Dear Solway Families,

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope that you all had an enjoyable and restful holiday period. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces at the gate on Monday morning and hear about all the wonderful adventures everyone had been on over the holidays at home and abroad. I was lucky enough to escape the cold and wet of Melbourne to spend some time with the family at Bribie Island, North of Brisbane. Aside from building sandcastles on the beach, visiting Australia Zoo and the Bluey House experience were definite highlights.

As we begin Semester 2, it's a great time to reconnect as a school community with our Solway Primary School vision: To empower curious and caring learners to thrive in an inclusive community. This vision is at the heart of everything we do — from the way we design learning experiences to how we interact with one another each day. It also ties closely with our school values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience, and the clear expectations we teach and reinforce through our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) approach.

This term, we will continue to focus on teaching and modelling behaviours that reflect our values and help all students feel safe, supported and ready to learn. Our school-wide expectations guide how we move through the school, care for our belongings, treat others, and engage in learning. They’re not just words on posters — they are the foundations of the inclusive, thriving community we are building together.

To help make our values more visible and ‘liveable’, we’re proud to have recently installed new values signage at the Winton Road gate and inside the administration office. These signs serve as daily reminders for students, staff and families of the kind of community we are striving to be. I encourage all parents and carers to take a moment this week to talk with your children about our school vision, values and expectations — and what they look like in action at school, at home, and in the wider community.

A reminder to all families that Parent-Teacher Interviews will be held on Monday 5 August, between 2:00pm and 7:00pm. These interviews are a valuable opportunity to discuss your child’s progress throughout Semester 1, celebrate their achievements, and talk about goals for the remainder of the year. Parents and carers can book a time with their child’s teacher via Compass. Bookings are now open and can be accessed through the Compass portal.

I would like to invite all parents and carers to attend our next School Council Meeting on Wednesday 6 August at 7:00pm, which will also serve as our Public Reporting Meeting. At this meeting, I will present the 2024 Annual Report to the School Community, highlighting our achievements, progress, and priorities for improvement. This meeting is an important part of our commitment to transparency and continuous improvement and is a requirement under Department of Education policy. All members of the school community are welcome to attend. I hope you can join us to hear more about how we are working together to support student learning and wellbeing at Solway Primary School.

You can now subscribe to our Solway PS Parent Calendar using your preferred calendar app! By subscribing, upcoming school events will appear automatically in your personal calendar — helping you stay organised and connected to what's happening at school.

To subscribe, simply use the following link:webcal://solwayps-vic.compass.education/download/sharedCalendarLayers.aspx?lid=10002&key=453f704d-f83e-44d7-bc67-99894e8f289d&c.ics

If you need assistance setting this up, please feel free to contact the school office.

As Ms Penny Lanyon begins her family leave to welcome her second child, we would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her dedication and contribution to 1L and the broader Solway PS community throughout this year. On behalf of all of us at Solway Primary School, we wish Penny, her partner Tim Chapman, and big brother Albie all the very best for this exciting new chapter. We look forward to hearing happy news soon and can’t wait to meet the newest member of the Solway PS family.

Each year, all Australian schools participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). This process involves identifying and recording the adjustments and supports provided to students with disability, in line with national legislation and guidelines. The data collected is non-identifiable and includes the student’s year level, category of disability, and the level of adjustment being provided. This information helps schools reflect on their practices and supports and assists governments in planning for the needs of students with disability across the country.

There is no testing involved, and student privacy and confidentiality are protected in accordance with national privacy laws.

For more information, visit the NCCD Portal or contact the school directly.

Thank you for your continued support and lets all strive to be “our best always”.

David Rosser

Principal

Diary Dates

School Calendar