Dear Parents and Friends,

Today's newsletter is our last for 2025.

I want to thank our entire Pegasus Family for the support, kindness and encouragement you have shown throughout the year. There have been moments when you have leaned on us, and others when you have offered support and care to our staff. This mutual commitment is what a strong school community is all about.

I truly hope that each of you enjoy your Xmas holidays, catching up with friends and family and doing the things you love. I am planning to:

eat more than I should
play some tennis
watch some tennis
visit family in Tasmania and North East Victoria
swim
and do some work so we are ready for 2026

Take care over the break and we look forward to an amazing year in 2026.

The End of 2025

The final 4 weeks of the school year are always a mad rush to the finish line and this year is no different. Over the last 2 weeks we have held or will hold, the following events:

Market Day
Student Leadership speeches
Xmas carols
Parent helpers’ morning tea
Grade 6 graduation
Meet the Teacher (Prep BBQ)
Grade 6 pool and movies day
Senior school trivia
Final assembly

Our Year of Growth in Teaching and Learning

This year has been one of the most significant years of learning and improvement for our school. Across 2025, we continued to strengthen our commitment to evidence-based, explicit teaching, and we are proud of the progress our staff and students have made. The Department’s focus on explicit instruction has grown stronger throughout the year, and Lysterfield is well ahead of this shift.

Although our journey began in 2024, this year we saw a major step forward in both our understanding and our classroom practice. Teachers have worked incredibly hard to create consistent routines, clearer lessons and more focused classrooms, resulting in calm, purposeful learning where every student can succeed.

Our vision remains simple: Students must learn to read in primary school so that they can read to learn in secondary school. Likewise, in mathematics, students need strong fluency and a deep understanding of concepts before moving into more complex learning in the later years.

To support this, we implemented a number of key programs and improvements across 2025:

PhOrMeS Word Work: daily phonics, spelling, morphology, etymology and vocabulary
Daily Review in Mathematics: reinforcing essential skills and knowledge
OCHRE Mathematics Units: explicit, sequenced instruction for new concepts
Fluency Partners (Years 3–6) based on DIBELS data showing that fluency was affecting comprehension
Literature Units: deep study of rich, engaging books
Knowledge-Rich Units: sequenced learning in History, Geography, Civics and Economics
A full Prep–Year 6 sequence for Literature and Knowledge-Rich learning
Engagement Norms embedded in every classroom
The Pegasus Way as our consistent behaviour curriculum
Strengthened Tier 2 intervention and data-informed support for students

All of these programs are based on cognitive science and explicit teaching, and they are already having a positive impact on student outcomes. The consistency across classrooms is stronger than ever, and our students have adapted brilliantly—they really are amazing.

We look forward to building on this work in 2026 and continuing to provide your children with the strong foundations they need for the years ahead.

Xmas Concert

Thank you to all the families and friends who attended the Christmas Concert on Wednesday. It is, without doubt, my favourite event of the year—although I could definitely do without the sliming! I love everything about this night: the BBQ, the staff involvement, the kids having fun, parents catching up and the wonderful sense of community it creates. It truly is one of the highlights of our school year.

With Mrs Higgins needing to take some leave this term, our teachers have stepped up in an extraordinary way to ensure the concert could still go ahead. I want to especially thank Mrs Chamberlain and Mrs Dealy, who, around four weeks ago, paused their STEM program and jumped into Performing Arts to ensure the students were prepared. Their willingness to do this, without a moment’s hesitation, was outstanding and deeply appreciated.

Thank you once again to our staff, students and families for making this event such a memorable celebration. It was a perfect reminder of what makes the Pegasus Family so special.

2026 Student Leaders

School Captains

Lyndon C

Maisie W

Callum H

Lily B-C

Sports Captains

Ivy W

Archer H

Mitch L

House Captains

Marlu

Zoey F

Maddy

Wadherrang

Archer C

Sonny R

Warrin

Archie F

Isabelle H

Guuguubarra

Charlie S

Lindsay A

Senior School Leaders

Jesse L

Abbey P

Seb B

Alaya T

On my office wall there is a quote from a man named John Quincy Adams that says:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

This reminds us all that leadership is an action and not a role, and whilst today we have announced the students with official leadership roles for 2026, each and every student here has the opportunity to lead others and show them what it means to be a student at our school.

I want to thank the students that applied to be a student leader. It takes a lot of bravery to put yourself forward for these opportunities. Whilst there is the excitement of potentially being successful, there is also the potential disappointment that goes along with missing out. Well done to everyone who applied for, or has been successful in getting an official role for 2026:

These students will form the student leadership group and will work with Mrs Roose and Mr McKenzie throughout the year.

Graduation

Our grade 6 graduation is always a highlight of the final 2 weeks of school and this year will be no different. The grade 6 team have been working furiously on the organisation of this event, aptly supported by others behind the scenes.

Graduation is always a mix of emotions for our Year 6 students and their families. This year’s ceremony will be truly special, joyful, heartfelt and a little bittersweet as we farewell some families who have been with us for many years. It is always a wonderful celebration of the students’ seven years of primary school, and we wish each of our graduates every success as they begin the next chapter of their lives.

Awards

At Graduation we will present a number of awards to our grade 6 students. Today, we have also recognised the following students for receiving various scholarships or awards.

Rowville Lysterfield News Scholarship	Archer H
Rowville Lysterfield News Scholarship	Joelle C
Bendigo Bank Scholarship	Archer C
Rowville Secondary Collee Barry Plant Scholarhip	Monique N
	Maisie W

2025 Start dates

Below are the dates for the start of our 2025 school year, including curriculum days, prep testing and the start dates for students.

Tuesday 27th January – Curriculum day
Wednesday 28th January – Curriculum day
Thursday 29th Jan- Grades 1-6 start
Wednesday 4th Feb- Curriculum Day
Thursday 5th Feb- Preps attend 9.00am - 12.30pm
Friday 6th Feb- Preps attend 9.00am - 12.30pm
Monday 9th Feb- All students attend fulltime

From Thursday 29th January to Tuesday 3rd February, prep students will particpate in a session of assements with their teacher. Bookings for these sessions will open in January via Compass.

2026 Curriculum Days

In 2026 schools will continue to have access to curriculum days to help improve student outcomes. The dates below are our approved curriculum days for 2026:

Term 1: Tuesday 27th January
Term 1: Wednesday 28th January
Term 1: Wednesday 4th February
Term 4: Monday 9th November (report writing)
Term 4: Friday 18th December

I hope that you and your children will enjoy a wonderful Xmas and summer holidays. I hope you get to enjoy spending time with family and friends and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Have a wonderful weekend and break.

Adam Wight

Principal

Lysterfield Primary School

Parents Association