Principal News 15/12/2025

Dear Banyan Fields Primary School Community,

Welcome back to all of our Banyan Fields Primary School families and students. We hope you enjoyed a relaxing and refreshing break. Our staff have been busy preparing classrooms and learning programs, and we are excited to begin another great year of learning together. At Banyan Fields, our TESS values — Tenacity, Equity, Synergy and Stewardship — continue to guide our work, helping every student feel supported, challenged and connected. We look forward to partnering closely with our families throughout the year as we continue to Arrive to Thrive each day.

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

Arrive to Thrive

2026 Term 1 Concert - Footsteps Dance Incursion – Years 1–6

Throughout the year, students across the school will participate in dance incursions delivered by the professional dance company Footsteps.

In Term 1, Year 4 and Year 6 students will take part in weekly dance sessions from Week 3 to Week 8, during school hours between 9:00am and 12:30pm. These sessions will prepare students for the 2026 Year 4 and 6 School Performance, to be held on Thursday 24th March 2026.

In Term 2, Year 1 and Year 2 students will participate in their dance incursion, followed by Year 3 and Year 5 students in Term 3, with both programs culminating in a concert.

We look forward to seeing our students build confidence, creativity and performance skills through this exciting program.

Swimming Program

This term, students in Years 1, 2 and 3 will participate in the school swimming program at Paul Sadler. The program provides students with the opportunity to build confidence in the water while developing essential swimming and water safety skills in a structured and supportive environment.

Further information regarding session times, dates and requirements please contact your child's class teacher.

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

Ready Set TESS

Ready Set TESS is our start-of-year program designed to help students settle smoothly into school routines, expectations, and learning. Within the first two weeks of the year, every class has dedicated time to explicitly teach and practise the habits that help children feel safe, confident, and ready to thrive at school.

During Ready Set TESS, students learn and practise important routines such as entering the classroom, organising belongings, lining up, transitioning between activities, and working respectfully with others. Teachers also introduce our school values and behaviour expectations, using common language across the school, so students experience consistency in every learning space.

This program supports student wellbeing and learning by building predictable routines, clear expectations, and strong classroom communities from day one — helping every child feel ready, settled, and successful.

Equity: We include, we respect, we support.

Thriving Through Excellence

The team at Banyan Fields are always looking for ways to engage our students as fully as possible in their learning. In 2026, we will introduce a range of excellence programs for students who have a particular strength, passion or interest. The programs will run primarily at lunchtimes and students may be expected to complete additional tasks in their own time. More information will be provided by the teachers in the next week or so but, to get you started, here is the full list of options available to our students in Years 3-6.

Changes will be made to each of the programs as we go to ensure we are as responsive as possible. If your child is interested in signing up for any one of these programs, please keep an eye out for more information on the application process. We expect a wide range of interest, so not every student will be selected. However, the program will run for one semester, after which time, there will be another opportunity to apply.

In addition, Laura van Bakel will run a junior and a senior choir. Students will be required to audition - more information will be provided to the students in due course.

Thrive & Shine

On Wednesday mornings this term, we will trial Thrive & Shine from 8:45 until 9am. When the music plays, the students will head to a year level meeting spot for the roll-call. They will then have a choice of how to spend the remainder of the time until the bell rings at 9am. The choices are:

Given that it will be a busy space with lots of movement, students who arrive late will go to the office to sign-in as usual and will then wait until the activities finish to head to class. For safety reasons, they won’t be able to join in with the activities on that day.

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

SunSmart Practices

During Term 1, our school follows SunSmart practices to protect students during outdoor learning and play. All students are required to wear a broad-brim or bucket hat when outside. Please ensure your child brings a named hat to school each day. Students without a hat will be asked to play in shaded areas only. We also encourage families to apply sunscreen before school, and students are welcome to bring their own labelled sunscreen for reapplication. These simple steps help keep everyone safe in the sun while they learn and play.

Canteen

Catherine and her team returned to Banyan Fields this week and we are delighted with our re-invigorated canteen. They will offer pre-orders using the app, Flexischools, and over the counter sales every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Foundation students will not be able to order or purchase from the canteen until they move onto a regular timetable. The Foundation team will let parents and carers know once they are ready to go.

Adults are invited to grab a coffee from 8am every Friday, but please remember your reusable cup to help us reduce the amount of waste we produce.

Parent Volunteers

As we settle into Term 1, we would love to invite you to be part of our Parent Volunteer Program.

Volunteers play a vital role in supporting our students and strengthening our sense of community — and we truly value every contribution, whether you can help regularly or just occasionally.

Before commencing any volunteer work, all parents and carers must complete our Parent Volunteer Form. Please complete the form here: https://forms.gle/eDWeBsn379NUiL3x5

After the completion of this form, the office will request a copy of your Working with Children Check (WWCC) / VIT registration.

Annual Privacy Reminder

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact your child’s teacher.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:

· Amharic

· Arabic

· Chinese

· Dari

· Gujarati

· Mandarin

· Somali

· Sudanese

· Turkish

· Urdu

· Vietnamese

Patrick Halpin - Principal

Jennifer Churcher - Assistant Principal

Sharleen Nason - Assistant Principal

Special Events: What’s happening at Banyan Fields Primary School!