Welcome to 2026 at Karoo Primary School!

It has been wonderful to welcome our Year 1 to Year 6 students back this week and to see our school once again filled with our students and their joy, as they reconnected with friends, peers and teachers.

Throughout the week, I have had the pleasure of visiting our classrooms to welcome students to the new school year. It has been heartening to see how positively everyone is settling into their new learning environments and to feel the excitement for the opportunities that lie ahead in this new year!

Our focus at the start of the year is on re-establishing KPS expectations and routines, while exploring what it means to be an engaged learner at Karoo Primary School. This is supported through our Start Up program, which runs for the first two weeks of school. During this time, students revisit our school values and develop an understanding of what it means to be positive role models at our school.

Families can support this transition at home by re-establishing key school routines such as consistent sleep and healthy eating, to support brain development. Encouraging children to organise their learning resources and build on the skills developed in previous years will also help set them up for a successful start to the year.

Welcome back to Karoo PS 2026 Video

We look forward to welcoming our Foundation students next week on Thursday the 5th of February for their first day of school!

If you would like further information on how to support your child starting school, you can access the Victorian Governments 'A New Year of Learning' webpage for further tips.

2026 Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony

To start the new year off positively, we welcomed our new school year with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony, led by Wurundjeri Elder, Perry Wandin. It was a thoughtful and reflective experience for our students, staff, community and special guests. We learnt more about the Wurundjeri – Woi Wurrung culture and the experience provided us with the opportunity to show our respect to the Wurundjeri people and the land on which Karoo PS stands.

Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony Video

Communication at Karoo Primary School

Karoo Primary School is committed to effective communication and treating everyone in accordance with our school values. It is therefore important that everyone in the school community work together to ensure we are cooperative, honest and respect the protocols below. Our commitment should be to conduct ourselves in a respectful, calm and courteous manner. Therefore, it is important to note that teachers will not be able to check or respond to emails during teaching time, however they will endeavour to reply within 24-48 hours. Furthermore, please be mindful of the hours that you contact teachers and avoid where able, late at night when people are home. It is important for all people to have some family time and an opportunity to wind down from the day. This enables everyone to recharge and be able to be at their best when they are teaching your children during the day.

For your key contacts at our school, please refer to our Communication Pathways overview.

Who should I make contact with?

Ideally your child’s class teacher is the preferred person to contact, however there may be times that it is more appropriate to speak to a Member of the school leadership team.

Leadership Team

Principal – Mrs Courtney Hoffmann

Assistant Principal (Academic Growth) - Mrs Peta Phillips

Assistant Principal (Wellbeing and Inclusion) - Mr Hugh McLaughlin

Learning Specialist & Year 5&6 Sub School Leader - Mrs Simone Vitas (Mathematics)

Learning Specialist & Year 3&4 Sub School Leader - Mrs Robyn Harris (Wellbeing)

Learning Specialist & Year 1&2 Sub School Leader - Amy Ellis (English)

Foundation Sub School Leader - Mrs Peta Phillips

Leaders

Foundation – Mrs Clare McCandlish

Year 1 – Miss Sarah Dobson

Year 2 – Mr Tim Wilson

Year 3 – Mrs Fiona Marker

Year 4 – Miss Michelle Davies

Year 5 – Mr Josh Edwards

Year 6 – Ms Gemma Wild

Specialists - Mr Adam Horne

What does communication at Karoo look like?

Ongoing Communication

School assemblies every fortnight (even weeks of the school term) on a Friday at 2.50 p.m. These alternate between whole school and sub-school.
School newsletter every fortnight (odd weeks of the school term) uploaded on Compass and available on our website
Weekly Newsfeed information shared on Compass
Phone calls and emails from staff
Noticeboards in the school grounds (PE/ Sport near the Gym, Visual Arts - outside Art room, Community Noticeboard - near the Library and Student Council board - in the courtyard)
Classroom displays
Karoo PS emails via Compass
Seesaw for student learning portfolios

Throughout the year Communication

Getting to Know You interviews – an opportunity to meet your child’s class teacher in February/March (weeks 5 & 6 – bookings to open next week)
Mid-year and end of year student progress reports
Mid-year Parent Teacher interviews to discuss student achievements - mid year will be student led conferences

We are continuing to review our communication processes and further information will be shared in the coming weeks to update you how we are continuing to improve.

Karoo PS Working Bee - Sunday 15th March!

Save the date! This term we are hosting a 'Working Bee' planned for Sunday the 15th of March. We invite our school community to come along and join in the fun to help make our school shine!

The jobs on the day are:

- Mulching gardens

- Gardening (General)

- Filling sandpit with sand

There will be a BBQ lunch, hosted by the school, from 11:30-12pm, as a thank you to all our helpers! Please indicate below if you are able to attend and what you would be able to help with on the day.

'Let us know if you can attend' Form: https://forms.gle/yybqxVLqMM7cXPkE6

We thank you in advance for your support!

Have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing you around the school!

Courtney Hoffman

Principal

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