Principal News

Traffic Management 

Traffic Management around the school: In particular, a focus on the pick up at 3.30 pm in Lower Road (top of the school drop of zone). 

I have had neighbours complain quite rightly fully about parents blocking their driveway access.  The house owner is forced to confront the driver to ask them to move and this can be a challenging conversation.  I have asked the Shire Council to attend and assess vehicular movement and speak to drivers. 

For your information, the 5 minute drop off zone signage means….

• The time frame is defined. If there are no parking bays available then choosing to park longer than the defined duration may result in the parking inspector serving a fine.
• In the 5 minute parking drop off area, drivers can’t leave their vehicle and walk into the school.  The parking inspector will serve a fine to a driver who do this. 
• At approximately 3.25 pm we are noticing parents choosing to stop in the middle of the one way road and wait for their child to come after bell time. The consequence is every car is then blocked behind them and the street banks all the way back to Wattletree Road.  This slows parents driving towards the school (from Eltham township) to do a pick up as they can’t turn left to go up Lower Road because its locked down by the all the banked cars.  So what happens next is that Wattletree Road banks up back towards Progress Road and cars struggle to get out of the t-intersection to depart the school zone. This creates a dangerous situation causes major congestion. It is becoming more frequent and basically the cause / trigger is the initial decision of the ‘one parent' who has blocked the road in the first place in the upper part of Lower Road.  What must happen …. If you can’t find a park as you travel up Lower Road (between 3.20 - 3.30 pm) ish, then you must continue on and do the loop again.  No car should stop and block this one way street.  Again, the parking inspectors will serve a fine to the offender who chooses to block all cars. Leadership will increase our frequency of attendance to minimise 

There are other related issues, such as children getting in and out of cars in the middle of the road which creates a safety risk as the visibility of little ones moving into the middle of the road is poor / reduced. 

Ideally, if drivers followed the traffic rules, our current system of drop off and pick up is manageable and works … although we know it is ‘clunky’.

Emotions can tip when other drivers intentionally disobey the traffic laws and it’s not fair on the 95% of parents who are doing the right thing. 

The Shire Council is actively focused on considering improvements to the main school crossing at the front of the school and they are additionally, looking into the issues raised here in my email.  Let’s hope they can engineer some improvements, but our parents need to work with the current arrangements and follow the traffic rules.  In summary we want easy drop off and pick up systems and we do not want anyone to get injured.

100th Anniversary: Student voice and agency.

100th Anniversary: Student voice and agency.  How proud we are of the student body for the way they got involved and enjoyed our special birthday celebration.  Across the school children put a lot of effort in their dressups and all levels shared great activities.  Our student leaders were fabulous and I particularly want to congratulate our school captains, wellbeing leaders, journalists and photographers. PFA volunteers were terrific and many parents contributed collectively.  Well done everyone!   

No Dogs are allowed in the School Grounds.

For the safety of all children and parents, a reminder that dogs are not allowed onto the school grounds.