Leadership Report

Dear Saltwater Families,

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to an exciting new school year! I hope you had a wonderful and refreshing break and are ready to begin 2025 with enthusiasm. A warm welcome to all the new families and staff joining the Saltwater College community—we’re delighted to have you with us and look forward to getting to know you throughout the year.

Last week, we had the absolute joy of welcoming our newest Prep students. It was heartwarming to see their bright smiles and excitement as they embarked on this new chapter. We also acknowledge that moments like these can bring mixed emotions for parents, it’s all part of the beautiful journey of schooling, and we’re here to support you every step of the way.

As we move into 2025, we continue to build upon the exceptional achievements of last year. Saltwater College remains committed to delivering outstanding outcomes in student learning, wellbeing, and engagement. Your ongoing support and partnership play a crucial role in these successes, and we’re grateful to be working alongside you.

This year also marks the beginning of our exciting capital works project—a major milestone for our school. While this development will bring some operational changes between 2025 and 2027, we will keep you informed every step of the way and ensure a smooth transition as we expand and enhance our facilities.

Secondary Campus Information - Years 7, 8, 9

As part of this expansion, we’ve temporarily relocated our Year 7, 8, and 9 students to the new Coaching Parade Campus, situated on Homestead Senior Secondary College's site. The transition has been smooth, and both students and teachers have settled in well. Over the next few months, additional work will be done to create a covered seating area for students, further enhancing the space. Being just 400 meters away, it’s great knowing many of our Saltwater P-9 students will transition to Homestead for Year 10 each year.

Construction on our expansion project is set to begin in 2025. To prepare the site for construction, temporary fencing has been installed around the single-storey portables that were evacuated last year. At the back of the oval, one Modular 5 portable will remain accessible for use. This portable will continue to be available for after-school care supervision, including access for Big Childcare. The  last Mod 5 portable will be relocated later this year to make way for the building works.

We will continue to keep you informed as we progress through this important development and will continue working closely with the Education Department to address any questions. Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support of Saltwater P-9 College.

School Growth

Our school community continues to grow, with approximately 2,180 students and 209 staff currently. We acknowledge that drop-off and pick-up times can be busy, and to address this, we’ve implemented designated Drop-off and Pick-up Zones on Keira Place to improve traffic flow and minimise congestion. To further support these efforts, we encourage families to consider walking, biking, or using public transport where possible. Carpooling with other families is another great way to reduce the number of vehicles arriving at school. By working together and adopting these strategies, we can significantly ease traffic congestion, creating a safer, more efficient environment for everyone during peak times.

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Leadership Structure 2025  

We are fortunate to continue our distributed leadership model this year with an Assistant Principal appointed to each cohort to oversee that cohort, and all parent communications/concerns will need to be directed to the relevant Assistant Principal. We also have two designated Wellbeing Assistant Principals.

The Assistant Principals, cohorts and additional leadership responsibility are: 

Prep – Taxia Katsouranis, Director of Teaching and Learning 

Year One – Brent Syme, Student Voice, Agency and Engagement

Year Two – Matt Hart, Literacy 

Year Three – David Vivoda, Numeracy 

Year Four – Michael Nicolaides, International Baccalaureate Programme P-9 

Year Five -Michael Nicolaides, International Baccalaureate Programme P-9 

Year Six – Michael Nicolaides, International Baccalaureate Programme P-9 

Year Seven - Hayley Mann 

Year Eight - Joe Doyle 

Year Nine - Danielle Colling

Data, Assessment and Reporting and Specialist - Ryan Ma

Wellbeing - Amanda Palombi and Sarah O’Connor  

Wellbeing Secondary, Student Voice, Agency and Engagement - Mark McInerney

Every year level also has a designated Leading Teacher who supports their team in all areas of curriculum. Due to the current shortage of teachers, they have been placed in the classroom and are released for leadership duties for one/two days of the week. The Leading Teachers will support teachers in their cohort with coaching and mentoring as well as provide Intervention to our students.  

Our Leading Teachers are: 

In addition to the above leaders, we have also allocated Learning Specialists. Our Learning Specialists have a deep knowledge and expertise in high quality teaching and learning. They have a range of responsibilities which include supporting students and teachers across the school.  

Our Learning Specialists are:  

Stephanie Day  

Montana Vunder Messis  

James Peterson 

Maria Nardo 

Information sessions

As partners in your child/ren’s education, we are excited to invite you to our upcoming Parent Information sessions which will be held over two weeks in the classrooms.

The information sessions are designed to provide you with valuable insights, as well as offer an understanding of the programs we have in place to foster a thriving learning environment. 

 We look forward to your presence at the Parent Information Sessions. Please note the sessions are tailored for parents. 

Curriculum Days Approved by School Council. 

Please note our 2025 Curriculum days, which are student-free days. Curriculum days are days set aside by our school for teachers and staff to engage in various activities related to curriculum planning, development, and improvement. Students do not attend school on these days. 

Please observe the dates of our curriculum days. 

• Tuesday 28 January Curriculum Day. No students at school.

• Wednesday 29 January Curriculum Day. No students at school.

• Friday 1 August Curriculum Day . No students at school.

• Monday 3 November Reporting Curriculum Day.  No students at school.

• Friday 19 December - Last day of 2025 year. No students at school.

Please mark these days in your 2025 diary as students do not attend school on these days. 

Term dates for 2025

Please be aware of the 2025 term days and plan accordingly for vacations and other important events, by checking our Important Dates Tab.

Lion Dance

On Thursday 6 February, we arranged for the Hong De Lion Dance Association to usher in the 2025 Lunar New Year of the snake. This event was also intended to bring good luck and fortune to our Saltwater P-9 community. 

The performance took place during school pickup time and lasted for an exciting 15 minutes. The vibrant display of drumming, cymbals, and the mesmerising movements of the lion captivated the audience, creating a lively atmosphere. We were delighted to have everyone join us in celebrating the Lunar New Year with joy and excitement.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all our students for a fantastic start to school. Wishing all our students a fantastic school year filled with learning, growth and memorable moments. We can’t wait to watch you grow, learn and develop. Welcome to a year of endless possibilities!

Thank you, 

On behalf of the Leadership Team