Welcome back to 2026! It has been an incredibly smooth start to the year, and not just down to pure luck. This strong beginning reflects the concerted efforts of our teaching, administration and support staff in the lead-up to the school year, the collaboration across teaching and language teams, and the consistent, explicit routines established through our Learning 2 Learn program.

Learning 2 Learn provides students with a clear foundation for success by building shared expectations around routines, relationships, and learning behaviours, helping everyone start the year feeling safe, confident, and ready to engage.

Our students have done a commendable job of settling into their new learning areas and learning groups. All learning areas are calm, orderly, and tidy, and it’s rewarding to see students actively engaging in their learning each day during learning area visits.

Students and teachers are co-creating their learning environments and developing a shared understanding of our school values, agreements, and routines. This strong foundation sets us up for success across the year, ensures we make the most of our learning time, and supports engagement for all learners.

Welcome!

We extend a warm welcome to all new staff, students, and families joining Richmond West Primary School this year, with a special welcome to our new Foundation students and their families.

Our Foundation students commenced last Thursday and have made an outstanding start to their school journey. Their first day was filled with excitement and a little apprehension, as new routines, structures, and learning environments began to take shape.

A big thank you to our parents and carers, who have clearly done a wonderful job preparing our newest cohort for school. It’s evident they arrived ready and eager to begin.

Staffing Update

While our staffing remains largely consistent with last year, we are excited to welcome two new members to our team:

Leah Robertson joins our Year 1/2 team part-time (Wednesday to Friday) in LA3. Leah comes to us from Penders Grove Primary School and brings strong experience in engaging learners across the early years. She has already begun building positive connections with our students and their families.
Sarah Gibson joins our senior school full time in Year 5/6 and comes to us from Richmond Primary School. Sarah will be teaching in LA13 and LA13E. She has already made a wonderful start, bringing a warm and friendly presence and quickly building strong connections with our senior students.

Please take the opportunity to introduce yourself and make both Leah and Sarah feel welcome in our community.

Sanh Danh, Susan Tiernan, Tam Foot and Amanda McIntosh are on leave for the start of the school year. Last week, Amanda Mc informed us of her intention to retire at the conclusion of her leave. She has been part of the Richmond West community for almost 40 years, making a lasting and positive impact on countless students, families, and colleagues!

We will share details later this term about a celebration to acknowledge this remarkable contribution.

Daksha Kothiyal has successfully obtained a counselling position and will be relocating to Western Australia, finishing up at the end of this week. Congratulations to Daksha on this next chapter! The kindness and support Daksha has shown to our students has consistently brought out the best in them, and we thank her sincerely for her contribution to RWPS.

Although Renee Lin was formally farewelled last year, last week marked her final week onsite as she transitioned to family leave. We wish Renee all the very best in this next chapter and thank her for the care and contribution she has made to our school community.

New Newsletter Platform

You've no doubt noticed that our newsletter has had a glow up over the school holiday break and we have moved to Naavi for our iNewsletter platform. Our previous system had some limitations and was, frankly, a little clunky for us behind the scenes. The fresh new format offers a cleaner, more intuitive layout and improved accessibility, including easier translation options for many of our families. A big thank you to Kelly for taking on this change and helping us make the transition so smoothly and quickly. You will need to resubscribe to automatically receive the newsletter each fortnight and can do so here: https://newsletters.naavi.com/p/6NAYOkN/subscribe.

Our Leadership Team

While Amanda and I oversee the overall running of the school, we are fortunate to be supported by a highly effective School Improvement Team. Our Curriculum Leaders take responsibility for key priority areas and are provided with time away from their teaching duties to coach and mentor colleagues, plan alongside teams, and continue building their professional expertise.

Our Curriculum Leaders for 2026 are:

Bilingual Education: Kai Luo
Disability & Inclusion: Rachel Ghabrial
Literacy: Hugh Hutchinson
Mathematics: Rita Wang
Mental Health & Wellbeing: Kathryn Axisa

This year, we are aiming to further strengthen family understanding of these leadership roles and our school priorities. In our newsletter each fortnight, you’ll see regular updates from these areas to keep families informed and connected to the work happening across the school.

Wednesday 18 February | Open Classrooms & Prep Information Night

Classrooms will be open for parents and carers to meet their child’s teachers for 2026 and to see the learning areas they will be working in. Prep families will also hear from our 2026 Prep team about the program and how we work together to support a confident and successful start to school for their child.

Morning Arrival

It’s been wonderful to see such enthusiasm from students about coming to school. In fact, some students are arriving very early due to their excitement to start the day.

Students who arrive before 8.45am must be enrolled in TeamKids or be supervised directly by a parent or carer. The same applies after 3.45pm, when any students not collected are asked to report to the office.

We ask all families to register online with TeamKids. Registration is free, and even if you never plan to use the service, it provides peace of mind for those unexpected moments, traffic delays, or last-minute changes, allowing you to easily enrol your child in after-school care without added stress.

Cyber Incident Update

Over the break, the school was made aware of a cyber incident impacting the Department of Education, which affected current and inactive past student accounts and information. Updated information is available via the Department’s website: https://www.vic.gov.au/cyber-incident-impacting-victorian-government-schools

Upcoming Dates

As part of our start-of-year processes, important dates are gradually being added to the Compass calendar. Please continue to check Compass regularly to stay up to date with events and activities at RWPS.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning for our first assembly of the year!

Trevor