Principal's Message
From the Principal
A positive start to the Year
All classes have settled very well into the 2026 school year. We acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of our staff, who continue to work hard to establish consistent routines, expectations, and positive relationships in every classroom. This consistency is especially important given the challenges we’ve faced over the past two weeks with staff and student illnesses across the school. Despite these disruptions, our students have adapted remarkably well, and it is wonderful to see them engaging positively with their learning and with each other.
This term, we are implementing a Mathematics Fluency program across the school. Over the next five weeks, our teachers will be building on the trial work of our Year 3/4 classrooms and insights gained from our Numeracy Leaders’ visit to Port Fairy Consolidated School last year. The program aims to develop students’ fluency in Number Facts, which will enhance both their confidence and competence in solving a wide range of mathematical problems. This initiative is an exciting step forward in our ongoing commitment to improving student outcomes in mathematics.
As we look forward to the second half of the term, we are excited for all the opportunities it brings for our students and our school community. Upcoming events include our Aths Carnival, preparations for NAPLAN, the annual Easter Raffle, and our Open Night – a new event in the calendar. These events provide wonderful opportunities for students to excel, showcase their skills, and for our community to come together in support of one another. We are looking forward to celebrating achievements and fostering connections through these events.
FEBRUARY REFLECTIONS
GEELONG FOOTY CLUB VISIT
On Monday, 3rd February, we were fortunate to host a special visit from players representing the Geelong Football Club as part of their South West Victoria community road trip. The visit provided an exciting opportunity for our students to connect with elite athletes and gain insight into life of Australian Rules Footballers. During the session, the players shared a behind the scenes look at their training routines, preparation, teamwork and the discipline required to compete in the AFL. The opportunity to meet the players, have memorabilia signed and take photos created a genuine sense of excitement across the school.
HOCKEY CLINIC
On Monday, February 10th, our Year 3–6 students participated in a fun-filled hockey clinic as part of our commitment to providing students opportunities to experience a variety of sports. Throughout the session, students practised key hockey skills, including passing, dribbling and shooting. They demonstrated great teamwork, enthusiasm and resilience throughout the session.
HOUSE LUNCHES AND CHATS
Across the last month we have held several house events in the lead up to next week’s Aths Carnival, including two House lunches and our inaugural ‘House Steps and Chats’ day. These activities were intentionally designed to help students build a strong sense of belonging by learning which House they are part of and strengthening connections with peers across year levels within Glenelg, Wannon, Nigretta and Grange. We hope these days help build the momentum, relationships and excitement for next week’s Ath’s days.
YEAR 6 LEADERSHIP SESSIONS
Our Year 6 students are coming to the end of their six leadership sessions with Master Mukhtar from Palace Martial Arts. These sessions have been invaluable in developing the mindset and leadership qualities our Year 6 students need to successfully fulfil the responsibilities of their leadership roles. Most importantly, the program has supported students’ personal growth, confidence, self-discipline, and resilience. We thank Master Mukhtar for his work with our students and commend our Year 6 leaders for their positive engagement throughout the program.
SATURDAY NETBALL
This month, 42 of our Year 3–6 students have joined the Saturday Morning Netball competition at Pedrina Park. We have five teams participating — two Year 5/6 teams and three Year 3/4 teams. All teams have had a positive start, using this opportunity as a great pre-season for the official season ahead and, most importantly, to enjoy being active and playing a team sport with their friends. We are very grateful to the parents and carers who have volunteered to coach, act as team managers, umpire, or simply support from the sidelines. Without your support, these valuable opportunities for our students would not be possible.
HOT SHOTS TENNIS
Yesterday, a team of nine students proudly represented our school at the Hot Shots competition in Hamilton. The team had a fantastic day on the court, demonstrating teamwork, determination, and excellent sportsmanship, and finished the day in first place. Students were excited to learn that this result made them eligible to progress to the next level of the competition. However, as this event clashes with next week’s Athletics Day, the team made the difficult but commendable decision to prioritise their commitment to our whole-school event. We thank the students for their commitment to our school community, and congratulate them on an outstanding performance and effort.
DIVISON SWIMMING
Today, three of our students — Richie, Gus, and Sophie proudly represented our school at the Division Swimming competition in Hamilton. We were excited to learn this afternoon that Sophie placed first place in breaststroke. We look forward to hearing how Richie performed in his two events, Breaststroke and Freestyle, as well as Gus in his Freestyle event. We congratulate all three students on their commitment and effort in representing our school.
COMING UP IN MARCH
GRAY STREET ATHS CARNIVAL – Wednesday March 4th & Thursday March 5th
Next week we will hold our annual school Athletics Sports on Wednesday and Thursday. Please note the change of date due to the poor weather forecast. As outlined in Mr Kelson’s sports report all students in Year 1 – 6 will be transported to Mitchell Park by bus for the running events. The Preps will remain here at school. On Thursday the field events will take place here back at school for all students, with Prep to Year 2 participating from 9:10 to 11:10am, then Years 3 to 6 from 11:40am to 1:40pm. This will be followed by the sprint and the hurdles in the afternoon for our Prep students. We look forward to our families joining us from the sidelines as part of this day.
STUDENT VOICE ANNOUNCEMENTS – Friday March 6th
Student Voice elections will take place next week. This year, one student (instead of two) will be appointed from Prep to Year 4 to work alongside our Year 5/6 Student Voice leaders — Will, Sophie and Ruby. This change has been made to reduce the number of students in each Student Voice meeting. Each area team has an allocated teacher to work with and support students at their year level. Each Student Voice Teacher will meet with students before and after each Student Voice meeting to help them prepare, reflect, and follow up on actions. In Prep this is Mrs Riddle, In Year 1/2 the role is shared between Mrs Smith and Mrs Dickson, In Year 3/4 this role is also a shared role between Mr Watt and Mrs Murray. We look forward to seeing students step forward to share their ideas and contribute positively to our school community
AGE CHAMPION ANNOUNCEMENTS - Friday March 13th
Following our Athletics Day next week, the announcement of Age Champions will take place at Assembly on Friday, March 13th. Families of students who will be receiving a medal will be contacted by Mr Kelson prior to the day. We look forward to celebrating the efforts and achievements of our students at this assembly.
NAPLAN - Wednesday March 11th to Monday March 16th
The month of March brings our annual NAPLAN Assessment Week, commencing on Wednesday March 11th, following the long weekend. Across the week, students in Year 3 and Year 5 will complete a series of assessment tasks in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions, and Numeracy. NAPLAN provides the school with valuable information about how well Year 3 students have developed foundational skills in Literacy and Numeracy, as well as the growth students have made from Year 3 to Year 5. While this data is useful, it represents what a student can demonstrate on that day, in that specific assessment. It is not a defining measure of a child’s ability. Rather, it is one source of information used alongside other assessment data and teacher knowledge to inform teaching and learning. Further information, including the assessment schedule, will be shared with families next week.
DISTRICT ATHS – Thursday March 19th
District Athletics will take place at the end of March and is the next step following our school Athletics Carnival. On this day, students have the opportunity to compete at a higher level alongside students from other schools in the Hamilton district. District Athletics is always a valuable day of growth and experience for students, providing opportunities to challenge themselves, build confidence, and demonstrate sportsmanship in a broader competitive environment. Students who are selected to attend will be contacted by Mr Kelson following our Aths next week.
Easter Raffle – End of Term Fundraiser
EASTER CASUAL DRESS DAY – Monday March 23rd
Our annual Easter Raffle will take place at the end of this term. This is always a fantastic fundraiser for our school, and we greatly appreciate the continued efforts of our School Council Fundraising Lead, Bec Doheny, who is once again coordinating this event. To help build our Easter baskets, students are invited to come to school in casual clothes on Monday March 23rd, and bring an Easter egg (or small Easter-themed item) as a donation. We are aware that the cost of Easter eggs has risen significantly this year, so we truly appreciate any small donation families are able to make. Your support helps make this fundraiser a success for our school community.
REGIONAL SWIMMING HORSHAM – Wednesday March 25th
Following District Swimming today, we look forward to hearing whether any of our three swimmers — Sophie, Richie, and Gus — will progress to the next level in Horsham. We sincerely thank the families of these students for supporting our young swimmers and helping them take part in this exciting opportunity.
INDIGENOUS LUNCH – Friday March 27th
At the end of the month our indigenous students will be invited to attend a special Indigenous Lunch, an event supported by Winda- Mara and Josh Franks, our Koorie Engagement Leader. The lunch provides a wonderful opportunity for our Indigenous students to connect with each other, celebrate their culture, and build a deeper understanding of Aboriginal heritage within our school community. Events like this are an important part of fostering inclusion, respect, and awareness of Indigenous culture among all students.
OPEN NIGHT - Wednesday April 1st
This term, we have paused Art Night and plan to combine it with STEM Night in Term 3 to create a bigger and better STEAM Night. In the meantime, this change has created an opportunity to open our classrooms up to families on the evening of Wednesday April 1st. This will be a valuable time for students to take their important family members on a tour of their classroom and showcase some of their work in the lead-up to Parent–Teacher Interviews early next term. More information will be sent out closer to the date as we look forward to welcoming families and celebrating the learning and creativity of our students.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Communication with Families- Update- Facebook
We would like to extend our thanks to Ebony Brown for the fantastic work she is doing as our lead Facebook Coordinator this year. Over the past few weeks, Ebony has been capturing and sharing events from across the school and introducing our various school teams to the community. Our communication plan is for Facebook to be the primary place where school memories are captured, though reminders and updates will still appear occasionally through Stories. We greatly appreciate Ebony’s efforts in keeping our school community connected and informed. We will building on this shortly with a ‘what’s happening this week’ posts soon.
Communication with Families – Newsletter
A reminder to families that our newsletter is now being published monthly. The next edition will be sent out at the end of term, on Friday, March 27th. The newsletter is a great way for parents and carers to stay informed about what’s happening across the school—providing summaries of events that have taken place, updates on upcoming activities, and important news for our school community.
Attendance
We would like to thank parents and carers for keeping the school informed when their child is absent and providing the reason for their absence. This allows us to accurately record and code student attendance. Over the past two weeks, many absences have been due to illness, particularly gastro. We are hopeful that this cycle has passed and look forward to a healthy week ahead. We remind parents that if your child is absent to please contact your child’s teacher or the office via Xuno or phone. Absences with no communication are recorded as unexplained.