Principal's Report

Welcome Back

Welcome back to everyone. A bit more sunshine over the past 2 weeks would have been nice, but I’m sure that didn’t stop the kids having some fun. Hopefully they’re re-energised and ready to finish off the year strongly.

It was great to finish last term with our Celebration of Learning Evening. As always, we had an enormous crowd in attendance and thanks to everyone for coming along and showing an interest in what your children are doing at school. The teachers did an excellent job planning activities that helped all visitors build an understanding of the learning that’s taking place in the classroom. Hopefully you found that useful. A big thankyou to Tracey and her team who did an excellent job providing dinner and other refreshments on the night.

The final day of term was loads of fun. The kids enjoyed finishing assembly a footy colours parade, before adding their Mphatso donations to jars in the courtyard. Thanks to everyone for being so generous. In the end, $1,166.45 was raised for the cause, which will have a very real impact on children in the village of Mpatso. Then during the first break there was a staff v students game of volleyball which attracted lots of onlookers.

There’s always a lot happening in term 4 and plenty for the kids to look forward to, which includes:

The Pre-Schooler Program in weeks 1-4
First Aid Training for Students (week 1)
5-6s to Sovereign Hill & the disco (week 2)
The P-2 Sports Day (Oct 22)
3-4 excursions to Earth Ed (week 3)
More inter school sport (Div cricket & tennis & regional aths)
Grade 1 late stay (Nov 19) and grade 2 sleepover (Oct 22)
Swimming program for the P-2s (week 4)
EBT in week 7
Hosting PSTs from Chester, the UK in week 7
A Karuta competition (Nov 26)
Grandparents & Special Friends Day (Nov 27)
Scholarship Celebration Evening (Dec 3)
Scotsburn end of year concert (Dec 14) & whole school sleepover
Orientation Day (Dec 8)
Parent Teacher Interviews (Mon & Wed of week 10)
A range of end of year PLC celebrations in weeks 10 & 11
Grade 6 Graduation (Dec 15)
Finishing the 2026 school year with a handover day on Dec 18

Attached is a calendar of events for term 4.

Families Term 4, 2026 event schedule.docx (2).pdf

Kinder to Primary School Transition

We’re excited to have our Pre-Schooler Program start this week and expect plenty of excited 4 and 5 year olds to join us for sessions on Wednesday and Friday. No doubt our grade 6 Transition Team members will also be excited, as they get to help out with these sessions.

Planning for 2027

We are now in the thick of planning for next year. Obviously, this is dependent on student numbers, so urge anyone who has a prep to enrol for 2027 gets a form completed and submitted as soon as possible.

Vacation Projects

We had a lot going on over the break in terms of maintenance and improvement projects. These included:

Ramp Replacement – These works continued over the break, with the focus being on the main entrance at Buninyong and the entrance to the old building at Scotsburn. Overall, the ramps upgrade project is going well and should be wrapped up by mid-December.
Half Court at Scotsburn – The half court went in over the break and is looking amazing. As mentioned previously, this will benefit the Scotsburn community for many years to come. As you can see, the kids are already excited about the new court.

Replacement of Blinds - A number of non-functioning blinds across the school were replaced. This work was long overdue and is a big improvement.
Painting – BER classrooms and 2 of the Quad classrooms were painted. We’re now getting close to having all classrooms painted in the past 2 years. Finishing off the Quad and then Scotsburn classrooms will be next in line.

Irrigation System - A new irrigation system has been installed at the main entrance of the Buninyong Campus, extending to the surrounds of the 5-6 playground. It is going to be so nice to be able to keep the front of the school green all year round, which will provide a much better play space for the kids and keep the main entrance to the campus looking good. At the end of term 4 we will re-seed this area and hopefully have it all looking amazing by the time the kids return at the end of January.

High Risk Trees - Recently we had an arborist in to assess trees across both campuses. Those requiring attention were attended to over the break.

Fence Extension - The fence behind the goals at the north end of the oval was extended over the break. The extension is designed to reduce the number of balls making their way out onto Yuille St.
Replacement of a Timber Path & Platform - A rotting timber path and warping timber platform on the west side of the old building at the Buninyong Campus were replaced with concrete. This work removes some trip hazards that were emerging.

It’s always good to get jobs, such as those listed above, completed while there are no students on site and it’s good to keep chipping away and making sure all spaces in the school (both campuses) are well maintained.

BASE 1270 Update

Our Before and After School Care Program is continuing to go really well, providing a valuable service for our families and students. As our program grows, we are currently expanding our team and would love to hear from anyone interested in joining our dedicated and supportive staff.