Principal's Blog

Good Afternoon Parents Students, Staff and Friends of Derinya,  

As we move further into the term, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our community for your ongoing support in helping us maintain a calm, safe and focused learning environment for all students. It has also been wonderful to see many examples of student leadership, school spirit and community involvement across the past fortnight. 

Exciting news and Mother’s Day celebration 

In the last two weeks we have welcomed two Derinya babies. Our congratulations goes to Mrs Julie Baltas on the safe arrival of Florence Adaline Baltas, born Wednesday 29th April and Ms Eliese Catterick, welcoming Florence Eliese Di Paolo, born Friday 8th May, just in time for Mother’s Day.  

Wishing all our Mum’s and special people in our children’s lives a belated, yet happy Mother’s Day. Many thanks to our Community Connect Team for their once again incredible assistance with our stall. I am sure there were many lovely surprises enjoyed on Sunday. A special thank you as well for the enormous effort put into sorting all of the Colour Run prizes on Friday and delivering them to classrooms on Monday. It was a massive job and such a huge help to our office staff. We truly appreciate the time and support you continue to give our school community.

House Cross Country Success 

Our recent House Cross Country event was a fantastic success and a wonderful display of determination, encouragement and house spirit. It was terrific to hear how students challenged themselves, supported one another and demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship throughout the day. 

A huge congratulations to all students who participated and gave their best effort. Events such as these are always a highlight on the school calendar and would not be possible without the support of staff and families. Well done also to Wargill House for taking out the overall win! 

A reminder that our uniform provider is Primary School Wear in Mornington. If you would like to purchase a house shirt for your child, these are now available in all sizes. Students are encouraged to wear these on a Friday and when participating in house events.  

Quinn’s Incredible Fundraising Efforts 

We would also like to acknowledge Quinn for her incredible efforts participating in the World's Greatest Shave. Quinn demonstrated enormous courage, compassion and community spirit in raising awareness and funds for an incredibly important cause. 

We are extremely proud of the empathy and leadership Quinn has shown, and we thank all members of our community who supported her fundraising efforts so generously. In the coming weeks one of our DKD funds will be donated to Quinn! Please keep a look-out for this. 

E-Bikes and E-Scooters 

We have noticed an increase in students riding e-bikes and e-scooters. While we understand these are becoming a popular mode of transport, student safety remains our highest priority and riding these underage is illegal. 

We do encourage students to learn to ride regular bikes and scooters and once they have reached a level of confidence and competence, we encourage riding to and from school with supervision. 

Families are reminded to ensure that students using bikes or scooters: 

• Wear an approved helmet at all times 
• Follow all road and footpath rules 
• Ride safely and respectfully around pedestrians 
• Dismount when entering school grounds 

We also encourage families to regularly discuss safe travel habits with their children, particularly before and after school when local traffic is at its busiest. 

Maximising teaching and learning time 

To minimise disruptions to learning, we ask families to avoid collecting students during instructional time unless absolutely necessary. Frequent interruptions can impact not only your child’s learning but also the learning environment for the wider class. 

If an early collection is required: 

• Please notify the office in advance where possible 
• Students must be signed out through the front office 
• Families should avoid going directly to classrooms 

• Times that cause the least disruption for an early departure include 10:50-11am and 1:20-1:30pm for P-3 students (Monday through Thursday) and 11:20-11:30am and 1:20-1:30pm for senior students (Monday through Thursday). All students break for eating time at 10:50am and 1:20pm on a Friday.  

   

Your support in scheduling appointments outside school hours whenever possible is greatly appreciated. Other considerations include: 

• Ensuring students arrive at school on time each day 
• Passing messages or forgotten items through the office rather than classrooms 
• Avoiding non-urgent communication with students during class time 

Every minute of learning time is valuable, and consistent routines help students feel settled, engaged and ready to learn. 

Please note that I will be on long service leave from Wednesday 13th May, returning on Monday 1st June. During this time, the school will be well looked after with Mr Charles standing in as acting principal, supported by our School Improvement Team. I look forward to seeing everyone when I return.  

Warm regards, Nadine Pye on behalf of the Derinya Team.