School News
A Friendly Student Attendance Reminder
A reminder to our families about student absences.
If your child is going to be away from school, please remember to log their absence on Compass before 11.00am each day. If you haven’t had a chance to do this, our SMS reminder is a gentle prompt to jump onto Compass and record your child’s absence and reason.
If your family is heading away on holidays or your child will be absent for a few days, please let the school office know as well as your child’s teacher. This helps us keep our attendance records up to date and makes sure everyone in the office is aware of your child’s absence.
We really appreciate your help with keeping us informed. It makes a big difference and helps us keep our school records accurate.
Reasons, Excuses and Exceptions
As we continue our series on the Trafalgar Primary School Behaviour Curriculum, this fortnight we explore an important question: How do we balance understanding a child's needs with maintaining clear expectations for behaviour?
Some children find it harder than others to manage frustration, follow instructions, regulate their emotions or cope with the demands of school. There can be many reasons for this, including disability, anxiety, developmental differences, difficult experiences or simply having a particularly challenging day.
Understanding these reasons matters. It helps us respond thoughtfully, provide appropriate support and teach children the skills they need to succeed.
However, one of the important principles underpinning our Behaviour Curriculum, informed by Tom Bennett's Running the Room, is that a reason for a behaviour does not automatically excuse it.
For example, a child might become frustrated because they find a learning task difficult. We can recognise that frustration, adjust the level of support and help them work through the challenge. At the same time, we can maintain the expectation that they speak respectfully, follow instructions and allow others to learn.
This is particularly important when we think about inclusion.
At Trafalgar Primary School, we want every child to feel that they belong and can participate successfully in school life. For some students, this means additional teaching, adjustments, encouragement or individualised support. These supports are an important part of helping children meet our shared expectations.
Inclusion works best when children are supported to succeed within a community that has clear and consistent standards.
Another important consideration is how we manage exceptions. There will always be circumstances where an expectation needs to be adjusted for an individual student. Good judgement and compassion are essential. However, we also need to be careful that exceptions remain exceptional. When rules are frequently negotiated or inconsistently applied, children can become uncertain about what is expected, and the sense of fairness that helps a school community function can begin to weaken.
The same principle applies at home. A child might have a very good reason for feeling upset about turning off a device, completing a household responsibility or getting ready for bed. We can acknowledge their feelings, offer support and still maintain the boundary.
Children benefit from knowing that adults will listen to them, take their needs seriously and respond fairly. They also benefit from knowing that expectations are dependable.
Our goal is to develop young people who can understand their emotions, take responsibility for their actions and learn to manage life's challenges.
Compassion and high expectations belong together. When we combine understanding with clear boundaries and appropriate support, we give every child the best opportunity to grow, belong and succeed.
Sincerely,
Cameron Nicholls
PRINCIPAL
Scholarships for Students
The Department of Education manages a range of student scholarships. These are available for students who:
- complete Grade 4 to Year 11 in 2026
are enrolled in Year 12 in 2026 and plan to do tertiary studies in 2027.
The Department will evaluate applicants on their:
- academic achievement
- participation in school and community activities
financial need.
Scholarships are either one-off payments or cover the duration of the student’s course.
Applications for these scholarships open on Thursday 1 October 2026 and close on Monday 1 February 2027.
To view all available scholarships and for more information on each, including how to apply, refer to Student scholarships.
Sickbay Snippets
Thunderstorm asthma – be prepared this pollen season
Grass pollen season in Victoria usually runs from October to December. During this time, asthma and hay fever symptoms can get worse. There is also an increased risk of thunderstorm asthma.
Ten years ago, Melbourne experienced the largest thunderstorm asthma event in the world. Thunderstorm asthma can be sudden and serious. It can be life-threatening, especially if a person’s asthma or hay fever is not well controlled.
Trafalgar Primary School will have measures to keep our school community safe.
All of our staff are trained in asthma first aid. We will monitor VicEmergency for thunderstorm asthma warnings. When needed, we will keep students indoors if the weather forecast shows a higher risk.
Managing asthma and allergies matters. During this pollen season, there are some things you can do to protect yourself and your family:
- Please ensure the school has a current Asthma Action Plan completed by your child’s GP within the past 12 months, along with an in-date reliever puffer (Ventolin/Zempron). We recently sent home expired puffers, so please replace these with a new, in-date puffer if you have not already done so.
- If your child has ever had asthma, talk to your doctor about your Asthma Action Plan and to make sure symptoms are well controlled.
- If your child has hay fever, talk to your pharmacist or doctor about a hay fever plan and check if you need an asthma reliever puffer.
- If your child has cough or wheeze with hay fever, talk to your doctor to make sure they don’t also have asthma.
- Take asthma medication as directed by your doctor, as the good control of symptoms can prevent thunderstorm asthma.
- Follow the VicEmergency website or app. Where possible, avoid being outside during thunderstorms – especially during the winds that come before the storm. Go inside and close your doors and windows. If you have your air conditioning on, turn it to ‘recirculate’.
Know asthma first aid. If you are not sure if someone is having an asthma attack, you can still use a blue asthma reliever puffer.
For more information, speak to your doctor.
You can also:
- speak with an asthma educator on 1800 ASTHMA (1800 278 462). This is a free service from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday
- refer to Better Health Channel. This includes information in different languages.
Child Safety and Wellbeing at Trafalgar Primary
Information for families and the school community
Trafalgar Primary School is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe.
Our child safety framework trafps.vic.edu.au/policy explains how we support and maintain child safety and wellbeing at Trafalgar Primary School. It includes our:
- Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
- Child abuse (including grooming) – identification and response, and
- Child Safety Code of Conduct, which outlines acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for all staff and volunteers at our school.
Our students and families are important partners in providing a child safe environment. These regular newsletter reminders are one of the ways we ensure our school community is aware of:
- our commitment to child safety, and
- how to provide feedback or raise child safety concerns.
If you have any concerns about child safety at any time, please contact Trafalgar Primary School on 56331566. Any child safety complaints or concerns are treated seriously. For more information about our school’s complaints process, see our Complaints Policy.
We also welcome your ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing. If you have any suggestions or comments please contact Trafalgar Primary School on 56331566 or at trafalgar.ps@education.vic.gov.au.
Multicultural Inclusion
At Trafalgar Primary School we value the diversity of culture, ethnicity, and faith of all our students. We are proud of our diversity, and everyone is welcome at our school.
Celebrating the diversity of our community makes us stronger, kinder and innovative. We are committed to ensuring that students from all backgrounds feel accepted, supported and are empowered to learn.
To achieve our values and aims, everyone at Trafalgar Primary School plays an important role, and we are writing to ask for your support.
To help us make Trafalgar Primary School a place where everyone feels welcome, respected and supported, we encourage you to also speak to your child about these values, as well as the importance of:
- understand that we celebrate diversity and multicultural inclusion
- understand the importance of everyone at school being treated with respect
- understand that Trafalgar Primary School takes racism very seriously
- understand that the school will support students if they experience or see their classmates experience this racism
Your partnership in reinforcing these values at home will significantly help create a more respectful and inclusive environment at school.
For more information, please see Racism: talking with children and teens, Raising Children Network.
Parents & Friends Committee News
Colour Run - it's nearly here!
It’s your last chance to smash your fundraising goal, grab bigger prizes, and support our school! 🎉
Create your child’s profile now at myprofilepage.com.au, share their link, and let’s finish strong and legendary!🌟
23rd October 2026
2.30pm
Trafalgar Primary School Oval
Term 4 Working Bee
All hands on deck! We are seeking expressions of interest from families to attend a working bee on Saturday 21st November for a working bee to spread mulch and tidy up a few areas of the school grounds.
If you have a working with children check and are available, please let us know via email ASAP so we know whether this can go ahead.
Fairy Bread Day
We would like to announce a new special lunch order fundraiser - fairy bread day!
Date: Tuesday 24th November 2026.
- Ordering will open soon via Compass Canteen.
- Cost is $2 per single slice, with 100s & 1000s sprinkles, canola based margarine and either white or gluten free bread available.
- Please let us know via email if you have any other dietary needs and we will try to accommodate them.
Please see the flyer for more information.
Festival - Showbags are Back!
We have decided to sell showbags once again at Festival on the Lawn.
Keep an eye out for our stall on the night and be sure to get yours quick, as stock will be limited!
Fundraiser Spending
We would like to report on how we are using funds raised from our events, so that students and their families can see where their contributions are utilised. In Term 3 we engaged the Australian business, Leaf Living, to purchase four outdoor table tennis tables and accessories at a cost of $2790.00. These will be installed around the school grounds in the coming weeks. We hope that students get plenty of use out of these items for years to come.
Thank you to all students, staff, parents, carers and other family and friends that have contributed to our fundraisers this year - your generosity has made a huge impact.
Final Meeting & AGM
Details of our final meeting for 2026, with AGM to follow, are as follows.
Date: Tuesday 8th December 2026
Time: 7-8.30pm
Location: Adult Learning Centre
Doors open at 6.30pm for BYO cuppa and chat. All welcome.
Zoom link also available upon request.
If you have any feedback, questions, would like to be added to our Parent Helper List, or would like to join P&F for 2027, please contact us:
- via email - TPSpandfSecretary@gmail.com
- or via our Google Contact form - link HERE
Kind regards,
Committee Secretary
Trafalgar Primary School - Parents & Friends Association
The TheirCare Scoop
