Principal's News & Events

At Wembley Primary School, we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which our school sits, the Woi-wurrung and Boonwurrung people of the South-Eastern Kulin Nation. 

We celebrate and respect the oldest continuing culture and recognise the importance of education in truth telling, equity and justice.

We pay our respects to Elders past and present and recognise and value the learning that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, colleagues and community bring into our schools.  

Term 4: Week 6 -11 

Thank you, families, for a wonderful year! The leadership team would like to acknowledge the support offered by our families for the school - it's students, staff and community. The partnership and encourgement you all offer, has been invaluable. 

We would like to start this final newsletter by formally announcing our teaching teams for the 2026 school year, as well as sharing our well-wishes for a number of staff who are taking leave from Wembley for the next 12 months. We thank all staff for supporting our transition days, and were pleased with the overall success of our final step-up day. As mentioned in the final 'Principal's Post' - much care and consideration is taken over the class formation process and whilst we invite and value parent input at various stages of the process, classes are now final. In order to protect the balance and integrity of these classes, we are unable to make further adjustments. We thank you for your support in this, and thank those parents who have communicated feedback, but who have also worked with us to uphold these class compositions.

This year we welcome some new staff to our teams: 

Prudence Smith-Blackshaw: Prue is moving to us from Albert Park Primary School and will be joining the 2026 Prep Team

Tegan Brice - Year 1: Tegan is moving to us from Western Autistic 

Robyn Jameison - Robyn is moving from North Footscray Primary School and will join the Year 4 team. 

Si Tong Chua - Tong comes to us with a Master’s degree in both primary and secondary education and a double degree in psychology. She came to us as a highly recommended graduate teacher who also won the Monash Certificate of Achievement last year while practicing at Melbourne Girls Grammar School. 

We look forward to welcoming everyone! 

We also say a temporary farewell to some staff members this year, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, we have a number of staff who will be taking Maternity Leave at some point in Term 1 and we wish them all well as they take this time with their families - congratulations: Bella Clemmens, Jasmine Turner and Kate Gialamatzis. We also wish Tom Li and Karly Moutzikis well, as they take a year away from a full-time teaching position. Both Karly and Tom will still be seen in and around Wembley, as a CRT, but have chosen to take a year out from being a full-time classroom teacher in 2026. We wish Tom Szanyi the very best for the 2026 school year as he takes up a temporary transfer to Yarraville West Primary, and Luke Jones as he takes up a position at another school in our local area. Finally, Ben Landolina will return to work with us for Term 1 of 2026, before taking leave for the remainder of the year in order to support his family at home, folloing the birth of his boy, River. We thank all of these teachers for the care, professionalism and commitment to Wembley and their students. 

Midway through this term, we held an Acknowledgment of Country Day where we sought input from our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into the process of developing a whole of school Acknowledgement of Country. Further to this, we have comissioned a local artist to create a piece that represents our work in this space and signals our value of First Nations' culture and history. The students were accompanied by Julianne Fraser, our Koorie Engagement Support Officer,  who shared stories from her own background and facilitated the students in sharing their own family history. The group gave feedback and contributed to the development of our art installation, which is progressing well and should be on track for completion early next year.  You can see their feedback here: 

The art installation will be sculpted from core-ten, will be back-lit and mounted on the wall by our new admin entrance. 

For those that were here in 2023, you would remember the first Philanthropy Day that our then grade sixes ran. We raised $6500 that was donated to Dangan Elementary. This year, we were sent some photos of the outcome, and an article that shared the full story: 

The year sixes identified this school as a community in need, that would benefit from our support and chose to donate the funds to them.

Dangan Elementary is a school in the Philippines that we chose through our connection with Amalia (our old school cleaner), as well as being our pen pals for students in Thomas Penberthy’s grade 4 class. The project originally began through the work of Grant Hobson, our Facilities Manager, and Amalia, who spent several years collecting and sending books to the Philippines - funded by Amalia. Tom also organised a whole school donation of books and supplies for the school, where students brought in unwanted (new and old) supplies that were sent to the school using the raised funds for freight.

To this day, Wembley, along with Amalia and Grant's help, continue to send donations when we can; the below was taken just this term! 

 As we move into the final days of Term 4, we have been working through the Year 5-6 School Leadership and Captaincy application process. It has been an absolute pleasure to listen to our current Year 5 students speak about the issues that matter to them at school, hear their ideas on school improvement and come to understand their hopes of being a leader. In total we had 154 separate applications for 30 roles - this is an outstanding demonstration of student interest and motivation, however it has made for some tough decision making! Of the applicants, 24% were from male students whilst the remaining 3/4 were made by female students. We are looking to finalise these allocations today, with the hope of sharing outcomes with students either Wednesday or Thursday. 

Tonight, we hold the Year 6 Graduation and Farewell event for our exiting Year 6 students; we are so proud of this cohort of students who have held themselves with maturity, kindness and a growing sense of responsibility as they prepare for the next stage of their learning journey. We look forward to hearing their memoirs tonight, congratulating award winners and of course seeing the Grand Finale - The Cohort Dance! 

Once again, thank you to all families and community members who have supported us this year, and contributed to Wembley's success. We wish everyone a wonderful break over the holidays and look forward to seeing you all again in late January. 

~ Katie McClue ~ 

2025 Wembley Primary School Twilight Fete

What an incredible evening we shared at the Wembley Primary School Twilight Fete on Friday 21 November 2025! From 4:00–8:00 pm, our school grounds came alive with colour, music, laughter and a wonderful sense of community spirit. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the event such a memorable success.

Families enjoyed a huge range of attractions and live performances throughout the night. Some musical highlights included twilight performances by our Prep- Year Four students, performances by our ⅚ bands and choir and of course a star-studded performance by our WPS teacher band. There was a huge selection of delicious food on offer and families enjoyed purchasing items from a number of stalls. The key highlight of the night was of course the teacher dunk tank, where teachers and our principal braved the cold and were dunked many, many times. 

A special acknowledgement goes to Linh Krygger, the Wembley Parents Association and our incredible volunteers. From setting up and running stalls to assisting with ticketing, supervising rides and packing down late into the evening, the fete simply couldn’t have happened without your time and energy. Your dedication embodies the spirit of the Wembley community. We are grateful to everyone who attended, contributed, or supported the fete in any way. Events like this strengthen our school community and create lasting memories for our students and families. We look forward to building on this success in future years!

~ Adriana Jankulovski ~ 

D.O.T.S onsite therapy in 2026

For 2026, student wellbeing at Wembley Primary School will be supported through a new partnership with D.O.T.S Occupational Therapy for Children. A D.O.T.S therapist will work onsite at school with students during the week, making access to support simpler for families.

You can read the attached flyer for full details on the types of support offered, funding options, and how to register interest.

~ Zarah Moloney ~ 

Thank you to TreeHaus

TreeHaus has generously donated to our school through their Community Development Project, Walk a Mile in My Shoes, to support student wellbeing. We want to say a sincere thank you for backing our students and our community.

TreeHaus is a local medical and allied health clinic supporting children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. Their services include:

• Psychology and counselling

• Paediatrics and child assessments

• Speech therapy

• Occupational therapy

• Dietetics and nutrition

• Couples and family therapy

If your child or family would like extra support, TreeHaus has nearby clinics in Williamstown, Newport, and Altona. Medicare rebates may be available with a GP referral. To learn more or book, visit their website or call the Williamstown clinic on 9397 4499.

Thanks again to TreeHaus for supporting student wellbeing in our community.

~ Zarah Moloney ~ 

Transition and Whole-School Step Up Day

On Tuesday 9 December 2025, we held our whole-school step up day. This time allowed students to meet their 2026 teacher and classmates. It also allowed them to spend time in their 2026 classroom getting to know each other and learning about the routines, processes, and expectations for the upcoming year.

In order to best support students’ transition, teachers have engaged in a number of dedicated transition planning and handover sessions. On Wednesday 3 December, all 2025 classroom teachers met with the 2026 teachers to provide detailed handovers on every student. For students with additional support needs, our school leaders facilitated extra protected time. The 2026 teacher was able to observe the student in their current 2025 classroom, discussing the existing adjustments and supports with the leader, followed by a detailed handover with the current teacher.

We extend our sincere thanks to the families who have been in touch. We appreciate you reaching out to share your child's excitement about their 2026 class placement, as well as those who have shared valuable information regarding any additional support your child may need in adjusting to their new setting. Your partnership helps us ensure that every student feels supported and prepared for next year.

~ Melanie Irons ~ 

Welcome to our 2026 Preps

What a wonderful afternoon we shared with our 2026 preps at the Prep BBQ on Wednesday 10 December 2025! It was a fantastic opportunity for everyone to mingle, enjoy a tasty sausage sizzle, and for the children to participate in some fun games.

The atmosphere was full of positive energy as our newest families got to know each other and the school community. Events like this are so important in helping our young learners feel comfortable and excited for their big start next year!

A big thank you to all the families who attended and to our dedicated 2026 Prep teachers for arranging such a successful and welcoming event. We look forward to seeing all our new Prep students bright and early in the new school year!

~ Melanie Irons ~