Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to extend a very warm welcome back to all students and their families/carers for the final term of 2025. We have certainly achieved a lot this year and I am sure you will all agree that the growth in student learning behaviours and academic achievement has been very pleasing. Already this term we have seen everyone return to school in a settled way and are building on their progress from Term 3.

Term 4 is an action packed term full of opportunities and learning experiences that encourage students to put all those newly learned skills to the test. Looking to the term ahead, there are many events to look forward to, such as:

Swimming for Preps and Grades 1
Transition for our Grade 6s into secondary school
The Writers’ Festival (Weds 22nd Oct)
Grade 6 Passport to Success
Grade 5 Leadership selection process
Grade 2 Sleepover
The Kinder transition Program
Prep - 2 Athletics
Division Cricket 5-6

Grade 3 Camp - Cave Hill Creek
Prep Excursion to Pevan and Sarah
Energy Breakthrough
Grade 6 Graduation
Meet Your Teacher Day
Picnic Day (at school)
Grade 5 and 6 Health Days
Colour Run
Bulldogs Read finale
Multicultural day
End of Year Student Reports.

In order to keep up to date with school dates, please keep an eye on the newsletter and Compass newsfeed.

This term our uniform and sun smart policy means that all students playing outside require a sunsmart hat. These hats are available for sale at the front office and students who do not have a hat will be directed to a shaded area for play.

Classes for 2026

It is getting to that time where we will start to place students in grades for 2026.

This term we welcome some new staff to our school and believe we have completed our hiring process of staff for 2026. I would like to welcome Michelle Thompson who joins the school as the Wellbeing Specialist and has been in a similar role at Kyneton PS. One of the initiatives Michelle will lead this term will be the re-introduction of a Multicultural day at Delacombe PS.

We also welcome some of our new educational support staff who have been on board with us in a casual capacity and are now part of our permanent staffing.

Paul McDougall
Eliza Karslake
Lexi McCann
Karen Martin from River Bend PS

In terms of announcements of staff returning our school welcomes back from overseas Mr Brandon Egan and also Mrs Bianca Walters (formerly Ms Bianca Gerrard). There are some further updates of staff that will be taking leave in 2026 and will be updated in the coming weeks and farewells arranged.

In 2026 we anticipate that we may receive another large intake of Grade Prep students in 2026 and we have planned for 31 classrooms for currently 679 students in the following way. At this stage we have planned for 5 Prep classrooms and will consider whether we do need to offer 5 classrooms instead of 4 classrooms.

Room	Class	Teacher	Number of Classes 2026	Class average
ROOM 1	Prep A		5	20
ROOM 2	Prep B		5	20
ROOM 3	Prep C		5	20
ROOM 7	Prep D		5	20
ROOM 8	Prep E		5	20
ROOM 5	Grade 1A		5	20.4
ROOM 6	Grade 1B		5	20.4
ROOM 4	Grade 1C		5	20.4
ROOM 9	Grade 1D		5	20.4
ROOM 10	Grade 1E		5	20.4
ROOM 11	Grade 2A		5	20.6
ROOM 12	Grade 2B		5	20.6
ROOM 13	Grade 2C		5	20.6
ROOM 14	Grade 2D		5	20.6
ROOM 15	Grade 2E		5	20.6
ROOM 16	Grade 3A		4	21
ROOM 17	Grade 3B		4	21
ROOM 18	Grade 3C		4	21
ROOM 19	Grade 3D		4	21
ROOM 20	Grade 4A		4	24.5
ROOM 21	Grade 4B		4	24.5
ROOM 22	Grade 4C		4	24.5
ROOM 23	Grade 4D		4	24.5
ROOM 24	Grade 5A		4	24
ROOM 25	Grade 5B		4	24
ROOM 26	Grade 5C		4	24
ROOM 27	Grade 5D		4	24
ROOM 28 (Lower)	Grade 6A		4	24
ROOM 29	Grade 6B		4	24
ROOM 30 (Upper)	Grade 6C		4	24
ROOM 31	Grade 6D		4	24

As a result of our staffing structure we will have a few changes. Teachers will change year levels for their own personal development or to have a change from the year level they have been in. We ask that parents not request teachers for grades as we will have changes occurring and believe that the staff we have employed for 2026 will be great additions to our school. We will look to make you aware of our full staffing towards the end of the year.

Student Separation Requests for 2026 Class Placements

Over the course of the next month, the process of developing classes for 2026 will begin. There are a range of processes that are considered such as academic, social and emotional wellbeing to balance a class. If you feel strongly that your child will not work productively with another student, we would require this request in writing before Monday the 27th of October. This must be addressed to Mr Phillips and/or Mr Columbro. We strive to achieve the best educational outcomes for all students when undertaking such a rigorous process.

ENERGY BREAKTHROUGH TEAM

With less than 5 weeks to go until the Energy Breakthrough team compete in Maryborough, it all systems go for the team. On Tuesday 14th October the team were involved in a practice day at the Haddon Kart track known as the 'Test and Tune' day. It was a good opportunity to race against 19 other teams in preparation for Maryborough. This year we have 3 teams competing and they are ready for action.

FACILITIES UPDATE

During the holidays we had some work completed on some of the ramps around the school to improve the safety for students, parents and staff. We also had some issues on our stadium exit door and this was attended to in the first week of the holidays.

During our next break we will have our new Grade 5-6 playground installed and we hope to have this ready for use on the first day back of school in 2026.

Late this week Mr Columbro and I will be meeting with our current Grade 5 students to explain to them the process for applying for student leadership positions at our school. This process will involve student written applications, in some cases interviews and also voting from their peers. If your child is interested they should be receiving the information in school and applications should be submitted to me by Monday 28th October.

On Friday 25th October it will be World Teachers’ Day. At Delacombe PS we will look to celebrate our wonderful teachers with a morning tea and thank them for all their hard work they do for our children.

PARENT LIAISON

The next date set for the Parent Liaison is Thursday 30th October at 2.30pm. This session is time to talk about what is coming up at school and listen to any other suggestions from parents.

Topics that will be on the agenda are:

P-2 Athletics - any food to be provided
End of year raffle
Recent parent and student surveys

All parents are welcome to attend, just check in at the front office to attend this session.

PARENT REMINDERS

Writers’ Festival is Wednesday 22nd October - commencing 9am in the stadium
School Assembly is Friday 24th October at 2.30pm in the stadium
Friday 3rd November (day before Melbourne Cup) is a student free day