Mr Carlyle's Message

Hello families, and welcome to this week's newsletter.

Attitudes to School Survey

This week, our Year 4-6 students completed the annual Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS). The AtoSS survey provides valuable insight into students' perceptions of school and allows us to respond to any issues that may arise via the survey. 

The AtoSS is a voluntary student survey offered by the Department of Education every year to help schools and the department understand students' experiences of school. We asked your child about their thoughts and feelings about their school, their learning, relationships with other students, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

Young people enjoy having a say! This survey has been running for nearly 20 years and helps schools plan programs and activities to improve your child's engagement with school, their wellbeing, and their learning. The survey data also helps the Department of Education understand how to improve student learning.

Annual Report

Earlier this term at our School Council, I shared our 2025 Annual Report. This has been ratified by Council and is now available for viewing on our school website. The Annual Report provides an opportunity to share the school’s achievements and progress with the school community. 

Some of the highlights from our 2025 report included continued strong student achievement data and high levels of parent and staff satisfaction. 

The Annual Report is available on our school policies page of the website. I have also attached it to this week’s newsletter instead of a weekly video message.

Reports and Industrial Action

We will be providing student achievement reports for Semester 1 this year as usual.

The reports will be distributed on Wednesday, the 24th of June.

The reports will continue to provide important details about student learning attainment, but full descriptive comments will not be included as a result of industrial action taken earlier this term by the Australian Education Union.

We will of course be pleased to discuss with you your child’s progress at our next three-way conference scheduled for Friday the 24th of July, or, as always, you can contact ballan.ps@education.vic.gov.au to arrange a meeting with your child’s teacher.

E-Scooters (electric scooters)

A reminder on Victorian e-scooter rules. Please be aware that e-scooter rules have come into effect in Victoria and that children under the age of 16 are not permitted to ride them. They are also not permitted to be ridden on footpaths. Because of this, e-scooters will not be permitted to be ridden to or from school by students, and not on school grounds by anyone. Please check all the requirements on the Transport Victoria website. https://transport.vic.gov.au/road-and-active-transport/active-transport/e-scooter-road-rules

E-scooter laws in Victoria

https://www.police.vic.gov.au/electric-powered-scooters-e-scooters 

For more information, please see our "Riding to School" page in this newsletter. 

Rezoning

We have received confirmation that Ballan has been rezoned to Daylesford College. From 2027, Daylesford College will become the designated neighbourhood secondary school for students from Ballan. This change will support clearer pathways for our students as they transition from primary to secondary education. We will continue to share further information and updates with families as more details become available.

https://www.vic.gov.au/starting-school 

Mr Lachlan Carlyle

Principal

Healthy Eating at BPS