Principal's News

2025 Welcome

Welcome back! It has been wonderful to see so many smiling faces back to start the 2025 school year. Students have settled beautifully into their new classes and during the visits I have made to each class, I have enjoyed seeing well organised and engaged groups of students. Thank you to all the parents and carers who have prepared their children so well for school this year. A special welcome to our new families and students  We know you will quickly become part of our positive school community. 

I hope the school holiday break was a great opportunity to be together and create some memories. I enjoyed a wonderful holiday break and am excited to begin the school year with each of you. I extend my sincere thanks to our staff who have created a wonderful atmosphere throughout the school this week, our classrooms are settled, warm and welcoming learning environments, this is a great credit to our staff and the work undertaken to prepare for the first week back.  

Welcome to CPS

I extend a very warm welcome to our returning staff who have created a great atmosphere to begin the school year. I welcome our new staff to the school, Miss (Jess) Matthews - Year 1/2, (Aoi) Sakomoto sensei - Year 1/2, Miss (Zhimin) Zhao - STEM, Miss (Olivia) Gibson - Year 5/6, Emily Stuart - Education Support and a warm welcome back to Ms (Jenny) Parkes returning from family leave. Our newest staff have taken a minute to introduce themselves below to our school community. 

• Sakamoto sensei: Konnichiwa! My name is Aoi Sakamoto. If you're unsure how to pronounce my name, please feel free to ask as many times as you like—I'm used to it! (wink) I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of this unique and special school and look forward to creating wonderful memories with the community. Outside of teaching, I enjoy traveling, watching musicals, visiting exhibitions, and building LEGO! I can't wait to get to know everyone! 
• Miss Matthews: Hi everyone, I am excited to be joining CPS and the Year 1/2 team. I am in my third year of teaching and have enjoyed meeting my class this week. In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, cooking, reading and spending time with family. I look forward to getting know you more over the year ahead. 
• Miss Gibson: I am very excited to be joining the wonderful school community here at Caulfield Primary School as a teacher this year in 5/6C. I am co-teaching with Klein Sensei, and will spend some time in other classes through out the school during my week, including in the Prep classes. I join CPS after spending a couple of years living in the UK, teaching at Primary Schools in London. Before this I worked as a teacher in Melbourne at Northcote Primary working in Prep and Year ½. I am passionate about English Literacy and am really looking forward to engaging with the Ochre and Sounds Write programs in my teaching this year. Outside of school I also teach Yoga. I look forward to meeting more of you as the year goes on!
• Emily Stuart: I'm Emily, I'm an Education Support support person for 1/2 classes. In my spare time I like travelling, going to the beach, and woodworking. I'm excited to be joining the Caulfield Primary School community!
• Miss Zhao: Hi everyone, I am the new STEM teacher at CPS, I am in my first year of teaching but worked at the school last year so i know many of our students. I am excited about creating many STEM projects with students this year. In my own time, I have two cats (Pat and April) and enjoy hiking and sightseeing. I am looking forward to working with each of you this year.

Teaching Teams & Communication

Student Leaders

Our 2025 Student Leaders were announced on the final day of the school year last year. I look forward to working with our leaders this year. 

Congratulations to our 2025 Student Leaders:

• School Captains: Alice Halliwell, Lewis Clynk 
• School Vice-Captain: Eloise Macky, Vivien McCosh 
• Student Voice Captain: Masa Asano
• Student Voice Vice Captain: Ada Want
• Student Safety Captain:  Noah Ion
• Student Safety Vice Captain: Naoki Bate
• Ao Captain: James Shanahan
• Ao Vice Captain: Alex Black
• Kiiro Captain: Jasper Partouche
• Kiiro Vice Captain: Hudson Slaney
• Aka Captain: Declan Francis Cairns
• Aka Vice Captain: Meina Webb
• Midori Captain: Lenny Ota
• Midori Vice Captain: Anna Wilson 

Working Bee – Thank You! 

Thank you to our families that helped over the school holiday period, returning furniture to our classrooms in the lead up to the start of the year. New carpet was laid in all upstairs classrooms in our main building which has provided our rooms with a fresh new feel to begin the year. Thank you once again to the volunteers who came into to help and contribute.   

Maintenance Update

Painting: Our prep students begin their first official day on Monday in some crisp, fresh classrooms following up from some painting work over the school holiday break. It has really made a big difference to the learning environment and they look fantastic! 

Carpets: Carpet was replaced in all upstairs classrooms in our main building, over the last two years, we have now replaced carpet in the prep classrooms, upstairs corridor and all upstairs classrooms. The end result looks really great! 

Minor Works: Over the last week, i have met with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) and conducted start up meetings for VSBA managed work to be completed over coming months, this work is completed under the Planned Maintenance Program (PMP) upgrades via an allocation of funding from the VSBA. It includes building maintenance work throughout the school and structural work on the retaining wall on Cedar Street. I will keep you updated with how this progresses.  

2025 School Year

Please keep in mind the following dates to support your family over the coming year, the CPS calendar is also populated with further details, this will also get updated and sit on our school website over coming weeks.   

• Term 1: 29th January – 4th April 
• Term 2: 22nd April – 4th July
• Term 3: 21st July – 19th September
• Term 4: 6th October – 19th December
• Student Free Day (Professional Learning - Staff) - 14th March
• Student Free Day (Parent Teacher Interviews) - 2nd July 
• Student Free Day (2026 Planning Day) - 10th December 

Transition Tips

Returning back to school (or indeed starting) is an exciting time for students and families. It can be a big step – particularly for those starting prep. For advice in multiple languages on how parents can help their child have a positive start to school, refer to Tips for starting school.

School Council

Information relating to vacancies on School Council will be distributed shortly.  Please look out for this if you are interested in nominating or being nominated for 2025.  Information will include a timeline and summary of the role of School Council.  Our next and final school council meeting for the current membership is on Tuesday 11th February with our AGM and the first meeting of 2025 scheduled for the 18th March.  

Help with school costs & Stationary Packs

Families are encouraged to contact myself or the school office if you are having difficulty with school costs. There are options if you're having difficulties with school costs.

You can:

• talk to your the principal (Edward) about your situation. We may be able to arrange a payment plan or look at other options.
• ask about support from State Schools' Relief and the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund
• use the payment and service finder to see if you can get support from the Commonwealth government.
• use the Crisis Referral Information System to find support near you.

For more information for parents, refer to Help with school costs and fees.

Student Attendance - Every Day Counts

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.  Missing school can have a major impact on a child’s future – a student missing one day a fortnight will miss four full weeks by the end of the year.  By Year 10 they’ll have missed more than a year of school. There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.  Coming to school every day is vital, but if for any reason your child must miss school, there are steps you can take to ensure they don’t fall behind: 

• Speak with your classroom teacher or year level coordinator and find out what work your child needs to do to keep up.

• Develop an absence learning plan with your school and ensure your child completes the plan.

• Remember, every day counts.  If your child must miss school, speak with your classroom teacher or year level coordinator as early as possible.’

I extend a huge thanks and recognition to our families and staff, our school was this week identified as one of the top 4 schools in our network for absence data averages of less than 10 days per year for all students. Education really is a partnership and I acknowledge the work done at home and at school to ensure school is engaged with each and everyday. 

Supervision of Students in the Playground Before and After School

To ensure that students are appropriately supervised, we ask that students arrive at school after 8.45am each morning.  If you elect to send your child/ren to school prior to 8.45am, it is important that you understand that they will not be supervised and should not be in the school grounds without direct parent supervision. Similarly, at the end of the school day, the school will ensure the appropriate supervision of all students until 3.45pm and after this time it is the responsibility of parents to collect/supervise their children. Any children not collected after this time will be sent to Team Kids with a cost incurred.

Student Accident and Private Property Insurance

Please be aware that the Department of Education (DE) does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents and guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance/ambulance cover, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance/transport and any other transport costs. 

In some circumstances, medical or other expenses will be paid by the Department where it is assessed that it is likely, that the Department is liable for negligent (careless) acts or omissions of its staff/volunteers.  For more information about the claims process please go to:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/governance/Pages/claimsprocess.aspx  

Student accident insurance/ambulance cover policies are available from some commercial insurers, and can be obtained by parents/guardians for individual students.  The Department cannot advise parents/guardians on whether to purchase a student accident policy/ambulance cover, or which policy to purchase. It is recommended that parents seek assistance in this matter with their insurance broker or find a suitable personal accident insurer. Private property brought to school by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage.  

Thank you for supporting a great start to the year, enjoy a fantastic weekend ahead.

My Thanks,

Edward Strain 

Principal