Principal's News

Welcome Back

At some point over the coming months, I will be downtrodden over Melbourne’s winter weather but for the moment, it is reason to celebrate as we have returned back for Term 2 with some incredible autumn weather and some beautiful mornings and afternoons. 

I hope your family were able to enjoy the easter break and some time together over that period, it was really nice to experience some warm days and have a chance to get out and about. It is lovely to come back to begin the term and I appreciate the manner in which our students have returned to their classrooms and made such a sustained effort to resume their learning routines and get back into their classroom. 

Term 2 is a busy school term and we have a lot happening in our classrooms and around the school. I also appreciate how busy our families are and how many balls many of you juggle over the course of the week, please don’t hesitate to reach out for a chat or a discussion over the term ahead, we are here to help your child and by extension, your family. We look forward to working with you over the months ahead. 

Congratulations

Over the final weeks of Term 1 and the school holiday break, we were able to celebrate the arrival of both Kato sensei and Miss Ryan’s little ones. With Miss Ryan and her partner Jono welcoming their little boy Louis on the 25th March and Kato sensei and her husband, Teizo welcoming their little girl Mia into the world on the 16th April. Staff were delighted to hear the news and have shared plenty of well wishes and messages with both Krystal and Ayaka. They were grateful of the kind support they received from our families and school community during the final weeks of their pregnancy and we look forward to welcoming them and their new arrivals to the school for a visit over the coming months. 

Playground Design 

Over the last few months, we’ve had an industrious team of volunteers and staff working to put together a finalised playground design upgrade for our junior students. We are pleased to have confirmed production of this with an installation period scheduled for early July. This project is entirely funded by our families and the significant support offered through our fundraising work and Parents and Friends Club. Congratulations to all concerned and thank you for the work undertaken over recent months and the longstanding fundraising achievements of our Parents and Friends Club and our school community to deliver on this project. 

The playground will be installed on currently under utilised space between the synthetic turf and the existing playground. It will provide another play space for our students and be a great addition to the school. 

School Holiday Maintenance

The school holiday break is always a valuable opportunity to undertake maintenance around the school, we have had some projects completed over the break including: 

• Painting: Internal/external painting of windows and trims in our prep building, this is an element of our planned maintenance project delivered and managed by the VSBA. 
• Gutter Cleaning: We’ve had our gutters cleaned over the holiday break, a job that can be challenging given the heights of many of our buildings. 
• Roof Plumbing: We’ve had penetration leaks attended to on the roof of the hall and the replacement of ceiling tiles. 
• Cleaning: We’ve had our termly periodic cleaning undertaken over the school holiday break, providing a deeper clean over to prepare classrooms and learning environments for Term 2. 

ANZAC Day

Saturday 25 April 2026 is ANZAC Day. This National Day of Remembrance honours the service and sacrifice of Australians and New Zealanders in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

ANZAC Day as we know it was first observed on 25 April 1916, as people came together to commemorate the landing of Australian and New Zealand forces at Gallipoli, Türkiye, on 25 April 1915. This important tradition has now become an opportunity to stop and reflect on the sacrifice and dedication of all our veteran and service community, and the families who support them. 

Our school recognised this important day with a special assembly this morning, with students laying flowers at our flagpoles and recognising this important part of our national history. 

Winter is Coming so is Flu Season! 

As we enter the colder months of the year, it is important to remind families that whilst the restrictive days of COVID are over, there are many things we can still do to prevent the transmission of illness be it COVID or flu-like colds and coughs:

1. Stay home if unwell.
2. Ventilation (Air purifiers on in school)   
3. Vaccinate 
4. Wash hands thoroughly after going to the toilet. 
5. Sneeze into elbow  
6. Sanitize hands on entry to buildings.  
7. Mask wearing  

Our combined efforts to implement these above-mentioned strategies will go a long way to ensuring the overall health of all students, staff, and parents.

Foundation (Prep) Enrolments 2027 – Now Open

We are pleased to inform our school community that online enrolment applications for Prep 2027 are now open via the Department of Education’s VicStudents enrolment system.

Families are encouraged to begin the enrolment process by accessing the online portal and following the instructions below.

How to apply

To submit an application for Foundation 2027, please:

• Visit: https://students.educationapps.vic.gov.au/s/
• Register for an account
• Complete the online enrolment application form
• Upload all required documentation

Applications are open from Monday 20 April 2026 and close on Friday 31 July 2026.

Required documentation

Please ensure you have the following ready to support your application:

• Proof of residence (e.g. utility bill for school zone verification)
• Child’s birth certificate (translated if applicable)
  • If born overseas: passport and visa details are also required
• Immunisation History Statement from the Australian Immunisation Register

Key dates

• Applications open: 20 April 2026
• Applications close: 31 July 2026
• Outcome notification: 3 – 14 August 2026
• Acceptance of offer due: by 28 August 2026

Further information

We encourage all prospective families to review the information carefully and submit applications within the stated timeframe. Whilst we will continue to accept paper based enrolments, the online portal is very user friendly and provides families with a more straightforward and convenient approach to managing 2027 enrolments. 

School Tours

Throughout Term 2 school tours will be held fortnightly on the following dates/times: 

• Thursday 7th May – 10am
• Tuesday 19th May – 10am 
• Tuesday 2nd June – 10am
• Tuesday 16th June – 10am

In addition to this, the school will host two Saturday open days on the following dates with tours held at 9:30 and 11am: 

• Saturday 16th May
• Saturday 20th June

Easter Raffle 

A very sincere thank-you to the whole school community for your support of our Easter Raffle in Term 1, run by our PFC. We had wonderful easter hampers on offer, and this generated lots of excitement for our students. Some exciting students collected their hampers at our final assembly and we also were able to make  a significant fundraising achievement, thank you for supporting this event.  

Enjoy the coming weekend, I look forward to seeing you around the school.

Take Care, 

Edward Strain

Principal