From the Principal

It is hard to believe that Term 3 is almost at an end. It has been a busy term with many notable events:

Performing Arts - F/1 Concert ‘A Kaleidoscope of Colour’, the Year 2 production ‘Are we there yet?’, the Year 3&4 Production ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth and the Year 5&6 Production ‘The Little Mermaid’.
Sport Events - House Athletics, District Athletics, Hot Shots Tennis & Division Soccer.
Extension Programs - John Monash Science School, Maths Olympiad, ICAS Competition, Victorian High Ability Mathematics & English Programs.
Other events - the Father’s Day Breakfast, Year 3-6 Swimming, Book Week, the Year 3&4 Camp to Arrabri, Science Week, RUOK Day, Lucinda Gifford author visit, Abacus Maths and Lunchtime Chess Club and our first K-F transition sessions. Phew!

School Productions - thank you!

I want to thank our whole school community - students, families and staff for their commitment in making all of our school productions a huge success! It takes a team effort, and our students were able to showcase their many talents. Special thanks to our performing arts teacher Lucy for her vision and passion in directing each of the productions. She especially demonstrated creativity in choosing the songs and music for the F-4 shows and developing choreography for all the shows. It was a wonderful opportunity for all of our students experience the process of rehearsing and performing a show.

2027 Planning

The school is well underway in planning the 2027 school year.

Next term, the school will be working on class lists for 2027. As per our Class Placement Policy (attached and also available on our school’s website), parents can write to Principal Ruth Biddle regarding class placements for their children.

The process of making classes

Considerable thought, planning and time goes into placing children into classes and all staff are committed to meeting the educational needs of all students. Every effort is made to place each child in a learning environment that supports their learning and wellbeing.

When making classes:

The leadership and consultative team look at indicative student numbers and the amount of classes we can have for the 2027 school year.
In early term 4, students will have the opportunity to select 5 friends with a guarantee of being placed with at least one of these friends.
Staff Teams begin drafting grades with consideration given to student numbers, gender balance, the previous class, each student’s academic and social ability, behaviour, friendship groups and family members of the same age (e.g. twins, cousins, siblings).
Parent requests are reviewed.
The School Leadership Team reviews the classes and makes any necessary final alterations. The principal has the final say regarding all classes.

Parents may wish to make a request if there are circumstances that may have a significant impact on their child’s educational, social or personal development. It should be noted that:

There is no provision to request teachers.
Parent requests are not guaranteed as the school will not always be able to accommodate all requests but will endeavour to take parents’ views into consideration where possible.
We discourage families from making requests about friendships for their children as the school will offer this opportunity for students in early Term 4. You can make a request to be separated from a child if there is a negative history or incidences. This will be discussed with the Principal Team and considered on a case-by-case basis. Depending on the reasons and ease of accommodation, may or may not be approved.

All information received from parents is considered in this context. Please ensure you email the school, oakleigh.ps@education.vic.gov.au directing the email to Ruth Biddle by Friday 30 October. Requests must come through the office address and not to classroom teachers. Any requests made after this date will not be considered. Please note that if you made a request last year that you will need to write another request this year if it is still relevant for your child.

Sometimes not getting requests upsets students and their families. Invariably however, we find that students settle well in their new grade, meet new friends and are able to thrive. Our school values of connection and growth really come to play in this situation. We want our children to form new connections and experience growth- socially and academically each year in a different class. This helps prepare students to be flexible, especially those in the senior years as they prepare for secondary schooling in future years where they might have multiple teachers and different class compositions each day!

If you are planning on moving interstate, to another country or away from Oakleigh PS and are yet to notify the office please do so as soon as possible. Numbers have a significant bearing on our planning, and we appreciate early notification where possible.

If you hear of anyone wishing to attend Oakleigh in 2027, please send them to the office to enrol. If you have not enrolled any younger siblings, please do so as quickly as possible so that they can attend our kinder to school transition program.

If you have any further questions, please contact the school office.

Father's Day Breakfast - thank you!

Our annual Father’s Day Breakfast was a wonderful way to start the day, with families joining us on Friday, 4 September despite the chilly morning.

The event was a fantastic success, and we would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed their time, energy and support. From the preparation in the lead-up to the event to helping on the morning, the incredible efforts of our parent community helped make the breakfast such a memorable occasion.

A special thank you goes to Eliza Nikolaou and Selvia Lee for their outstanding leadership and organisation. They worked tirelessly behind the scenes to coordinate the event, support our parent volunteers on the morning and liaise with caterers to ensure everyone was well fed and looked after.

We would also like to acknowledge and thank the following businesses, families, volunteers, staff and students for their generous contributions:

Thank you to the following people for their help in making this event a huge success:

Kiran and Baker's Delight Oakleigh for the pastries and scrolls
Phil and Banjo's Bistro East Malvern RSL for the egg, bacon & cheese rolls
The Coffee Mill for the coffee stand
Woolworths Oakleigh and Coles Chadstone for donations
AJ bakery and Iva for lending us the bain maries
Volunteers: Wes, Terence, Mathew W, Kristi, Louisa, Melissa, Claire, Brigid, Amara, Kate, Nicole, Kyoko, Yijing, Marina, Vanessa, Loren, Simon, Tony, Mathew Q, Keith, and all other helpers who may not have been mentioned here
School staff: Ruth, Bron, Katherine, Anne, Susan, Deb, Michelle and James OSHC
Students: Evelyn Chow (craft table, runner), Emma Waszak (runner) and Aria Mirdi (runner)

Events like this are only possible because of the wonderful sense of community at Oakleigh Primary School. Thank you to everyone who helped make our Father’s Day Breakfast such a great success!

School Policy Update

At our school council meeting in September the Homework Policy was passed. Thank you to the parents that gave feedback about this policy. Council have also created and passed a Social Media Communication Policy. This policy reminds our community of the behaviour and standards expected when using social media platforms in the context in communicating about school.

Traffic Update

I was recently contacted by the Monash Council Transport Team about some important updates to Logie Street.

Council have received a number of parent and school concerns about the traffic and parking behaviour on Logie Street, in particular the illegal U-turn manoeuvres during school drop off and pick up periods. This includes motorists using residential driveways to perform a three-point turn, which is also considered an illegal U-turn. This behaviour disrupts traffic flow and poses a safety risk to pedestrians, particularly children.

The council have investigated the issue and they will undertake the following works:

Install “Use of Driveway Prohibited” signage at several location to accompany the No U-Turn, 8:30am – 9:30am and 3pm – 4pm, School Days restrictions.
Install “No Stopping” signage over the driveways of 3-5 Logie Street to formalise that only one car can park in front of No. 3.
Refresh the centre line marking between the school crossing and 9 Logie Street.
Install directional arrow line marking at the end of the Kiss and Go zone to guide drivers to continue straight along Logie Street.

These changes will likely be delivered between the Term 3 and Term 4 break.

The school understands there will be an increase in surveillance by Victoria Police in the area as well.

This is great news. Each term, we communicate reminders to our parents about safely driving around the school. Life is precious and we want to avoid any road incidences. I urge all motorists to behave safely and lawfully for the safety of everyone.

Scholarships for students

The Department of Education manages a range of student scholarships. These are available for students who:

complete Grade 4 to Year 11 in 2026
are enrolled in Year 12 in 2026 and plan to do tertiary studies in 2027.

The department will evaluate applicants on their:

academic achievement
participation in school and community activities
financial need.

Scholarships are either one-off payments or cover the duration of the student’s course.

Applications for these scholarships open on Thursday 1 October 2026 and close on Monday 1 February 2027.

To view all available scholarships and for more information on each, including how to apply, refer to Student scholarships.

Oakleigh Education Precinct

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

The Parent / Carer Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday, 17 August to Friday 18 September 2026.

To complete the survey, simply:

1. Click on the link below or copy and paste the text into your browser. This link will take you directly to the survey. https://research.orima.com/parent

2. Select the School and Campus name below.

School Name: Oakleigh Primary School

Campus Name: Oakleigh Primary School

3. Enter the School PIN - 883368

4. When complete, please click on the ‘Submit’ button at the end of the survey to submit your answers. Please note that the survey will time out after 60 minutes of inactivity.

Work at the Victorian state election

The Victorian state election will be held on Saturday 28 November 2026.

The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is looking for people to staff voting centres in paid roles.

Roles suit a range of skills, experience and availability. Some involve several weeks of work before or after election day. Others are just for election day.

Working at an election is a chance to:

earn extra income
gain valuable work experience
meet new people
support your community
play a role in Victoria's democracy.

The VEC provides training and support. Hear more about the experience from casual staff at youtube.com/electionsvic

Find out more and register at vec.vic.gov.au/electionwork

I wish all of our families a wonderful term break and look forward to seeing you all in Term 4, which is filled with learning and celebrating the year’s successes.

Ruth Biddle

Principal