Principal News 29/08/2025

Dear Banyan Fields Primary School Community,

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 3. It’s hard to believe we are already past the halfway point of the term. The past few weeks have been filled with exciting learning opportunities and wonderful community events, including Book Week and Parent-Teacher Interviews. We’d like to thank our staff, students, and families for their continued support and enthusiasm—it truly makes our school a vibrant place to learn and grow. As we move into the second half of the term, we look forward to continuing to build on this momentum with more opportunities for student learning, connection, and celebration.

Tenacity: We try, we learn, we never give up.

Student Voice and Agency is Growing at Our School!

We are thrilled to share some fantastic news from the recent Attitudes to School Survey. Since 2023, our students’ sense of voice and agency—their ability to actively contribute to their learning and school community—has grown significantly.

In 2023, 58% of students reported feeling empowered to have a say in their learning. This year, that figure has jumped to 78%, showing a 20% increase! This growth reflects the incredible work of our staff and students in building a culture where student voice is valued.

We are proud of this achievement and will continue to strengthen opportunities for student leadership, choice, and input across our school.

Synergy: We listen, we learn, we grow together.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to all families who attended our Parent-Teacher Interviews or SSGS. The strong turnout made the event a great success and provided a valuable opportunity to celebrate student achievements and set future learning goals together. We greatly appreciate the ongoing support and partnership between home and school.

Title: Inside Our School – A Peek Into PLC Work

This Fortnight’s Focus:

In our recent PLC sessions, teachers have been focusing on strategies to drive student thinking. This work has highlighted the importance of questioning techniques that prompt deeper learning and engagement, including the use of accountable questioning, adding challenge or scaffolding, and building metacognition. Through professional reading and collaborative discussions, teachers are developing a shared approach to questioning that encourages students to think critically, reflect on their learning, and extend their understanding.

Why this matters

Research shows that effective questioning strategies support higher-order thinking, increase student accountability, and empower learners to take greater ownership of their learning. Accountable questioning encourages students to justify and explain their answers. Challenge and scaffolding ensure that tasks are accessible while still stretching student thinking. Metacognition helps students reflect on how they learn, making their thinking more visible and purposeful.

Next steps

Our next focus will be on how teachers can use feedback and formative assessment practices to strengthen student learning and promote ongoing growth.

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

We would love to hear your feedback on Banyan Fields Primary School. Please click this link or scan the QR code to access the official Department of Education survey. You will need our unique school pin, which is 37 17 80.

The information gathered through this survey will be used to inform our Annual Implementation Plan for 2026. We appreciate your time.

School Camp

As we plan for 2026, we are considering our options in relation to our camp program. Unfortunately, we have noticed that a high number of students have not attended camp this year. We would love to hear your feedback so we can maximise the engagement with our camp program. It should only take a couple of minutes to complete our survey.

Equity: We include, we respect, we support.

Book Fair & Book Week Parade

Last week our school was filled with colour and creativity as we celebrated Book Week with our annual Book Fair and Parade. The Book Fair was a great success, with many students and families finding new books to enjoy at home. Thank you to everyone who supported this event—it helps us continue to grow our library resources.

The highlight of the week was our Book Parade, where students proudly showcased their favourite book characters in a variety of imaginative and vibrant costumes. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and love of reading shine through. A big thank you to families for helping bring these costumes to life and to staff for organising such a memorable event.

The Importance of Being on Time

Arriving at school on time (8:45 am) is one of the simplest ways to support your child’s learning. The first few minutes of the school day are crucial, as teachers set up the day’s routines, share key instructions, and help students get focused and ready to learn. When students arrive late, they can feel rushed or unsettled, and they often miss out on important information.

We ask all families to make punctuality a priority. Arriving before the bell not only supports your child’s success but also shows respect for their classmates and teachers. Together, we can build strong habits that set our students up for a positive and productive day of learning.

Stewardship: We care for people, places, and possibilities.

We have received reports from our local community of students running across the road at the busiest times of the day - drop off and pick up. Teachers will be discussing road safety with the students over the next few weeks but we ask parents to support us by reminding your child to use the designated crossings. We had an incident this week where a child was injured by a car - luckily, the driver responded quickly and no significant physical harm was experienced.

Parents are also encouraged to insist on your child wearing a helmet if they ride their bike/scooter to and from school. Helmets are incredibly important in keeping children’s skulls safe in the case of an accident.

Patrick Halpin - Principal

Jennifer Churcher - Assistant Principal

Sharleen Nason - Assistant Principal

Celebrating our learning

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Auslan