Principal's Message

Our school is just amazing!

What a wonderful start to the year it has been at Hillsmeade. I would like to thank our families for the care and support you have shown in ensuring your child/children were prepared for school return and learning as we commenced the 2026 school year. 

Across all year levels, we have experienced a calm, positive and consistent start, which sets a strong foundation for the year ahead.

It has been particularly special to welcome our new Prep students as they officially begin their primary school journey. Seeing our newest students settle into school routines with confidence and enthusiasm has been a real highlight.

I would also like to acknowledge the commitment of our teachers and support staff, who have worked diligently to build strong connections with students and establish clear routines and expectations. As a result, students are arriving each day feeling settled, engaged and ready to learn. 

We look forward to continuing this positive momentum as we work together to support every child’s learning and wellbeing throughout the year.

Meet The Teacher

Please don't forget to pop in and say hi to your child's class teacher for 2026 on Monday 9th February 3.30 - 4.30pm. Families will be welcome to view classroom tasks completed by students, chat to the teacher and get a feel for what the classroom is like this year. If you require a formal time to chat, please schedule this with the class teacher for an alternate time.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Updated Photographing, Filming and Recording Policy and student consent form

This year we have updated the Photographing, Filming and Recording Policy and student consent form, in line with Department policies, standards and expectations.

We now require families to opt in to three options for consent, in order to use images of our students in the school, in the school community and/or beyond the school community.

The updated consent form will be sent home to families and we ask you to please return this by 27th February. If you do not return the form, it is assumed you do not consent to images of your child being published by Hillsmeade PS.  

Current media consent will be in place until 27th February, or until families have returned the updated form.

Thank you for helping us with this revised approach for 2026.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

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 Microsoft 365 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 Microsoft 365, please contact the school.

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

Gates Reminder

A reminder that this year gates for school access are as follows:

Open 8.15am

All gates except main gate locked at 9am

Unlocked 3pm

All gates except main gate locked at 3.45pm

School Council

We are looking forward to commencing School Council for 2026 in March. Nominations are currently available to be a member of Council and I encourage anyone who may be interested in finding out a bit more about how Hillsmeade works, to nominate and join. It would be great to see some new faces join the team.

There are 8 meetings to attend throughout the year and we need our parent/family community to attend all meetings, ensuring Council has quorum for decision making processes and for meetings to be able to run.

Please see this newsletter for more information and timelines to nominate this year.

Ongoing Reporting has officially started!

You may have seen the Compass posts and reminders regarding accessing the first Learning Task on Compass for your child/children.

Please make sure you go through the process to enable you easy access to further tasks in the future. We are very keen to have ongoing reporting up and running at Hillsmeade and appreciate our community support to make it worthwhile.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to your class teacher for further information.

Students showing our school values beyond the school grounds

I am so very proud of the following three students, who demonstrated the epitome of Hillsmeade values recently in the community. Julian, Faraaz and Armaan all assisted a very distressed child on the street, signalling for a car to stop and assist them to call Police. Such kindness and resilience were shown by all three students and we were able to all celebrate together with a special Principal hot chip lunch, to acknowledge their amazing actions in our community.

Save The Dates - Term 1 2026

• Thursday 5th February - Preps now attend full days, with Wednesday 11th and 18th of February as days off for prep students.
• Starting Monday 23rd February - Preps will attend full time, everyday.
• Monday 9th February - Meet The Teacher 3.30-4.30pm
• Wednesday 11th February - Year 4/5/6 Swimming Trials
• Monday 16th February - Year 6 Incursion
• Thursday 19th February - SCHOOL PHOTOS
• Wednesday 11th March - Monday 23rd March - NAPLAN for Year 3 & 5