Principal's Report
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, learn and play. We pay respect to Wurundjeri elders past, present and emerging and extend our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families of Bimbadeen Heights Primary School.
We have been actively planning a range of exciting excursions and incursions for our students this year across each year level. Teachers have been mindful of cost when planning these excursions and throughout 2026, we will be tracking activities across the school with the continued aim of spreading out and minimising extra costs to parents/carers.
Our camping program is as follows:
Information will be sent to parents/carers about specific Year Level camps a minimum of 8 weeks prior to each camping experience. A variety of payment options including payment plans are available to all families, and access to the DE Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund is available for eligible families.
We have been able to fund Time in Lieu for our staff for our school camps by utilising funding tagged to our common professional practice day in Term 2, and by allocating the Monday before Melbourne Cup Day as a time in lieu day. These structures have ensured that no additional costs have been pushed onto parents and carers, and our camping program has been able to continue in 2026.
We have exciting plans for continuing to grow our Student Excellence Program in 2026, under the leadership of Marty Gill, Assistant Principal, and Beth Dean, Learning Specialist. Mr Gill and Ms Dean have planned a variety of opportunities for our students this year including opportunities to participate in the Tournament of the Minds, Science Talent Search, Maths Olympiad, and the Global Citizenship Student Ambassador Program. Opportunities will be communicated directly with students and families throughout the year.
We are eagerly awaiting news on our application for a Gold Award in School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) for implementation fidelity in 2025. SWPBS is a framework for preventing, reducing, and replacing problem behaviours and is embedded across our school. The purpose of this framework is to explicitly teach positive, appropriate behaviours while creating an environment in which these behaviours are more acceptable than are other negative, inappropriate behaviours. Our school values are integral to SWPBS as they are the basis of all the positive behaviours that we are encouraging at Bimbadeen. Amanda Bailey will continue to lead the program in 2026. Parent and carer involvement in SWPBS and our Student Wellbeing committee is important and warmly welcomed. If you would like to join our Student Wellbeing committee, please contact Mrs Amanda Bailey on Amanda.Bailey@education.vic.gov.au
Supporting SWPBS is the Valued Beginning program. At the beginning of each school year, all teachers base their class program on student wellbeing and the building of positive relationships within the classroom. Valued Beginning activities focus on creating an environment of trust and co-operation, establishing class routines and expectations, and developing a common understanding of our school values. Our Valued Beginning program this year has seen the development of structured, orderly environments and settled students and staff.
We have 3 more pupil free days planned for the 2026 school year (Wednesday 4 June, Monday 21 July and Wednesday 4 November). On pupil free days, students are not required at school. Please ensure you have made appropriate arrangements for the care and supervision of your child on these dates. TeamKids runs a whole day care program on each pupil free day.
If you need to book your child into the service, please contact the service directly. Contact details are available on our website https://www.bimbadeenheightsps.vic.edu.au/before-and-after-care/
A reminder that the Department of Education has in place a mobile phone ban that requires students who bring mobiles phones and digital devices to school to have them switched off and securely put away during school hours.
The Department of Education requires all government schools to ensure this ban is in place and enforced. This helps ensure that school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions.
All Bimbadeen students who bring their mobile phone or digital device with them to school must sign in their device at the office upon arrival. All devices will be locked in a secure location during the day. Students then need to sign out and collect their device at the end of the day. If your child brings a digital device to school, please discuss this expectation with them and ensure your child signs in their mobile device/s at the office by 8:55am and collect them after school by 3:40pm.
In addition, any student who brings a wearable device to school, such as a smart watch, must have ‘school mode’ enabled to prevent them using the device to make calls and send messages during the school day. If ‘school mode’ is not enabled, the student will be required to sign in their device at the office and collect it after school, in line with the Department of Education policy.
By ensuring mobile phones are kept away at recess and lunch times, students can interact with each other face-to-face, without the distractions and social pressures that mobile phones can cause. We ask for the support of all our families, staff, and students in continuing to support the implementation of this policy in our school.
For a small number of students with particular health needs, an exception to the policy may be granted. Please contact a member of the Leadership Team if you would like to discuss this.
In the event of an emergency or if you need to immediately contact your child, I ask that families contact the school office who will pass on a message as required.
A copy of our school’s local mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context, is available on our school website. The Mobile phones in schools webpage provides links to resources for families to help them balance their children’s time using mobile phones. If you have further questions, please contact the office.
Thank you to the many families who have already returned the forms from the Back to School kit that was sent home at the beginning of the year.
If you have not yet read through the kit and/or returned the relevant forms to school, please do this at your earliest opportunity.
Sentral is our main form of communication between school and home. We expect that parents and carers are checking Sentral regularly for upcoming dates on the calendar, newsletters, excursion notices and year and school level communications. If you are experiencing difficulties with Sentral, please don’t hesitate to speak with Shelley and Emma at the office.
The Victorian Government is committed to continuing to provide free pads and tampons in all government primary, secondary and specialist schools. Sanitary items are a necessity, not a luxury, and this initiative supports tens of thousands of girls and young women in schools across the state. Our dispenser is installed in the female bathroom in the BER Building (Year 5 & 6 building) and is available for any student who may need to access sanitary products while at school. The aim of this initiative is to:
We want to let you know about our school’s emergency management plan. Our school plans for a range of hazards, such as severe weather, medical emergencies, building fires, intruders, etc. We develop specific response procedures to address these risks.
We also conduct drills regularly, ensuring that our core procedures of on-site and off-site evacuation, sheltering-in-place, and lockdown/lockouts are well-rehearsed and understood by staff and students.
If we enact our emergency management plan, we will notify you by Sentral notification with updates on our actions. If there is anything we need you to do, we will let you know.
During emergencies, we will work with emergency services and the Department of Education for safety advice and support. Please know that keeping our students and staff safe is our top priority.
To help keep our students and families safe, we kindly remind all drivers to never stop or park on the school crossing and to remain behind the solid line until the road ahead is completely clear before proceeding.
Please also remember that vehicles travelling in both directions must stop when the School Crossing Supervisor displays the crossing signage. This applies to all cars on both sides of the road, regardless of direction of travel. Thank you for your care, patience and cooperation in keeping our school community safe.
Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.
Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.
We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:
Vietnamese
We hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please feel free to pop in for a chat with us, or any other member of our Leadership team should you wish to discuss anything. Our doors are always open!
Warm regards,
Adele Gregson, Sabrina George, Marty Gill and Bree King
