Principal's Desk

A Plea for Help

A strength of our school has always been sharing ways in which we can have our parent/community helpers support us in school initiative and events. Below is a perfect opportunity for anyone who is interested:

The much anticipated House Athletics Day is fast approaching, taking place on Wednesday, 25 March. In order for the day to be a success, we require a number of volunteers. Volunteers would need to be available from 9:30am to 1:00pm and have provided the office with a current Working With Children Check. If you would like to be involved in a fun-filled day, please email Mr Davey directly at matthew.davey2@education.vic.gov.au. Any offers of assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Junior School Council

At our recent assembly, we presented the Junior School Council badges to our class representatives. Led by Miss Edwards and Mrs Chalmers, these students meet on a regular basis and work together to provide great insight into our school and our learning environments from a student perspective. We are so excited to have a great group of students representing our school and are looking forward to working with them throughout 2026. Congratulations to all!

Park Ridge Primary School Council

We have recently run our School Council election and ballot this week. I am pleased to declare the poll and announce to the Community the members of the Park Ridge School Council 2026. Congratulations to Courtney, Janine and Kim who have been elected to our School Council for 2026 from the result of our recent call for nominations.

Parent Members:

• Courtney Sanderson (re-elected)

• Kim Kinniburgh (re-elected )

• Janine Shreety (newly elected )

• Caroline Beks

• Ursel Kulessa

• Sachin Joshi

• Fiona Henderson

• Catherine Higgins

Community Member:

• Sall Kumruyan

DE Members:

• Dale Blythman

• Carrie Chalmers

• Brendan Garvey

• Hannah Shepherd

• Caitlin Coad

Non-voting member:

• Chris Conway (Minute taker)

I would like to thank all of the members for their support and willingness to contribute to the school in this way.

The school we have, is the one we build together. 

Accident Insurance and Personal items brought to school 

The Department of Education (DE) does not provide personal accident insurance for students. Parents and carers are generally responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including any transport costs. 

The Department of Education states that reasonable low-cost accident insurance policies are available from the commercial insurance sector. For those parents and carers who seek personal cover, details of an insurer who offers low-cost individual accident insurance is EBM Insurance Brokers and their website is www.studentcover.com.au  

Similarly, DE (which includes the school) does not offer replacement of personal items which are brought to school and are lost, broken, or stolen. Sentimental or expensive belongings and toys, including sports equipment and electronic devices, are normally best left at home. 

Annual Privacy Reminder 

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website in the Newsletters & Policies section:

https://parkridge-ps.vic.edu.au/newsletters-policies/

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic

• Arabic

• Dari

• Gujarati

• Mandarin

• Somali

• Sudanese

• Turkish

• Urdu

• Vietnamese.

Parking Reminder – Wentworth Avenue Disabled Parking Bays

We ask all members of our school community to be mindful of parking regulations around the school, particularly on Wentworth Avenue during drop-off and pick-up times.

Recently, we have received reports of vehicles parking in the designated disabled parking bays without displaying a valid permit. These spaces are reserved for members of our community who require accessible parking, and it is important that they remain available for those who genuinely need them.

We also remind families to please be considerate of our local residents by following all parking signage and regulations. This includes not parking across driveways, in No Standing zones, or in restricted areas. Please note that reports have been made to Council, and we expect that parking inspectors may visit the school in the coming weeks.

We understand that the school pick-up and drop-off period can be busy, however following these rules helps keep our community safe and respectful for everyone.

Please feel free to pop in for a chat with either Carrie, Brendan or I, should you wish to discuss anything. 

Our doors are always open! 

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman