Acting Assistant Principal

Our Assistant Principal, Mitch Harris, is completing an internship at Melrose Primary School for the next 4 weeks as part of the professional learning he has been undertaking. I’d like to congratulate, thank and welcome Shantelle Stimson into the Acting Assistant Principal role for this time. Shantelle will continue teaching her classes and in her role as the Year 11 and 12 Student Engagement Leader (SEL). If you have any concerns about any students, please contact the relevant year level SEL or Shantelle. Mitch will return in Week 9 on Monday the 23rd of March.

School Council Self-Nominations

The last meeting of the current school council was held this week. The report from the meeting is on the School Council page in this newsletter. As mentioned previously, thanks to our outgoing councillors Leanne Hull, Sarah Shuttleworth (parent reps), Emily Macklan, Zoe Gray (student reps), Emma Redmond, Ita Rose and Mitch Harris (staff reps) for their service over the last 2 years on council.

I’d like to make special mention and thank of our School Council President, Leanne Hull; and driving force for fundraising, Sarah Shuttleworth, for their contributions over that time. Lastly, Meredith Anderson, who commenced her second term on council in 2025, and took on the Vice President role, has said she will not be able to continue into her second year of tenure, so there is an extra parent rep position that will need to be filled.

As such, we are seeking 3 parents to fill the parent category, 2 students to fill the student category and 3 staff to fill the staff category.

If you would like to self-nominate for a position on School Council, the forms are attached with this newsletter and are available from the office. If we receive more self-nominations than are required to fill the positions, we will then need to go to a ballot. If this is required, details about voting will be advertised from Monday 2nd March.

Self-nomination forms are due to the office by Friday 27th February, 4.30pm.

School Council DOES

School Council DOES NOT

Work with the school,

focus on strategic governance and set the broad direction through the Review, Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan
assist with the development and review of policies and ensure compliance with regulations
financial management by approving the annual budget, monitoring spending and raising funds
maintain school facilities
report annually to the school community

School Council’s work does not include:

daily operations of the running of the school
staffing decisions
curriculum and classroom management
individual student/parent issues

Progress Reports

Mid Term 1 Progress Reports will be available in Compass today. These reports are completed in Weeks 4 and 8 of each term and help to monitor the students’ learning habits in class. All students should be able to achieve working at a level of 3, the expected level. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information provided in these reports, please don’t hesitate to contact the individual teacher, or the Student Engagement Leaders; Josh Davies for Years 7 and 8; Jenny Farrington for Years 9 and 10; Shantelle Stimson for Years 11 and 12.

NAPLAN

The 2026 NAPLAN testing for our students in Years 7 and 9 is approaching, with the testing dates being from Wednesday 11th to Monday 23rd March.

These tests are a snap-shot of information collected for your child and is a way to see the progress in their learning over their schooling. These results, added to other information teachers collect during their classes, are helpful to see strengths, areas for improvements and where extra support or extension might be required. They may also help to provide additional funding to our school.

The information gained from the results is very valuable for schools, yet a test result does not define someone. We acknowledge that the idea of testing can be daunting, but the information collected is so valuable, we encourage everyone to do their best.

If you are unsure if your child should participate in NAPLAN, please contact myself or Jarrah Brennan (NAPLAN administrators) to discuss your concerns.

In exceptional circumstances, a student with a disability that severely limits their capacity to participate in the assessment, or a student who has recently arrived in Australia and has a non-English speaking background, may be granted a formal exemption.

Detailed information will be emailed out through Compass to Year 7 and 9 families this week.

Camps Program

Next week, school will seem a lot quieter, as we will have our Year 7s and Year 9s out on camp, at Outdoor School (Bogong).

The Year 7 camp is designed to mix and strengthen the relationships between the students, as they start their high schooling.

The Year 9s have had some sessions at school from their Future Makers Program already, and this 2 week block is their residential part of the program, designed to help develop leadership skills, team work, peer relationships and begin forward thinking about what their future might hold.

We hope the students all have a wonderful time, display the school values of respect, kindness and confidence and be prepared to push themselves beyond their comfort zone in their activities and learning, knowing it is a safe and controlled environment.

Careers and Pathways

Jo Macklan

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