Welcome back to Term 2! It has been an exceptional start to the term, with students and staff settling quickly back into routines and picking up almost exactly where they left off.

Last night, we swapped our usual staff professional learning session for something a little different: a staff dumpling-making session, led by Kai, Rita and our wonderful Chinese team. It was a great opportunity for staff to work together in a different way, share a few laughs, and celebrate the language, culture and community that are such an important part of Richmond West.

Somers Camp

Our Year 5 and 6 students have recently been given the opportunity to express interest in attending Somers Camp, which will take place in Term 3.

Students and families in Years 5 and 6 have received information about the camp, with expressions of interest closing next week. While a nine-day experience away from home can feel a little overwhelming for some students, we recognise that Somers Camp provides a wonderful opportunity for students to build independence, form new friendships, and try something outside their usual comfort zone.

For 5/6 families who are interested, we encourage you to return the expression of interest form so that we can begin the next stage of the selection process.

Although Somers Camp has been offered to schools for many years, this is the first time in a while that Richmond West Primary School has been involved, so it is pleasing to be able to offer this opportunity to our students again.

Curriculum Work Across Term 2

Across Term 2, our teaching teams are continuing work to strengthen and refine our curriculum documentation across the school. The aim is to develop a more concise, consistent and connected approach to curriculum delivery, one that reflects the diversity of our students, the needs across different year levels, and the way learning is delivered through English, Mandarin and Vietnamese.

Richmond West has many strong curriculum resources and approaches that have developed over time. The next step is making sure these come together with a clear one-school view, so that learning feels connected for students across classrooms, languages and learning areas.

This work is not about adding more, but being clearer about what we teach, when we teach it, the language it is taught through, and how learning builds over time, so that every student has a more consistent and purposeful experience at school.

Individual Education Plans

At Richmond West Primary School, we use Individual Education Plans, often called IEPs, to document the adjustments, supports or modified learning goals we put in place for students. Many students across our school may have an IEP at different points in their learning journey.

As part of this work, our teaching teams are also developing what we call Tier 2 IEPs. These are usually shorter-term plans that focus on one (maybe)a particular area of learning or development. They may be used when a student needs additional support, more time to consolidate their understanding, or opportunities to extend and deepen their learning in a specific area.

Over this term, our teaching teams are continuing to develop these Tier 2 IEPs, which will be communicated to families through Compass. This means you may receive an alert or notification that your child has received a Tier 2 IEP.

This is not something to stress about, and it is not something that should cause concern. It is simply one of the ways we are making sure we are meeting the individual needs of students at Richmond West Primary School.

In many cases, these are things teachers have already been doing in classrooms, sometimes behind the scenes. One of our priorities this year is to make this work more explicit to families, so that you have a clearer understanding of the adjustments, supports and learning opportunities being provided for your child.

Farewell to Amanda McIntosh

This week, we formally farewelled Amanda McIntosh.

Although Amanda has been on leave for a period of time over the last couple of years, she has been a longstanding staff member at Richmond West Primary School for almost 40 years.

That is an incredible legacy, and one we are very grateful for. Over that time, Amanda has had an impact on countless students, families and staff, and her contribution to the school has been significant.

We know that making a move like this is certainly not something done lightly, particularly after such a long association with a school community. We wish Amanda all the very best for everything from here on in, and thank her sincerely for her many years of contribution to Richmond West Primary School.

Walkathon

Tomorrow is our whole-school Walkathon.

Last year, the timeline became tight and, as the year rushed towards its end in the way only a school year can, we ran out of time to organise the event properly. This year, we made a commitment to schedule it earlier.

Our students have been busy collecting sponsorship and politely, or perhaps very persuasively, encouraging family and friends to donate. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Walkathon so far.

At some stage tomorrow, each learning area will take time out of the day to participate in the Walkathon. Some of our teachers and teams have also prepared some exciting additions to make this year’s event even more engaging.

We recently met with our Student Voice and Action Team to talk about the event. While they did politely shoot down my idea of having a colour run, due to some very sensible concerns about dye, clothing and footwear, they were very keen to think about how the Walkathon could become a more fun and engaging Richmond West tradition.

Please make sure your child comes to school tomorrow with suitable footwear and, if possible, an extra drink bottle.

Vere Street Upgrade

Over the school holiday break, the Vere Street project continued to progress. Last week, Amanda, Kai and I took a walk through the space and were pleased to see the progress being made.

The finished result should make drop-off and pick-up much easier for our community. In the meantime, we understand that the works can make the journey to and from school a little more complicated for some families.

Thank you for your patience as this project continues. We will keep families updated as further information becomes available.

Attitudes to School Survey

Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 will soon take part in the Victorian Department of Education’s Attitudes to School Survey.

This annual survey gives students the opportunity to share their views about school, including their engagement, learning, wellbeing, experiences of safety and bullying, and relationships with teachers.

At Richmond West, we use this information to help us reflect on what is working well and where we can continue to improve. In 2025, we saw significant improvement in our student attitudes to school data, and we are keen to continue building on this progress.

The survey format for this year is still being finalised, but we will build on the model we used last year, where students completed the survey in smaller groups and in a staged way.

While this survey is one formal way of collecting student feedback, we also gather student voice in many informal ways throughout the year. One example is our Morning Circle check-ins, which have continued to strengthen as we have moved into Term 2. This protected time each day allows classes to focus on social and emotional learning, respond to student needs, and build a stronger sense of belonging and connection.

School improvement is always a marathon, not a sprint. Our focus is on gradual, sustainable changes that build stronger routines, clearer practices and better outcomes for students over time.

Early Pick-Ups During the School Day

We understand that there will always be times when students need to leave school early. Appointments, family needs and unexpected things come up, and that is completely understandable. We have noticed, though, that early pick-ups are becoming more common, especially in the last hour of the school day.

Since the start of the year, we have had 285 early dismissals. Each one usually means signing a child out, calling the classroom, sometimes making more than one announcement, and helping the student get to the office. It might only take a minute or so each time, but added together it is already around one full school day of interrupted time. That helped us realise it was not just the office chime slowly haunting us, but a pattern worth gently addressing.

Where possible, we ask families to avoid collecting students after 2:30pm, unless it is for an appointment or unavoidable reason.

If you do need to collect your child early, recess or lunch are usually less disruptive times:

Recess: 9:50am to 10:20am

Prep to Year 4 lunch: 1:10pm to 1:50pm

Year 5 and 6 lunch: 2:00pm to 2:40pm

Thank you for helping us protect learning time and keeping the school day as settled as possible.

The work of a school is rarely about one big moment, but about the small, steady things we all do each day to help students feel they belong, build confidence and keep growing as learners. As Term 2 begins, we look forward to continuing the next chapter of the Richmond West story together.

Specialist