Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you had a lovely extra-long weekend with the Curriculum Day and Melbourne Cup Day providing for a 4-day weekend. The staff worked together on Monday to practice implementing the literacy assessment we conduct 3 times per year, to track progress of students and identify those who need additional support, especially with phonics. We have been working on this throughout the year. The afternoon the teachers started writing student semester 2 reports and the Education Support staff investigated options for working in 2026.

I feel as the term is flying by, given we are at the end of week 5. Only 6 weeks to go with our final day on Friday 18th December. So much to do in such a short time!

2027: With the new agreement for education workers being passed recently, a few changes to our plans have occurred. We have moved the 2027 student starting date until MONDAY 1st February for students in Years 1 to 6 and Monday 8th February for students in year Prep. This is because from 2027, there will be 8 student free days across the year. Four of these are referred to Curriculum Day, where the main focus is on whole school professional development and report writing. The other four days are called Professional Practice Days, where staff have the opportunity to work on areas of their choice that will improve their teaching, or student needs, or individual professional learning.

We will publish the dates for the year after our next school council meeting, but we have made most of them backing onto a long weekend to support families as best as we can.

2026 Professional Practice Day: In 2026, teachers were allocated only 1 PPD and school council approved that to be Monday 23rd November. This is a Student-Free Day and no students are required at school on this day. We apologise for the short notice.

Diwali Celebrations: Wishing all the families who celebrate Diwali this weekend an enjoyable celebration. We will be celebrating by having a colourful dress day on Monday 9th November - no gold coin donation required. A special dance performance at next week’s assembly will showcase the skills of some of our students who recently learnt the dance through one of our teachers that has experience choreographing Bollywood style dancing. It should be fantastic and we hope you can join us at assembly.

Variety Children’s Charity Thank-You: We successfully received approval to purchase a special chair for one of students that will help them engage more comfortably with their peers. It was a very expensive purchase and are pleased that the local Variety Children’s Charity is helping by paying for the full cost worth around $12000.

2027 Prep Transition Program: The 2027 Prep Transition Program will commence next week. All families with children enrolled to start Prep in 2026 should have already received an invitation to attend. The dates are:

Tuesday 10th November 10:00am – 10:50am
Tuesday 17th November 10:00am – 10:50am
Tuesday 24th November 10:00am – 10:50am
Tuesday 8th December 9:30am – 10:45am.
(Children will meet their teacher for 2027 on this day)

Whilst these sessions are occurring for the children, parents are encouraged to stay on-site and hear about the wonderful programs our school has to offer, as well as how to help prepare your child for their first year of school. These sessions will also have guest speakers such as the School Nursing Service, our Out of Home Care service and much more. We look forward to meeting you and your child during these sessions.

Year 6/7 Orientation Day: On Tuesday 8th December, all year 6 students attending a government school in Year 7 will participate in the statewide Year 7 Orientation Day. However, some students may need additional time to help them feel ready for secondary school. If you feel your child needs additional support, please speak to your child’s teacher and we will arrange additional visits.

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal

Village OSHC