day, so reheating food is not possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

Please see eating times below.

Recess eating time- 10.50-11.00am

Lunch eating time- 1.30-1.40pm

Early pick up and dropping off forgotten items

On a similar note, I would like to remind parents about considerations when picking students up early from school. During play times the yard is a busy, bustling and quite noisy place (generally filled with laughter). Unfortunately, this means that students often cannot hear announcements being made over the PA system. If you need to pick your child up early for an appointment, please try to avoid arriving during recess and lunch breaks (11-11.30am and 1.40-2.30pm). Despite our office staff’s best efforts, we often see parents waiting for extended periods, as their children are unable to hear their names being called to come to the office.

Item’s children have forgotten at home, such as jumpers/jackets etc that are being dropped off to the office during break times will often not be picked up until later on, also. Just something to be aware of.

Timetable trial term 4

A little later on in Term 4 (beginning around Week 3-TBC), we will be trialling a new look daily timetable, where we will be moving from 2 play breaks to 3. There will be no reduction in learning time, just a slight change/split up of play times, to spread them out bit more across the day.

Further information regarding the specific trial timetable changes will be delivered early next term.

Online Safety

Growing up in an online world sees children today facing vastly different challenges than many parents did during their own childhood. Issues that happen in the online world can have a significant impact on students and their presentation at school, which can also affect their ability to learn. Despite social media bans for young people, we (and many other schools) are seeing an ever increasing number of online issues being reported. I would encourage all parents to review advice around online safety via the eSafety Commissioner website.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

The website has a huge amount of information about supporting your child’s online safety. A good place to start is by looking at the Online Safety Basics section, and reviewing the 3 Key Strategies. Further information and advice can be filtered by age groups, making the information more relevant to you and your child.

PARENT OPINION SURVEY - CLOSING TOMORROW!

The Parent / Carer Opinion Survey closes tomorrow Friday 18 September 2026. All families are invited and encouraged to participate in the survey. Thank you to those parents who have already completed it. We really appreciate the time you have taken to support us in this way.

The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The survey is online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. It is available in multiple languages.

https://research.orima.com/parent

School Name: Courtenay Gardens Primary School

Campus Name: Courtenay Gardens Primary School

School PIN: 480020

Best wishes for the holiday break

Finally, please let me wish all of our students and their families an enjoyable school holiday period. We hope that it serves as an opportunity for families to connect and refresh, ahead of a busy Term 4.

Alison Lough will be returning from leave at the start of Term 4, ready to deliver the next Principal Report.

Kind regards,

Liam Flanagan

Acting Principal