Principal News 26/11/2025

Dear Banyan Fields Primary School Community,

With just three weeks left of the school year, things are certainly buzzing at Banyan Fields. Classrooms are full of focused learning, final assessments, and rich celebrations of how far our students have come. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be busy with planning days, transition activities, reports going home and end-of-year events, all aimed at setting our students up for a positive finish to 2025 and a strong start to 2026. Thank you for your ongoing support during this exciting and busy time.

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

Year 2 Sleepover

Our Year 2 Sleepover was a wonderful success! Students enjoyed an exciting evening filled with games, activities and plenty of laughs, followed by a night of staying at school with their friends. Events like this provide a great opportunity for students to develop independence, build confidence and strengthen their connections with peers and teachers.

A huge thank you to our Year 2 team, parents and all staff involved for their organisation, enthusiasm and care. And well done to our Year 2 students for showing such positivity and tenacity, what a memorable experience for everyone!

End of Year – A Time to Celebrate

As we approach the end of the school year, it’s a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the growth, achievements and experiences our students have enjoyed in 2025. From classroom learning and excursions to community events and special celebrations, our students have shown incredible resilience, effort and enthusiasm.

We are so proud of everything they have accomplished.

Over the coming weeks, students will participate in a range of end-of-year activities, including class parties, transition sessions and whole-school events. We encourage families to keep an eye on Compass for updates and reminders.

Thank you to our staff, students and families for your continued support and partnership throughout the year. Together, we have created another strong and successful year of learning at Banyan Fields.

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

Reports

Our teaching teams are currently hard at work finalising end-of-year student reports. This process involves carefully reviewing each child’s progress, growth and effort across all learning areas to ensure reports are accurate, comprehensive and reflective of their achievements.

Student reports will be available to families from 9am on Monday the 8th of December via the Compass App and Compass website.

We encourage all families to take the time to read through the report together with their child, celebrate their successes, and discuss goals for the year ahead. If you experience any difficulties accessing Compass or viewing the report, please contact the school office for support.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support as we work together to provide the best possible learning experience for every student.

Volunteering at Banyan Fields PS in 2026

As we prepare for an exciting 2026 at Banyan Fields Primary School, we are looking to grow our Parent Volunteer Program.

Parent volunteers play an important role in supporting students and helping us build a strong, connected school community. Whether you can help regularly or just occasionally, we truly appreciate every contribution.

Before volunteering, all parents and carers are required to complete our Parent Volunteer Form:https://forms.gle/eDWeBsn379NUiL3x5

Ways to get involved in include:

Classroom support (reading, literacy, numeracy, small groups)
Helping on excursions or camps
Supporting school events such as Sports Days, Book Fairs, STEAM Expo, concerts and art shows
Library or garden assistance
Fundraising and community projects
Joining our Parent Association (PA)

Community Feedback

As we begin planning for 2026, we want to ensure our communication and community connections continue to meet the needs of our families. In our last newsletter survey, many of you shared valuable feedback, and we’d now like to dig a little deeper into those ideas.

This short follow-up survey will help us better understand how we can strengthen communication, build partnerships, and create meaningful opportunities for families to connect with the school next year.

Thank you for taking a moment to share your thoughts. Together, we can continue to strengthen our community and help every child and family thrive at Banyan Fields Primary School.

Please use this link to complete a short survey: https://forms.gle/k6SxHWAYS4LmJZ1C6

Equity: We include, we respect, we support.

Colour Run – Next Friday!

Our Colour Run is happening next Friday, and we are already looking forward to a fun and energetic event to celebrate the end of the year.

A huge thank you to all families for your incredible fundraising efforts so far. Your support helps us continue to provide engaging opportunities and resources for our students. Every contribution—big or small—makes a difference, and we are grateful for the enthusiasm shown across our community.

We can’t wait to see everyone dressed in their brightest colours and ready for a fantastic afternoon!

PLC Focus: Helping Students Remember Their Learning

This week, our teachers have been exploring how to strengthen students’ retention and recall. Ensuring they remember and apply their learning over time.

Our PLC work focused on:

Understanding the difference between students performing during a lesson and truly retaining the learning later.
Using routines that give all students regular opportunities to retrieve learning, not just the confident volunteers.

This work supports strong, lasting learning for every child.

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

Patrick Halpin - Principal

Jennifer Churcher - Assistant Principal

Sharleen Nason - Assistant Principal

Celebrating our learning

Foundation

Grade 1

Grade 2

Physical Education

Stem

Art