Principal's Message

Dear Sunshine Heights Parents and Carers,

The arrival of September always feels like a bit of a turning point at Sunshine Heights. The mornings are becoming lighter, there is a little more warmth in the afternoon, and after what has felt like a particularly long Melbourne winter, there are finally signs that spring is on its way. Over the past fortnight, there have also been plenty of reminders of what makes our school such a special little community.

Book Week brought our school alive with stories, characters and costumes, and it was wonderful to see the excitement that books can still generate for children. Our Grade 3/4 students headed off to camp, building independence, resilience and friendships beyond the classroom. And this morning (Friday), we will welcomed dads, grandfathers and the many other important people who play a fathering role in the lives of our children for our Father’s Day and Special Person's celebration. These events can sometimes look like the extras around the edges of school, but I don't think they are. They are part of how children develop a sense of belonging – to their class, to their friends and to a community bigger than themselves.

Behind the scenes, we have also been doing some significant work on the learning that sits at the heart of our school. Over recent months, our teachers and leadership team have been undertaking a detailed review of how we teach writing at Sunshine Heights. We have been looking carefully at the knowledge children need to become confident writers: how sentences are constructed, how ideas are connected and developed, how paragraphs work, and ultimately how students learn to shape their ideas into increasingly sophisticated pieces of writing.

One of the things I love about education is that our own learning as teachers should never really stop. We expect our students to be curious, to practise, to respond to feedback and to improve – and I think schools should be prepared to do exactly the same thing.

As a result of this work, during Term 4 we will be trialling some changes to the way writing is taught in Grades 1 and 4. This will allow us to test some of the curriculum and teaching approaches we have been developing, learn from our students and teachers, and refine the model before looking at how it might be implemented more broadly in 2027. There is some really exciting work happening here, and I look forward to sharing more of it with families as it develops.

There are changes happening physically around the school too. Our long-awaited toilet redevelopment is now only around four weeks from completion. The external walls are in place, the tiles have been fitted and the doors are now installed. After years of our parents and staff advocating for facilities that better reflect what our children deserve, it is incredibly exciting to see the project approaching the finish line. I know our students and probably quite a few parents will be very happy to finally see them open.

And with spring arriving, one practical reminder for families: **hats are back!** UV levels are now increasing and students need to bring their school hat each day for outdoor play and learning. Melbourne weather may not always feel particularly summery yet, but UV doesn't necessarily match the temperature, so please help us make sure your child's hat has found it's way back into the school bags. Hats are available at the office in a range of colours for $13 if required. 

When I look across all of these things; a family preparing costumes for the book parade, a Grade 3 student leaving their parents for the first time at camp; our families having a coffee together on a Friday morning; teachers going into a rabbit hole of how best to teach a sentence; builders putting the finishing touches on a facility our community has waited years for; these can seem like very different parts of school life. But I choose to believe they are integrally connected.

Schools are built through thousands of small interactions, shared experiences and collective acts of care. They work best when children, families and staff see themselves as part of something shared; when we look after our spaces, value one another, celebrate together, and hold collective high expectations for what our children can achieve.

That has always been the Sunshine Heights I believe in. A diverse, sometimes wonderfully chaotic, ambitious little school where people care deeply about children and where we keep working to make things better for them.

As we head into the final weeks of Term 3, thank you to the many families, staff and students who contribute to that community every day. It is very easy in the busyness of school life to overlook those small contributions, but collectively they are what make Sunny Heights, Sunny Heights.

Best wishes, 

David and the entire Sunny Heights Team