Principal's Desk

Getting ready for 2025

Students were all abuzz on Thursday this week as they bounced around the school, getting to know their new class for next year. It was great to see such excitement and enthusiasm about growing up and moving onto the next challenge.

Moving classes always introduces some challenges for students. A classroom is, in a lot of ways, a lot like a family and love them or not, you grow to appreciate or at least understand the idiosyncrasies of the people around us.

For many years, schools and society in general have discussed the idea of building students' resilience. We talk about wanting students to be able to adapt to change and overcome adversity. Starting in a new class with a new teacher is a great opportunity to flex those resilience muscles. For students who are a bit unsure of what's in front of them, here are some basic things you can do to assist:

Who are you looking forward to getting to know better?
Who in the class has helped you or been kind to you in the past?
What is it about the next year level that will be new and interesting for you?
What can you do to signify changing a year level?
Could you add something to your bag or change your pencil case?
How have things changed since you started school?
What new friends have you made?
What did you learn or master that was really hard in Foundation?

In any aspect of life, we want to be able to build anticipation and get excited about what's ahead of us. When this is challenging, it can help to reach back into our past and identify our successes - by seeing how we overcame issues in the past, we can start to plan for how we will tackle the next ones.

I encourage all parents to help students prepare for these changes, even if they're not openly feeling anxious or concerned. Planning ahead and pre-loading some strategies for success is always a good thing and is at the heart of Positive Education.

2025 Transition Process

Like previous years, we have been able to provide a robust transition experience for our students. Students met their new teacher for 2025 on Thursday this week, and will again next Monday. To achieve the most out of school, students need to meet new peers and learn how to make new human connections. Living in the comfort zone might sound nice but it doesn’t develop the skills necessary to cope in life. This year we have asked parents for any requests quite early in the piece, and I thank those who have done so within the timeframe – it certainly assistance our teachers in working through this complex task of formulating new groupings for 2025.

Last Day of the 2024 School Year

The final day of the school year for students and staff is Friday 20 December, with students being dismissed at 1:15pm. Many families have indicated to classroom teachers and the office that their child’s final day will be earlier than Friday 20 December. If your child will not be attending school at any time in the final week/s of the school year, please ensure you enter their absence into Compass as soon as possible so we can finalise our student attendance records for the school year.

2024 Final Assembly and Early Finishing Time for Final Day

Our final assembly for the 2024 school year will be held on the final day of school on Friday 20 December. Weather permitting, the assembly will be held at the podium area and will begin at approximately 12:50pm and conclude by 1:15pm. All students will be dismissed by their classroom teacher at the conclusion of assembly at 1:15pm.

TeamKids will be running an extended after school care program that will begin at 1:15pm. Information about TeamKid's program and contact information is available via our School Website.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please feel free to pop in for a chat with either Carrie, Brendan or I, should you wish to discuss anything.

Our doors are always open!

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman