Welcome Back Melton Specialist School!

Happy New Year to all our wonderful families! We hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break. We are thrilled to welcome you back to school for another year of learning, growth, and exciting adventures.

It's wonderful to see our students returning with smiles on their faces, ready to embrace the new school year. We are committed to creating a supportive learning environment where every child feels valued and empowered to reach their full potential.

A warm welcome to our new families! We are so excited to have you join our school community. We understand that starting at a new school can be a big transition, and we are here to support you and your children every step of the way.

We are incredibly proud of the achievements and progress our students made last year. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support and partnership. Your active involvement in your child's education is invaluable.

This year, we have many exciting plans and activities planned for our students, including some more time with our music video crew, the continuation of our snack program and some different work to develop trust and engagement with you all, our families. We will continue to prioritise personalized learning plans and support for each individual student, ensuring they have the best possible opportunities to thrive.

We look forward to a successful and rewarding year filled with learning, growth, and joy.

Please remember to keep up to date via COMPASS, SEESAW and Facebook for important updates and information. You can also contact your classroom teacher, Sub School Leader or Section leader if you have any questions or concerns.

I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events and activities, and to working together to make this year a great one for our school.

Sub Schools and leadership support

This year the Sub Schools have remained the same – if you are having trouble remembering you child’s class name – check COMPASS it will have it next to your child’s name and will start with a P, M or S. Please don’t hesitate to contact your Sub School Leader or Section Leader for extra support

Primary Section - Craig Thompson

Sub School 1 – Leader- Jackie Blanks

P01-P04 Shanae Romey

P05- P10 Jackie Blanks

Sub School 2 – Leader – Kerri Oldfield (on family leave T1) Jess Beattie T1

P11-P17 Sub School 2 – Leader – Kerri Oldfield (on family leave T1) Jess Beattie T1

Middles Section - Teegan Baker

M01- M06 Sub School 3 – Leader Stephanie Champion

M07-M13 Sub School 4 – Leader Olivia Desmoreaux

Secondary Section - Megan Oldfield

S01-S06 Sub School 5 – Leader – Kristy Hallam

S07-S09 Sub School 6 – Leader – Brooke Jones

Senior Assistant Principal – Alice Harris

New School Captains

We are so excited to announce our 2025 school captains and especially excited to new leadership roles. Congrats to Billie and Jack. We can’t wait to see your impact leaders!

Recruitment

We're still working hard to fill some teaching and support staff positions. We're doing our best to minimize any impact on your child's learning. We'll keep you updated as things progress.

Meet the Teaching Team week!

In Week 6, you'll be invited to visit your child's classroom to meet their teacher and discuss their learning goals. Your teacher will be in touch to schedule a convenient time.

6 Week Trial

We use the first six weeks to observe how our class groupings are working. We may adjust these groups if needed. We'll keep you informed of any changes. If you have any updates or observations for us, please speak with your teacher or a member of the leadership team.

Parent Drop off and Pick up 

 Please remember not to line up and double park outside Gate 1.  We understand that at times this is frustrating, and you may have to do a loop – this is why we ask that parents and carers do not arrive before 8.55 am or 2:55pm  

If you miss the school bus please drop your child off through the loop in Gate 1 after 9am. 

To ensure safety of your children if you are unable to collect your child or a carer is collecting them, please make sure you let your child's teacher know via SEESAW, home schoolbook or let the office know on 97434966. If your child has a new carer, please make sure they arrive early enough to park and register their details at the office. New carers need their Working with Children Check, their agency ID and their driver's licence. If we do not have any notification that your child is to leave with a person other than the usual pick-up, we will call families for permission which will delay their departure.

School Council – Elections held in March 

We are actively seeking new members for our School Council.  The School Council is a great opportunity to be involved in the governance, policy making and decision making of the school. 

Our School Council is comprised of 10 members – 3 staff, 6 parents and 2 Community members. We generally meet once a month for about an hour and a half.  In the next week, forms will be available at the office for nominations. 

If you are interested, please feel free to give me a call for more information. 

School councils play a key role in Victorian government schools. The school council supports the principal to provide the best possible educational outcomes for students, and have three main responsibilities:

Finance overseeing the development of the school’s annual budget and ensuring proper records are kept of the school’s financial operation, Strategic Planning participating in the development and monitoring of the school strategic plan, Policy Development and Review and developing, reviewing and updating policies that reflect a school values and support the school’s broad direction outlined in its strategic plan.

Other key functions of school councils include:

raising funds for school-related purposes
maintaining school grounds and facilities
entering into contracts
reporting annually to the school community and the Department
representing and taking the views of the community into account

Mobile phones policy 

Just a reminder of the Department of Education Victoria’s Mobile Phones at school policy. This policy states all phones will always be locked away and not able to be accessed during lunch or break times. We have made exemptions for students involved in Community access or travel training programs. 

Bluetooth speakers are not permitted at school, if brought to school they will also need to be locked away. If students have personal devices like watches and tablets, these need to have the data switched off and the school does not take any responsibility for them. 

Annual privacy reminder for 2025

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to remind yourself of our school’s collection notice, found on our Schools' privacy policy | vic.gov.au

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

* Amharic

* Arabic

* Dari

* Gujarati

* Mandarin

* Somali

* Sudanese

* Turkish

* Urdu

* Vietnamese.

Once again, I welcome you all to the new school year and look forward to the exciting things that we will accomplish together.  

Melton Specialist School

Be Responsible Be Safe Be Respectful

Edition 1 · 11 Feb 2025

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