A Message From Anna 

Welcome to Term 2!

Welcome back to Term 2. It has been wonderful to see students return refreshed and ready for a busy and exciting term ahead. There is already a great deal happening across the school, and we are looking forward to another term of strong learning, connection and growth.

School Photos

A reminder that school photos will take place this Friday. Students are expected to be in full school uniform. This includes black, grey or white socks, and school-coloured hair accessories. We appreciate families’ support in ensuring students are presented neatly and consistently on the day.

Student Photos and Privacy

You may notice a gradual shift in the way we use photos in our newsletters and on our communication platforms. As a school (and Kindergarten), we are intentionally reducing the inclusion of identifiable student faces in published images.

This approach reflects the growing awareness across schools and communities around student privacy and safety, particularly when images of children in school uniform are shared online. While we continue to celebrate learning, events and special moments, we are doing so in ways that prioritise the protection of our students.

Student safety is, and always will be, our number one priority. This small change allows us to maintain that focus while still sharing the rich learning and positive experiences happening across our school.

We appreciate your understanding and ongoing support.

Riversdale Network Principals Conference

To end this week, Ainslie (Assistant Principal), Shannen (Leading Teacher) and I are attending the Riversdale Network Principal Conference. These opportunities are highly valuable, allowing us to work alongside other local schools and continue strengthening our approach to teaching and learning leadership at Box Hill North Primary School. Our focus remains firmly on aligning our work with evidence-based best practice, ensuring the strongest outcomes for all students.

Bronwyn Ryrie-Jones

Responsive Teaching

As part of this work, our network has begun partnering with Bronwyn Ryrie-Jones to further develop our understanding and implementation of Responsive Teaching, in line with the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM) 2.0.

Responsive Teaching is grounded in a simple but powerful cycle: teach, check and respond. In every lesson, teachers explicitly teach new knowledge, regularly check for understanding, and then respond in real time to ensure all students are progressing towards mastery . This approach ensures that learning is not left to chance and that every student is actively supported throughout the lesson.

A key idea explored in the conference is that inviting student participation alone can sometimes lead to some students opting out. Responsive Teaching addresses this by ensuring teachers check the understanding of all students, not just those who volunteer responses, creating greater equity in the classroom . It is closely aligned with explicit teaching practices, including modelling, guided practice, and regular review, all of which are shown to strengthen knowledge retention and application over time.

Importantly, this work sits within a broader understanding of how students learn. The VTLM 2.0 highlights that learning involves building knowledge over time, through attention, practice, recall and application. Teachers play a critical role in carefully planning and sequencing this learning, while responding to students’ needs along the way.

The Playbook Project

As part of this network work, Shannen and Eliza (Literacy Leader) will continue working closely with Bronwyn through the Playbook Project. This project is focused on developing a clear, consistent and practical “playbook” of teaching practices that can be used across the school. It supports teachers to implement high-impact strategies in a consistent way, ensuring that every classroom reflects the same strong, evidence-informed approach to teaching and learning.

We look forward to sharing more of this work with our staff and community as the term progresses. As always, our goal is to continue building a school where every student experiences high-quality teaching, feels supported in their learning, and is given every opportunity to succeed.

Wishing everyone a great start to Term 2!

Anna Johnstone

Principal