Principal's News
As we hit the end of February, we say goodbye to Summer and the scary realisation that we have now hit March. Where did those two months go? We’ve now also hit the midpoint in the school term and it is lovely to see our classrooms and school grounds brimming with happy, settled students.
Next week, we host our Parent-Teacher Interviews over three days, thank you kindly for supporting this initiative and booking these places. If we can take direct feedback from the bookings made, these appear to be a popular addition to the term and a great opportunity to meet with our teaching staff.
We have two assemblies next week on both Monday morning and Friday morning, I encourage your attendance at both, our special Friday assembly is a chance for our student leaders in Year 5/6 to have their leadership roles recognised with a special presentation from our local member of parliament, Mr David Southwick.
Some details from around the school are shared below.
Cognitive Effort
Have you ever had your child tell you are bored? I know my own children tell me this frequently about an element of their school day or better still, they are often unable to tell me anything that has happened in their day. Many of the changes introduced to Victorian schools and aligning to evidence based research and the refined Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0).
When children say they are bored, it is tempting to assume something has gone wrong. Research suggests something more nuanced. In Why Don’t Students Like School?, cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham explains that people do not dislike learning. They dislike thinking hard. Thinking requires effort. It draws on working memory - which is limited. When thinking is unavoidable, sustained, and structured, it can feel uncomfortable at first.
So much of what has changed over the last 12-18 months in schools is about establishing routines, structures and building in a climate for learning. This can look very different from what school may have looked like 5-10 years ago.
The Knowledge Nest article linked here is a wonderful read and a valuable opportunity to build further understanding of what classrooms may look like and importantly what teaching and learning looks like for your child.
District Swimming
Congratulations to our CPS Swimming Team that represented our school last Friday, a wonderful achievement and a great opportunity to showcase their swimming talents in a strong competitive field against other schools. Congratulations to Hudson, Alex O, Levi and Barnabas, who qualified for the next stage of representation (Division) in both individual and relay events. We wish them the best of luck on March 24th! Thank you to Miss Molloy, staff and families who supported our students on the day. Well done!
PFC Annual General Meeting
Our wonderfully supportive Parents and Friends Club (PFC) had their AGM on Wednesday 25th February 2026. With a strong turnout and some new members the PFC is moving along nicely. I’m very pleased to report that the following members are our office bearers for 2026.
Co-Presidents: Yayoi Yamamoto and Maya Bartlett
Secretary: Carlene Ngoma
Treasurer: Kate Want
Sincere thanks to our office bearers and the many other parents/carers who took an interest and initiative in support our PFC and broader school community
We are highly indebted to our PFC for their ongoing support of many events at our school. This partnership is super important and adds great value and richness to school life. The main aim of the PFC is to provide a chance for parents and carers to build connections at our school. Being active in the school is both a rewarding and enjoyable experience for many parents and carers. Along the way the PFC also raises some funds that are put to good use in improving the quality of resources, equipment and infrastructure. We are very fortunate to have many dedicated folks who support this work.
Best Wishes
I extend my warm wishes to Miss Ryan and her partner, Jonathon as Miss Ryan commences her family leave. We are looking forward to sharing and celebrating the arrival of your little baby boy with our school community. I thank Miss Ryan for her commitment to our school and her leadership role, for supporting our Year ½ students to begin the school year and the for the time and support she has put into welcoming Miss Min (Mignon Miller) to our school and into our Year ½ classrooms. Miss Ryan will return back with us later in the year, in the meantime Miss Min is a wonderful addition to our school beginning with us on Monday. As an experienced teacher, I welcome Miss Min to our school and her 12A/B class. We are fortunate to secure her knowledge and calm demeanour in our classrooms.
Student Free Day/Public Holiday
A reminder that we have a public holiday and student free day on the horizon. The labor day public holiday will see the school closed on the 9th March, whilst a student free day and opportunity for a day of professional learning will see the school closed on the 10th March. Team Kids will be open and run a program on Tuesday 10th March.
Phonics Data
In a bilingual school, we are offering our students the unique opportunity to develop language acquisition and a love of literacy in two languages. Throughout each week, students are exposed to literacy lessons in both English and Japanese. Statewide data released earlier this week provides a great piece of validation for our bilingual immersion approach through the release of the 2025 Phonics Check data. The Year 1 Phonics Check is a short screening assessment that informs teachers about how a student is progressing with phonics. It is a one-on-one assessment conducted by a teacher with a Year 1 student in a quiet space and was completed in Term 3 last year.
The assessment involves a student reading aloud 40 words. These words are a mix of real and non-words. Non-words are an important part of the Year 1 Phonics Check as they are words that students have not seen before. Non-words require students to apply their phonics knowledge to decode, rather than relying on their sight memory or vocabulary. The data demonstrates a strong validation of our systematic synthetic phonics approach and our teaching and learning in a bilingual school. It is data that celebrates performance above state, similar and network schools.
Professional Learning
One of the best parts to my role is supporting the capacity of our very talented and hard working staff, it is terrific to see Morioka sensei embark on an internship at a network school over the coming weeks as she builds her leadership knowledge and skills. Morioka sensei will be working with another network school until the end of the term but will still be an active member of our school during that time attending to some of her Assistant Principal role remotely.
Closing The Gap
The 2020 National Agreement on Closing the Gap (National Agreement) is a strategy that aims to improve the life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The current National Agreement has been developed in partnership between the National Federation Reform Council (NFRC) (representing the Australian Commonwealth Government, state and territory governments, and the Australian Local Government Association) and the Coalition of Peaks.
Our school supports this priority by committing to an annually reviewed Reconciliation Action Plan and ensuring the school has a Marrung Champion, Klein sensei who supports our school’s initiative in promoting equity and opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Working with Children’s Check
We encourage and value parental and community support at CPS. There are many ways that parents, grandparents and friends can assist at our school. As per our School Volunteer Policy, all prospective helpers are required to obtain a Working with Children’s Check to permit involvement in volunteer work at our school. These checks are free for volunteers. In short, once you have your WWC please let us know and we can welcome you into our classrooms. We kindly appreciate the help and voluntary support provided around our school. You can follow the links here to register https://www.vic.gov.au/working-with-children-check.
School Fete
Huge credit due to our families that have jumped into our fete organising committee and a big thanks to Aden (father of Ally – Yr 4 and Zac – Yr 2) and Jarrod (father of Harper – Year 1) who are hosting and facilitating our next meeting. The group can grow in numbers and our school community are encouraged to get this behind this project and community celebration. You can jump in and register your interest via the link here. The next meeting is scheduled for next Thursday evening at 6pm online via Microsoft Teams.
Enjoy the final weekend of summer, I look forward to seeing you around the school over the coming weeks, take care.
Edward Strain
Principal