Out and about at Surfside

Half Way There....

It is hard to believe that the first day of school is a distant memory and we are now at the half way point of term 1 already. There is plenty on the calendar over the coming weeks so please check the Dates for your Diary page and relevant Compass posts. Here is a reminder of some of the important dates and what is happening over the coming weeks:

CURRICULUM DAY NEXT FRIDAY

Friday 6th March

Important dates over the next few weeks

March

Wed 4th   - Foundation testing day (Foundation students not at school)

                       Emergency Management Drill

Thu 5th    - Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

                      Proposed SSV Summer Lightning Premiership

Fri 6th       - Curriculum Day - Students not at school

Mon 9th    - Labour Day Public Holiday - Students not at school

Tues 10th - SSV Division Swimming Championships - Kardinia Pool

Tues 10th -Fri 20th - Years 4 and 6 Swimming Program

Wed 11th  -Mon 23rd - NAPLAN Testing Window 

Thu 12th   - Breakfast Club @ 7.45am in the kitchen

Mon 16th  - Easter Raffle Tickets go Home to Families

Tues 17th - School Council AGM - 5.30pm (Finance 5.00pm)

Introducing the staff and teams at Surfside

During term 1 we will introduce our teams throughout our upcoming newsletters - these are the awesome people that make Surfside tick along. 

Introducing our Senior Years Teaching Team

Year 6

We increased our year 5 classes from 3 to 4 this year due to growing numbers and we have a team behind the year 6 crew that have a wealth of experience in teaching the senior years of primary school. The have a terrific blend of teaching and learning and engagement and wellbeing expertise and are always looking at ways to engage the kids further. The team enjoy having our Learning Specialist Adrian Chapman on board for 1 day per week as well as supporting during their Professional Learning Community meetings. The year 6 team are heavily involved in leadership opportunities for the students, work with rotary, Foundation buddies, year 6 Bonanza Day and they are all looking forward to camp.

Year 5

The year 5 team are a bubbly bunch that have enjoyed working with their new cohort of kids. Drawing from such a range of experiences and bringing so many skills to the table this crew is always there to lend a helping hand to the kids and work towards them achieving the best they can. They work together with the year 6 team on student leadership, are busy preparing the kids for NAPLAN and working towards student goals. Always in the classroom with a smile and busy thinking of engaging opportunities for our kids we know the year 5 team will be rocking this year. We will be sad to see Tillie depart during term 2 as she has been such an amazing addition to the school but we will look forward to hearing of the new addition to her family.

Surfside Primary at the One Planet Festival - Come Visit Us!

We’re excited to share that Surfside Primary School will be hosting a stall at the One Planet Festival at Ocean Grove Park. The One Planet Festival is a vibrant, community-led celebration of local solutions for a thriving, fair, connected future.Through hands on workshops, engaging talks, family fun, and inspiring performances, the festival will bring together people of all ages to imagine- and help create- the world we want to live in!In 2026 it's even bigger, more zones, interactive activities, live demonstrations and much more! The festival also includes something for everyone with food and drinks, and a great music line-up.

Our Food Scrap Friday initiative and our passionate Food Scrap Friday Warriors will be proudly showcased on the day. Each week, our students take action to reduce waste and care for our environment by collecting and managing food scraps in sustainable ways. Their leadership and commitment are making a real difference in our school and beyond.

Our amazing Kitchen and Garden Captains and Sustainability Captains have been working closely with Ms Mel O’Toole to prepare creative and engaging ways to demonstrate what we do and how simple it can be to start managing food scraps at home or within your community.

Be sure to come down and visit our stall, we would love your support! Come along, say hello, and celebrate sustainability with us!

Poetry and Garden Snapshot

Below is a lovely poem that has been put together by Isabelle Mussetti that highlights the great work that we do in our garden and caring for the environment around our school.

School Photos

A big thank you to the team at Arthur Reed and our students and staff for a successful 2 days for our recent school photos. We were thrilled to have 2 days of sunshine that allowed for a great sunlit backdrop in the playground. Getting through 26 classes, year 6 groups, year 6 leadership and all of our siblings is a logistical challenge but it all went off with plenty of smiles. Families have received packs where you can now order your photos.

Ocean Grove Police and the Lion's Club

We had a visit from our School Liaison Officers Senior Constable Michael Donegan and Senior Constable Eric Taylor who presented our wellbeing space with a lovely teddy bear donated by the Lions Club of Ocean Grove. We value the connection between all of our local communities and organisations and thank both the Lions Club and the Ocean Grove police for their donation and continued support.

Student Attendance

Regular attendance at school is very important for your child's learning and social development. Very good attendance for a child is 95% and above.

It is important that children are at school as much as possible to ensure the BEST opportunity for learning growth. We need to utilise every available minute to ensure student growth academically, socially and emotionally, in and out of the classroom. 

If early collection for a shopping trip or to beat the traffic happens on a regular basis this can take away from valuable learning time throughout their schooling life. Please take the time to read the graphic below and to understand the long term affect this can have on student development. We understand that students are impacted by illness, injury or other ailments. If your child is going to be absent you are required by legislation to notify the school by:

• Logging onto Compass  and
• Enter the absence for full days only 
• If your child/children arrive late or are being collected early, the office staff will enter this onto Compass for you.

School Council 2025/2026 Meeting

Our first school council meeting  for 2026 took place on Tuesday 17th February in week 4. The highlights of our first meeting for the year but the last meeting for the current school council group included:

• Buildings & grounds update - Recent VSBA condition assessment report, upcoming ramps maintenance program and our recent school maintenance program
• Canteen update with an upoming working party
• Finance updates and presentation of reports
• Endorsement of Cash Handling and Electronic Funds Management Policy for 2026
• Farewell to our departing members - Kate Reed, Sabrina Lunn, Stefanie Henderson and Adam Kavanagh - we thank them for their service
• Term 1 update and overview

We look forward to welcoming our new school council and returning members following our upcoming Annual General Meeting in week 8 on Tuesday 17th March and returning members for 2026. 

• Finance Meeting
• AGM
• School Council Meeting

Nominations for the 2026 school council close on Friday 27th February at 3.00pm.