Principal News 16/05/2025

Dear Banyan Fields Primary School Community,

We hope this newsletter finds you and your families well. As we move into the heart of Term 2, it’s wonderful to see our students fully engaged in their learning, participating in a variety of exciting classroom and co-curricular activities. The energy across the school is inspiring, and it’s a testament to the strong partnerships between our staff, students, and families. This month brings many opportunities to celebrate student growth, reflect on our progress so far, and look ahead to upcoming events and initiatives. Whether it’s through classroom achievements, excursions, or special celebrations, there’s much to be proud of in our school community.

Semester One Reports:

Semester One student reports will be available to parents and carers via Compass on Monday, 23 June. The purpose of this student report is to give feedback on your child's progress for Semester One. In compiling this student report, teachers who work with your child have made informed and on balance judgements on a range of formal and informal assessment tasks and learning experiences to identify your child's progress.3

Maths Progression Point

Banyan Fields Primary School has implemented the revised Mathematics Curriculum 2.0, as developed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). Previously, student achievement in Mathematics was reported across three strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. Under the revised curriculum, teachers will now assess and report student achievement using a single score that reflects the whole Mathematics achievement standard. Please note that because the achievement standards have changed, the first report using the new curriculum will show only a level of achievement. Once there is a baseline from which to measure growth, progress over time will be reflected in future reports.

Growth

Please note that, in addition to the curriculum update, our school has also moved from the Sentral reporting platform to Compass. Because of this transition, and the differences in how data is recorded between the two systems, a growth score will not be provided in this report. Growth data will be available in future reports once consistent tracking has been established in Compass.

Celebrating Our Wonderful Mums – Mother’s Day Breakfast & Stall Success!

Last week, our school was filled with love, laughter, and gratitude as we celebrated Mother’s Day with two very special events – our annual Mother’s Day Breakfast and Mother’s Day Stall. The Mother’s Day Breakfast was a beautiful way to start the day, with so many mums, grandmothers, and special carers joining us for a delicious morning spread. It was a joy to see our school community come together, sharing smiles and stories over coffee and breakfast. A heartfelt thank you goes out to our staff and volunteers who helped make the morning so warm and welcoming.

Following that, our Mother’s Day Stall was a huge hit with students, who carefully selected thoughtful gifts to surprise the special women in their lives. The excitement and pride on their faces said it all! We hope all our mums and carers enjoyed a joyful Mother’s Day – you are appreciated more than words can say.

Grandparents Morning & Book Fair – A Heartwarming Success!

On Wednesday, our school was filled with joy, stories, and smiles as we welcomed grandparents and special friends to our Grandparents Morning. It was wonderful to see so many cherished family members join us in classrooms, share in learning experiences, and enjoy a cup of tea together. The students were so proud to showcase their work and introduce their special guests to teachers and friends. A big thank you to all the grandparents who came along – your presence made the morning truly special and reminded us all of the strong community that supports our students.

In addition, our Book Fair was a fantastic success! Students and families browsed through a wonderful selection of books, sparking enthusiasm for reading and helping to build our classroom libraries. Thank you to all the families who supported the event – your purchases directly benefit our school’s literacy resources. We are grateful for the support of our volunteers and staff who made both events possible. We look forward to many more community celebrations ahead!

Swimming

Our Year 3 students participated in a swimming program at Paul Sadler over the last two weeks. They all had a great time and learnt valuable water safety skills. We still have our Year 5 cohort doing their swim lessons later this term. Foundation- Year 2 will participate in swimming lessons during Terms three and four.

Election Day BBQ

A big thank you to families for coming out to support our BBQ fundraiser on election day. This was a wonderful community event and it was lovely to see so many families helping out to cook a sausage. We over $1,500, which finishes off our fundraising for the installation of our fans in the gym. A big thank you to Adam Smith and IGA who arranged the sausages and bread for us! We hope many more families will volunteer to support our future fundraising events. Our next focus is the replacement and upgrade of our CCTV system.

Kinder Visits

Our school captains go and visit our local kindergartens each week, with the supervision of Rebecca McCorkindale, to build relationships with our local kinder students. Applications are now open for families to enrol their child at Banyan Fields for Foundation in 2026. If you know of any families that are looking for a school for their Foundation child, please tell them to contact the office for a tour and/or an enrolment form.

Title: Inside Our School - PLC Progress

What is a PLC?

A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a group of teachers who work closely together to improve how we teach and support students. We meet regularly to share ideas, learn from each other, and make sure we are using the best, research-based strategies across all classrooms. The first goal we are working towards this year is to create classrooms that are using positive behaviour strategies based on the latest research to support students' learning and wellbeing.

This Fortnight’s Focus:

Our staff have been working together in our PLC to strengthen positive behaviour management strategies. As part of this work, teachers have been engaging in professional reading about effective classroom behaviour, expectations, and rules. We have continued to explore the Functions of Behaviour — the idea that student behaviour often serves a purpose or helps meet a specific need. Understanding why a student is acting a certain way helps us respond more effectively and support their learning and wellbeing.

Why This Matters:

This work matters because when we understand the reasons behind student behaviour, we can respond with empathy and consistency rather than just react. Clear expectations, informed strategies, and a supportive approach create a positive learning environment where all students feel safe, respected, and ready to learn.

Our next steps:

Our next meeting, we will begin to look at the data collected and analyse the what's and why's.

Patrick Halpin - Principal

Jacqui Sampson - Assistant Principal

Jennifer Churcher - Assistant Principal

Sharleen Nason - Assistant Principal

BFPS Special Events Information

Walk Safely to School Day