From The Principal

Education Week is being celebrated across Victoria this week, with this year’s theme, “Showcase your school.” It’s an opportunity for schools to reflect on and celebrate the work happening in classrooms and across the wider school community.

At Hamlyn Views, the theme is a good reminder of the many different ways learning and growth happen for our students every day. Whether it’s building communication, independence, confidence, social connections or classroom learning skills, we are proud of the progress our students make and the supportive environments our staff work hard to create.

Last week we celebrated ES Day with a shared morning tea to recognise and thank our amazing Education Support staff. We are incredibly appreciative of the care, commitment, patience and hard work they bring to the school every day. The relationships they build with students and the support they provide across all areas of the school make an enormous difference, and quite simply, we couldn’t do what we do without them. 

We were thrilled to welcome 55 guests to our Mother’s Day celebration last week. It was wonderful to see so many special people join us for the morning, and the students absolutely loved having them there to celebrate together.

Earlier this month, the Principal team attended the PASS (Principals Association of Specialist Schools) Conference in San Remo, which is always a valuable and enjoyable part of the year for specialist school leaders.

It’s a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues from other specialist schools, learn together and share ideas and practice. These connections often lead to ongoing collaboration between schools, including visits, resource sharing and support networks, which are always beneficial for both staff and students.

Although AEU industrial action has now been suspended while negotiations continue, the suspension occurred late in the reporting timeline and full written comments are therefore not required to be written by AEU members this semester. This will affect the majority of student reports. Student Support Group meetings will still go ahead as normal, so families will continue to have the opportunity to discuss their child’s progress, learning and goals in detail with staff.

We understand that sometimes students need to arrive later to school due to appointments or other reasons. Just a reminder that if students arrive during recess or lunch breaks, there may be a slightly longer wait in Admin as most of our staff are out in the yard supporting students at those times. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

As we head into cold and flu season, we often see higher levels of staff absence, particularly as staff are very mindful of the vulnerability of many of our students and the importance of keeping everyone safe and well. We also ask families to please keep students home if they are unwell, where possible, to help reduce the spread of illness across our school community. We appreciate everyone working together to help keep our students and staff safe over the winter months.

The Department of Education has a new Specialist School page on its website: 

https://www.vic.gov.au/specialist-schools

The new webpage provides improved information for families and school communities about:

✔️ specialist school settings

✔️ eligibility criteria

✔️ enrolment processes

✔️ school specialisations