Out and about at Surfside

As we come into the last week of term 1 (wow this term has really flown by) we have a few things to get through during week 10 with the last week of our year 3 and 5 swimming program and a reminder that we finish school on Thursday 2nd April at 2.30pm as Friday is the Good Friday public holiday. 

Check out our fundraising page for some term 2 events and highlights such as the colour run and trivia night. 

It has been busy during Breakfast Club during term 1 but a reminder that there will be no Breakfast Club during week 10!

A reminder that on our last day on Thursday we finish school at 2.30pm and our assembly will be at 9.00am in the courtyard (weather permitting) - early start due to our swimming program. 

Students are able to wear casual clothes on the last day with a gold coin donation and monies raised will help support our State Schools Spectacular team who completed their first big rehearsal today. 

A reminder that this holiday break will see Camp Australia continue their Rocketeers holiday program. Please check the Camp Australia page for more information or reach out to the Camp Australia team via their parent portal.

It has definitely been a busy fortnight so please check the calendar to be up to date with upcoming events but below is a snapshot for the final week of school as well as the first couple of weeks back.

March

Sat 28th    - One Planet Festival 11am-5pm - Ocean Grove Park

Tue 31st    - Easter Raffle Tickets and Money Due Back Today

April

Tue 31st - F-2 Easter Bonnet Parade 2.30pm - Courtyard

                     Foundation Family Picnic - 3.15-4.00pm

Wed 1st - SSV Division Girls Football (AFL 9's)

Thu 2nd - No Breakfast Club

                    End of Term 1 - 2.30pm dismissal

                    Assembly @ 9.00am (change of 

                    Easter Raffle Drawn

                    Casual Dress (gold coin donation)

Term 2

April

Mon 20th - First Day of Term 2

                       Year 6-7 Transition Forms Due

Wed 22nd - Year 3-6 Surfside PS Cross Country - Shell Road Reserve

Thu 23rd  - No Breakfast Club

                       Year 6 Incursion - Earth Ed Energy Generation

Fri 24th    -   ANZAC Day Assembly @ 9.00am

                    -  Fun Run/Colour Run 2:30pm - 3:15pm

Thu 30th -   Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

ON BEHALF OF THE STAFF AT SURFSIDE WE WANT TO SAY THANK YOU 

Introducing the staff and teams at Surfside

During term 1 we have been introducing our teams through our newsletters - these are the awesome people that make Surfside tick along. 

Introducing our Junior Teaching Team

Year 2

We have a year 2 team of 4 classes in 2026 and they have settled well into their routines throughout the year. Mrs Queteschiner, Mrs Welsh, Ms Myers and Mr Wilkie been busy settling the students into the year 2 routines with great success. There is some distance between the classes but they have enjoyed their whole cohort catch ups throughout the year. Even though they are on different sides of the school the cohort of students and staff enjoy coming together. The team look forward to many opportunities, activities and learning experiences throughout the year.

Year 1

The year 1 team have settled in nicely as a team and love working together with the students and our education support staff. They all possess a range of experiences and skills that they love sharing with each other. The favourite part of their week is investigations where the students and staff utilise the outdoor space near the kitchen. The year 1 crew are looking forward to many adventures together and an action packed 2026.

NAPLAN

Congratulations and well done to our year 3 and year 5 students who recently completed their NAPLAN testing. We were very impressed with the calm and positice approach from all the students. NAPLAN is a snapshot in time on a particular day and we are very grateful of the teaching and learning team at Surfside who collect many forms of data to support the student learning and social and emotional needs of our students. A big thank you to the year 3 and 5 staff and Mr Chapman and Emily our technician for their support and organisation.

State Schools Spectacular

Our Year 5 and 6 students have kicked off their first rehearsal at Western Heights Secondary College with energy and enthusiasm for the State School Spectacular. From the very beginning, they demonstrated focus and determination as they learned and practised all six routines, embracing the challenge with confidence.

Working collaboratively, students supported each another to master the choreography, refining their timing, coordination, and expression as a team. It was fantastic to see them learning the moves together, building connections, and already beginning to showcase their talents. This strong start sets an exciting foundation as they prepare for the State Schools Spectacular on 29th August. A huge thank- you to Ms Moss, Ms McCredden and Ms Griffiths for making this happen. 

Harmony Week 2026

Harmony Week is an annual celebration of Australia’s cultural diversity and the benefits it brings to the Australian community. Harmony Week was celebrated nationwide from Monday 16 March to Sunday 22 March 2026. This includes the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD) on Saturday 21 March 2026. It is an Australian Government initiative.

Since 1999, more than 80,000 Harmony Week events have been held across Australia in:

• childcare centres
• schools
• community groups
• churches
• businesses and
• federal, state and local government agencies.

Harmony Week is a time to celebrate that Australia is one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world. It is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.

Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.

Surfside celebrated Harmony Week on last Wednesday with a courtyard celebration of snack shack delights (slices and cupcakes), face painting and dancing together. A big thank you to our connections captains, Ms Henderson, the snack shack and Clancey for their support and organisation.

Jack working with the Foundation students

Jack has recently been in and working with our Foundation students as they have been learning about words, language, phonics and letters. The students were learning more about the letter 'D' and had many questions about Jack, his breed and a little bit about what he does each and every day (which includes a lot of sleeping). The students co-wrote some lovely sentences about what they learnt.

Snack Shack is Rocking

Snack shack has been very popular in the first part of the year with many scrumptious delights and some great team work from our snack shack crew. A stop work day couldn't even stop our snack shack preparation as we had a merry crew of handy helpers pop in to prepare our musk stick slice. Our Foundation students have enjoyed their first experiences of snack shack when they began their Wednesday attendance and we thank the Foundation staff for supporting the students through this process. A big thank you to everyone involved in snack shack throughout term 1 and especially Clancey and Stacey and the support crew who have stepped in to help. We look forward to working with a new team in term 2 and seeing what is on the menu.

Annual Implementation Plan 2025

At the completion of the 2025 school year the staff and leadership team at Surfside spend a considerable amount of time analysing our whole school data sets to inform our goals for 2026. The data sets that are used to drive student learning, engagement and wellbeing programs include the following:

• Student cohort data in literacy and numeracy including NAPLAN
• Student attitudes to school survey and wellbeing data check ins 
• Parent/carer and guardian opinion survey
• Surfside school staff survey
• Yard and classroom behaviour data
• Departmental implementation goals and initiatives

These data sets and initiatives allow us to celebrate the many achievements and success that happens at Surfside but also allows us to set goals for areas of improvement and growth. Below is an overview of our Annual Implementation Plan for 2026 and our full AIP. These have been presented to school council at our most recent AGM. It has been great to see a number of these goals and areas already taking shape across the school and in the classrooms throughout term 1. These goals were also derived from our 2025 school review.

 SURFSIDE PS - 2026 - ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Goal posts installed

As the footy season kicks off our students were excited to test their goal kicking skills out on the oval with the installation of our new goal posts. There will be plenty of marks and I am sure goal umpire disputes and calls for the 3rd umpire.

School Council 2026 - Annual General Meeting Overview

At our Annual General Meeting we welcomed our new and returning members for our 2026 school Council. Our nomination of office bearers saw Sabrina Lunn named School Council President, Alicia Brown named School Council Vice President and Clayton McIntosh as Treasurer. We enjoyed learning about our school council members and they bring a range of skills and abilities to our 2026 school council. Highlights of our meeting was the presentation of our 2026 Annual Implementation Plan which is highlighted above and the presentation of our Draft 2025 Annual Report that will be released next term and made available for families. We look forward to working with a skilled, enthusiastic and invested group of Surfside parents. 

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 19th April

• Finance Meeting - 5.00pm
• School Council Meeting - 5.30pm

Surfside Primary at the One Planet Festival - Come Visit Us!

We’re excited to share that Surfside Primary School will be hosting a stall at the One Planet Festival at Ocean Grove Park. The One Planet Festival is a vibrant, community-led celebration of local solutions for a thriving, fair, connected future.Through hands on workshops, engaging talks, family fun, and inspiring performances, the festival will bring together people of all ages to imagine- and help create- the world we want to live in!In 2026 it's even bigger, more zones, interactive activities, live demonstrations and much more! The festival also includes something for everyone with food and drinks, and a great music line-up.

Our Food Scrap Friday initiative and our passionate Food Scrap Friday Warriors will be proudly showcased on the day. Each week, our students take action to reduce waste and care for our environment by collecting and managing food scraps in sustainable ways. Their leadership and commitment are making a real difference in our school and beyond.

Our amazing Kitchen and Garden Captains and Sustainability Captains have been working closely with Ms Mel O’Toole to prepare creative and engaging ways to demonstrate what we do and how simple it can be to start managing food scraps at home or within your community.

Be sure to come down and visit our stall, we would love your support! Come along, say hello, and celebrate sustainability with us!

Parents Battle of the Bands 2026

Attention musical parents,

We are currently gathering expressions of interest from parents who would like to form a Parent Band and compete in the Parent Battle of the Bands in our region.

If this is something you would be interested in, please complete the Google Form linked below and we will be in touch.

Parent Battel Of The Bands Google Form

2027 Sibling Enrolments 

It has been great to see our Prep students start full time and we are already planning our 2026 Prep enrolment tours and information sessions. Our official enrolment period for 2026 opens on day 1 of term 2. Under Department of Education guidance Surfside Primary School currentlay has in place an Enrolment Management Plan as we are currently at capacity. We are only able to currently fulfil the following within the DET placement policy:

'In circumstances where schools do not have sufficient accommodation to accept all students who apply from outside their school zone, schools must manage enrolment applications in accordance with the following priority order of placement:

1. students with a sibling at the same permanent address who are attending the school at the same time
2. all other students in order of closeness of their home to the school (only within the designated Find my School zone)

If you have a younger child that is ready for school in 2026 we would appreciate you letting us know  so we can ensure a place for you in 2026.  Please refer to the Prep enrolment timeline and guidelines below and this information will be in our newsletters throughout term 2:

The timeline will apply for children starting Foundation (Prep) in 2026.

You can find information and resources about the timeline, including factsheets, at: Enrolling in Foundation (Prep). You can also download the ‘Foundation (Prep) Enrolment Information Pack for Parents/Carers for the 2025 school year’ from the Starting School webpage. (available from Tuesday 24th April)

You will be able to apply to enrol your child in Foundation (Prep) 2026 at Surfside Primary School from Tuesday 24th April 2025.

What you need to do:

1. Contact the school on 5256 1411, pop into the office or book a school tour when tours are made available 
2. Submit an enrolment application for Foundation (Prep) by Friday 25 July 2025
3. You will be notified of the outcome of your application between Monday 28th July and Friday 8th August, 2025. If you receive an offer of placement, you should contact our school to accept the offer by Friday 22nd August 2025.
4. Take part in enrolment information and transition sessions during Term 4, 2024
5. Your child will start Foundation (Prep) from the week starting Wednesday 28th January 2026.

Enrolment applications submitted after Friday 25th July, 2025 will be processed by our school as they are received, in accordance with the department’s Placement Policy.

Student Attendance

Regular attendance at school is very important for your child's learning and social development. Very good attendance for a child is 95% and above.

It is important that children are at school as much as possible to ensure the BEST opportunity for learning growth. We need to utilise every available minute to ensure student growth academically, socially and emotionally, in and out of the classroom. 

If early collection for a shopping trip or to beat the traffic happens on a regular basis this can take away from valuable learning time throughout their schooling life. Please take the time to read the graphic below and to understand the long term affect this can have on student development. We understand that students are impacted by illness, injury or other ailments. If your child is going to be absent you are required by legislation to notify the school by:

• Logging onto Compass  and
• Enter the absence for full days only 
• If your child/children arrive late or are being collected early, the office staff will enter this onto Compass for you.