Principal's News & Events

Term 3

It is hard to believe that I have now been at Wembley Primary School for 10 weeks. In that short time, I have had the opportunity to get to know our students, staff and families, spend time in classrooms and the yard, and develop a much deeper understanding of what makes Wembley such a special school community. From the beginning, I have been struck by the pride people have in our school and the genuine commitment of our staff, students and families. 

I want to thank our students, staff and families for your understanding as some of our communication this term: including Principal’s Posts, newsletters, Sentral updates and assemblies - may have looked a little different to what you have been used to.

Every school has its own way of doing things, and as I have settled into Wembley, I have taken the time to watch, listen, learn and understand what has worked well, while also considering where we can continue to improve.

I appreciate your patience as I have worked through this. As we move into Term 4, one of my priorities is to ensure our families are well informed about important updates, upcoming changes, what is ahead for 2027, and most importantly, the many achievements and successes of our students.

Thank you for giving me the time to learn and understand our school community, while also looking at how we can strengthen the way we communicate and connect with families moving forward.

Learning, Teaching and School Improvement

A significant focus during this term has been understanding where we are as a school and where we want to go next. Building on the review work undertaken over the past six months, we have continued to examine student achievement and growth data, student, parent and staff feedback, and the findings of our independent school review. This work has highlighted many strengths to celebrate, while also identifying areas where we can continue to improve.

Our Curriculum Day was an important first step in this work. Staff began deepening their understanding of the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0), exploring the Elements of Learning and Elements of Teaching and beginning to unpack the Victorian Lesson Plans. We also continued our work around consistent approaches to student behaviour, with a focus on creating calm, safe and predictable classrooms where students can focus on learning.

An important part of our work with the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0) is understanding how students learn best. Cognitive Load Theory tells us that students can only take in a limited amount of new information at one time. Learning is more effective when new information is taught in clear, manageable steps, linked to what students already know, and supported through modelling, practice and regular checks for understanding. Over time, practice helps students store new knowledge in their long-term memory so they can recall and use it more easily. For our staff at Wembley Primary School, this means continuing to develop consistent teaching practices that make learning clear, reduce unnecessary overload and help every student experience success. 

We have also celebrated our strong NAPLAN results, with Wembley students performing above our network average in many areas. At the same time, we are looking carefully at student growth and considering where we can strengthen our practice further. Our approach will continue to be one of celebrating success while remaining curious about what we can do even better.

Building a Safe, Respectful and Inclusive School

I have spent considerable time speaking with students about our Wembley values of Respect, Resilience, Empathy and Inclusion, and what these look like in our classrooms and playground every day. These conversations are an important part of strengthening a positive school culture where students understand that we all have a role to play in making Wembley a safe and welcoming place to learn.

As a school we acknowledged, Bullying No Way Week we reinforced this work through the theme Small Acts, Big Impact. Students explored the importance of kindness, inclusion, speaking respectfully and seeking support when something does not feel right. Our Kids Helpline incursion also provided students with age-appropriate learning to support these important conversations.

The Wembley Way: 

Know It. Show It. Lead It. 

At Wembley Primary School, we want every student to feel safe, included and ready to learn. To support this, we are strengthening The Wembley Way — a consistent approach to teaching and supporting positive behaviour across our school.

The Wembley Way is about making expectations clear, helping students make positive choices and supporting them to learn and move forward when things go wrong.

Our school rules

Our school rules are the same from Prep to Year 6:

• Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself.
• Take care of all property.
• Speak kindly and appropriately.
• Listen to the speaker.
• Move safely and quietly.
• Follow instructions and routines.
• Let others learn.

While the rules are the same for everyone, how we teach them changes as students grow.

Prep–Year 2: KNOW the Wembley Way

Our youngest students are learning what our school rules mean and what they look and sound like. Teachers explicitly teach, model and practise these behaviours so students know what is expected and can experience success.

Years 3–4: SHOW the Wembley Way

As students become more independent, we support them to consistently show the Wembley Way in the classroom, playground and around the school. Students are encouraged to take greater responsibility for their choices and actions.

Years 5–6: LEAD the Wembley Way

Our senior students have an important role in leading the Wembley Way. We encourage them to be positive role models, make respectful choices, support others and seek help from an adult when something is not right.

When there are hiccups.....

We know that children are still learning and that mistakes will happen. An important part of our role is helping students understand what happened, the impact of their choices and what they can do differently next time.

We group behaviours as minor or major to help staff respond consistently.

Minor behaviours are generally managed by the teacher or adult present. This may include calling out, disrupting learning, not following an instruction or using an inappropriate tone. Staff will remind, redirect and reteach the expected behaviour.

Major behaviours require additional support and follow-up. These are behaviours that may cause physical, emotional or psychological harm, such as physical aggression, bullying, threats, significant property damage or discriminatory or abusive language.

School leaders work alongside staff and students to respond to these behaviours, with a focus on safety, accountability, learning and repairing harm.

Reflection and Repair

We have also reintroduced our Reflection and Repair Room, supported by school leaders during recess and lunch.

Following a significant incident, a student may spend some time with a school leader reflecting on what happened. This is not simply about a consequence — it is an opportunity to help students learn from the situation and reflect on what led to the situation.

Students may be supported to think about:

• What happened?
• Who was affected?
• How might they feel?
• What could I do differently next time?
• How can I help make things better?

Our REP approach

When appropriate, students will develop a simple plan using our REP approach:

R — Repair: What can I do to help make things right? This might include an apology, repairing something that was damaged or rebuilding a relationship.

E — Educate: What do I need to learn or practise so I can make a different choice next time? Students may receive additional teaching or support depending on what has occurred.

P — Privilege: Sometimes a temporary change to a privilege may be appropriate and connected to what has happened. This could include changes to playground access, device use, activities, sporting events or leadership responsibilities.

Responses will always consider the individual student, what has occurred and the impact on others. Our aim is for consequences to be fair, appropriate and focused on learning.

At the heart of the Wembley Way is a simple message: children need both support and clear expectations. We want our students to know what is expected, have opportunities to practise it and be supported to make things right when mistakes occur.

We encourage families to talk with their children about what it means to Know It, Show It and Lead It. Working together, we can continue to build a safe, respectful and inclusive Wembley community where every student can learn and thrive.

So Much to Celebrate

Of course, school is about much more than the work happening behind the scenes, and Term 3 has certainly been a busy one!

We celebrated 100 Days of Prep, watched our Year 1 and 2 students build their confidence and water-safety skills through swimming, enjoyed our Junior School Mini Athletics Carnival, participated in ICAS assessments and cheered on our students at District Athletics. Our Prep students welcomed local firefighters for their Fire Education incursion, Year 1 enjoyed their Movie Night, and our Year 2 students headed off for an exciting day at Sunny Stones Day Camp.

Book Week began with a fantastic parade, followed by an author visit and plenty of opportunities to share some of our favourite books. We celebrated the dads and special people in our students’ lives, wore purple to recognise and celebrate inclusion, had our Spanish festivities and, of course, had an enormous amount of fun at our Monty the Monstar Colour Fun Run — particularly when some very brave staff members allowed themselves to be slimed by our students!

We will finish the term by wearing our favourite sporting colours as many sports head into finals. It has been a term full of learning, connection, celebration and plenty of fun, all the things that make Wembley such a great place to be. A big shout out to all our volunteers, organisers, staff and students that have supported and made these events happen!

Looking Ahead to Term 4 and 2027

Next term, we will begin looking at how we can update our school website to ensure the information available to current and prospective families is clear, useful and reflects Wembley Primary School today. We will also be seeking feedback from families about how we communicate and share important information, updates and celebrations across our school. Your feedback will help inform what this looks like moving forward.

As we begin planning for 2027, I would also like to remind families of two important things:

• Not returning to Wembley in 2027? If your child will not be returning to Wembley Primary School next year, please let us know as soon as possible. This information is important as we begin planning our classes and staffing for 2027. Please email wembley.ps@education.vic.gov.au
• Class placement considerations: If there is information about your child that you would like us to consider when developing 2027 classes, you can make your class placement request here: https://forms.gle/1WDG6DpfoxTkDJvJ9 Please note that requests for specific teachers or friendship placements will not be considered.

Further information about our planning for 2027 will be shared with families throughout Term 4.

This term has been about listening, learning and building relationships, while also beginning to establish the priorities that will guide our work moving forward. There is so much to be proud of at Wembley, along with a real opportunity to build on the strong foundations already in place.

I would like to thank our students, staff and families for the warm welcome, conversations, feedback and support I have received throughout the term. Getting to know our school and community has been an important part of my first term, and I am grateful to everyone who has taken the time to share their experiences, ideas and perspectives with me.

Strong schools are built through strong partnerships. As we look towards Term 4 and begin planning for 2027, I am excited about what lies ahead and look forward to continuing to work alongside our community to ensure every Wembley student is known, connected, challenged and successful.

~ Sharon 🙂 ~