Principal's Message

Dear TRPS Families, 

Welcome to Term 4!

We hope everyone enjoyed some fun family time over the holidays. Term 4 is always a very busy but rewarding term. Some of the actions currently on our “to do” lists include assessing our students in order to write Semester 2 reports, running Prep 2026 Transition sessions and Family Information Nights, recruiting new staff, completing student grade placements for 2026, facilitating classroom organisation for 2026, planning Grade 6 Graduation and of course, ensuring that our students end the year feeling accomplished and proud of their 2025 achievements.

Pupil Free Day – Friday, 28th of November, will be our final Pupil Free Day.  

Please add this to your calendar and make a booking with Big Childcare if you require care for your child. 

Grade One Phonics Check

This year, our Grade One students participated in the statewide Phonics Screening Check — an important assessment that helps teachers understand how well children are learning to use letter–sound knowledge to read words. We are thrilled to share that 78% of Tarneit Rise Primary School students achieved at or above the benchmark, compared to the state average of 60%. This outstanding result reflects the dedication of our students, the support of our families, and the commitment of our teachers to building strong early literacy foundations.

Highlights and Happenings This Term

• Prep Transition: Our 2026 Prep transition program begins this term! We look forward to welcoming our newest learners and their families into the school community.
• Excursions and Events: Many grades are preparing for their end-of-year excursions and celebration days. Keep an eye on Compass for any consents and payments required.
• Graduation and celebration events
• TRPS Bush dance – this year’s community engagement event, more details to follow… 

Road safety around the school: 

Victoria Police are working to support school communities, ensuring that school drop-off and pick-up are safe for all community members. You will see Police Officers patrolling around the school at these critical times of the day, both on foot and in patrol cars, to monitor the situation. Again, we acknowledge that there are a lot of cars around the school, making it difficult to park and pick up/drop off. We implore all members of our Tarneit Rise family to display kindness and consideration towards one another, and to walk to and from school whenever possible. 

Daily school attendance is essential for all children to succeed in education and ensure they don't fall behind both socially and developmentally. Children who regularly attend school tend to have better health outcomes, more favorable employment outcomes, and higher incomes throughout their lives. Children must develop a habit of regular attendance at an early age. There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them at a disadvantage and can impact their longer-term educational and social outcomes. It is just as important for students at the beginning of their school journey to be at school each day as it is for those who are moving on to secondary school soon. EVERY day is important to ensure solid foundations for learning are built. We have increased our monitoring of absences, particularly unexplained absences, which means you will receive a phone call from school anytime that your child is absent for unexplained reasons. If your child is absent, please notify us by 10:00 a.m. with the reason for their absence. Members of the executive leadership team are currently contacting families where children have missed 30 days or more of school and arranging meetings to work together to improve attendance. 

2026 Calendar – Planning is underway for the start of 2026, and we would like to share it with our families so they can plan for a smooth year ahead. Previously, our Preps have not attended on Wednesdays for the first month, but in 2026, our Preps will start full-time from Tuesday, 3rd February. All of our Grade Prep, 1 & 2 children will be required to attend a 1:1 literacy and numeracy assessment on one of the following days: Thursday, 29 January, Friday, 30 January, and Monday, 2 February. These assessments will help the teachers identify the individual learning needs of each child, ensuring effective and targeted teaching from the very beginning of the school year. We will notify families when bookings are open closer to the dates. Big Childcare will be available on these dates if you require care for your child. 

Have a great fortnight.

Nadia Bettio