Newsletter for Term 4 – Week 1

TERM 4 – Dates to Remember

October

TUESDAY 20 – FRIDAY 30
PREP & YEAR 5 Swimming Programs (Two-week program) – Knox Leisureworks, Boronia

THURSDAY 22
YEARS 4, 5 & 6, SELECTED STUDENTS Regional Athletics – 9:15am – 3:30pm

FRIDAY 23
2027 PREP TRANSITION Session 2 – 2pm – 3pm

TUESDAY 27
YEAR 2, SELECTED STUDENTS Intergenerational Program – 9:30am – 10:45am

THURSDAY 28
YEAR 3 & 4 SELECTED STUDENTS Regional Future Stars Hooptime Finals – 9:15am – 2:45pm

THURSDAY 29
YEAR 5 & 6 SELECTED STUDENTS Senior Regional All Stars Hooptime Finals – 9:00am – 2:30pm

FRIDAY 30
ASSEMBLY in the Hall – 9:00am – 9:45am

November

TUESDAY 3
MELBOURNE CUP DAY – PUBLIC HOLIDAY

WEDNESDAY 4
SELECTED STUDENTS Eastern Regional Boys Netball Gala Day – 9:00am – 2:30pm

THURSDAY 5
WHOLE SCHOOL EVENT Colour Run – 2:00pm- 3:00pm

FRIDAY 6
2027 PREP TRANSITION Session 3 – 2pm – 3pm

THURSDAY 12
YEAR 3 & 4 SELECTED STUDENTS Junior Regional All Stars Hooptime Finals – 9:00am – 2:30pm

FRIDAY 13
ASSEMBLY in the Hall – 9:00am – 9:45am

2027 PREP TRANSITION Session 4 – 2pm – 3pm

TUESDAY 17
SELECTED STUDENTS Gateways Years 1-3 – 9:00am – 3:30pm

WEDNESDAY 18
SELECTED STUDENTS Gateways Years 4-6 – 9:00am – 3:30pm

THURSDAY 19
YEAR 6 BANDS Performance in the Hall – 2:00pm – 3:30pm

FRIDAY 20
STUDENT FREE DAY

FRIDAY 27
ASSEMBLY – 9:00am – 9:45am

PARENT HELPER MORNING TEA in the Hall – 10:40am – 11:30am

2027 PREP TRANSITION Session 5 – 2pm – 3pm

Welcome to Term 4!

Welcome back to Term 4! We hope you and your family were able to enjoy a slower pace over the term break. It has been wonderful to see everyone settling back into the rhythm of school life and to hear about the adventures enjoyed over the holidays.

We are looking forward to a fabulous term filled with learning and plenty of opportunities for our students to thrive.

Welcome TeamKids

Term 4 has kicked off with the exciting launch of our very own onsite before and after school care program! We extend a very warm welcome to the TeamKids team, particularly Director of Service, Hawra Warasi, and all the new staff who have joined the Regency Park team.

We would like to thank TeamKids for the extensive work behind the scenes that has gone into preparing and establishing the service. It has been wonderful to see calm, happy children enjoying our beautiful school spaces before and after school.

We also thank our families for their support throughout the transition. We are delighted to have TeamKids now operating onsite and look forward to seeing the service continue to grow as part of our Regency Park community.

Over the Holidays . . .

We have made good use of the September holiday break to complete a number of works around the school. Our Prep rooms and 2MG have been repainted, giving these learning spaces a wonderful new look. A big thank you to the teachers in these spaces for their efforts in supporting the works and resetting their classrooms ready for the start of Term 4.

You may have also noticed that we have installed a boom gate at the entrance to our staff carpark. This will help to keep the area as safe as possible by minimising unauthorised access to the carpark throughout the school day.

We are grateful for the work undertaken over the break to help ensure our school facilities continue to be safe, functional and welcoming spaces for our students, staff and families.

Footy Day Parade

A wonderful way to end the term with our annual Footy Day Parade! It was lovely to see everyone proudly showing off their team colours and getting into the spirit of the day.

A special thank you to our PTFA, particularly Kim and Sarah, for organising the special pizza lunch. It was a wonderful treat for our students, and we are grateful for the incredible support of our PTFA. All funds raised from the lunch will go towards our basketball court redevelopment, helping us continue to improve our school facilities for our students.

Year 3/4 Swimming

Our Year 3 and 4 students have dived straight into two weeks of swimming! Well done to all our students on a fantastic start. You have shown courage and personal excellence as you have challenged yourselves and embraced every opportunity to learn new skills. We are looking forward to seeing your confidence continue to grow next week! Preps and Year 5s are up next.

Changes to Reporting

As you will see in our Assistant Principal’s report from Katreen McCoy, there are some changes taking place to semester reports across the government system. Please take the time to read this important information.

Student Free Days

A reminder that we have two student free days scheduled for Term 4. The dates are:

• Monday 19^th October
• Friday 20^th November

TeamKids will be offering onsite care on both of these days. We encourage families who require care to book early to assist TeamKids with staffing arrangements and to ensure you secure a place for your child.

Every Child. Every Opportunity.
With courage and commitment,

Allyson Kocaj

Principal

Changes to Student Reports

The Department of Education has recently updated its student reporting policy to support a more consistent approach to reporting student achievement and progress across Victorian schools.

These changes are designed to make reports clearer and more accessible for parents and carers, while also making them more efficient for teachers to prepare. Where comments are provided, they will use clear and accessible language to explain what your child has learned and the progress they have made. The updated approach will also provide greater consistency in the information shared when students transition between schools, particularly when moving from primary to secondary school.

Our school will introduce the required new report format this Semester.

What’s changing in our reports?

From Semester 2 this year, your child’s report will provide information about their:

• Achievement: your child’s achievement level in each learning area and capability will be shown including the level they achieved this semester, and how this compares with year level expectations using a 5-point scale; well above, above, at, below, or well below expected level
• Progress an indication of the progress your child has made since their previous report will be shown
• Summary comment: one brief, personalised comment providing an overview of your child’s learning and progress during the semester
• Effort and conduct: an overall rating in two key areas about your child’s approach to learning and how they conduct themselves at school using the 4-point scale; rarely, sometimes, usually, consistently

How we’ll keep in touch during the semester

Alongside the updated reports, we are making some changes to how we provide opportunities for families to engage with their child’s learning throughout the year:

• Open Classroom Afternoons: Around the halfway point of each term, we will invite parents and carers into classrooms to view examples of your child’s work. Students will also have the opportunity during these afternoons to share their learning and talk with their families about what they have been working on.
  Our Term 4 Open Classroom afternoon will take place on Thursday 29^th October from 3:15pm – 4:15pm.

• Parent Teacher Conferences: We will be reviewing the timing of our parent–teacher conferences, which will continue to take place twice per year. Both conferences will now be between teachers and parents/carers only, providing more focused time to discuss your child’s learning, progress and next steps.

• Learning Overviews: Teachers will continue to send regular learning overviews throughout the term, providing families with a summary of the learning taking place across each area of the curriculum.

• Learning Insights:  weekly posts on Compass will continue to provide you with weekly highlights to spark discussion at home.

We look forward to working in partnership with you as we introduce these changes and continue to provide meaningful opportunities to support and celebrate your child’s learning and progress.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Katreen McCoy
Assistant Principal – Teaching and Learning

COMPASS changes for easy and clear communication from the office.

2026 Parent Payment via COMPASS

Instructions for making your payment will be provided from the office via Compass with the step-by-step guide for use on your phone or computer.

Punctuality in consent & payments on COMPASS

Thank you to all of our families who have already paid their family contributions. Please see our Business Manager, if you would like to undertake a payment plan for upcoming school costs.
Please note payments for the majority of school events/excursions will be processed via COMPASS.

Throughout the year there are many payments to be made for excursions, camps and swimming. It is very important that these payments are paid by the due date.

All events that require permission and payment will need to be made by the due date if you wish your child to participate.

Only in very extreme circumstances will we be able to process payments after this date, even if the excursion has not yet happened.

Unfortunately, this means your child misses out on the event.

From experience I know that parents can be quite upset when this occurs, so I ask you to be aware of this process and ensure that consent and payments are made via COMPASS on time.

If you have trouble accessing COMPASS or completing payments, please see our office staff who can assist you with the process.

Current Consent & Payment Requests include:

Champions on the Track:

Knox Divisional Athletics Carnival Success!

On Wednesday 16th September, our school athletic stars took to the track and field at Knox Athletics Track for the Knox Divisional Athletics Carnival. It was a fantastic day of competition, sportsmanship, and outstanding physical effort.

We were incredibly proud to have 14 students participate in individual events, along with two determined relay teams representing our school. Every single athlete gave their absolute best, pushing through tough competition and demonstrating wonderful school spirit.

We are thrilled to announce that five of our students have qualified for the Eastern Metro Region Carnival in Term 4! A massive congratulations goes to:

• Jake B.
• Charlotte P.
• Emilia G.
• Marissa S.
• Caleb F.

Making it to the next level of competition is a huge achievement, and we wish them the absolute best of luck as they prepare for the Regionals next term.

Finally, a huge thank you to all the parents and carers who came along to support, cheer, and help out on the day. Your encouragement makes a world of difference to our students and our sports programs.

Well done to the whole team!

FOOTY DAY FILLS THE SCHOOL WITH TEAM SPIRIT!

The final day of Term 3 kicked off with an incredible burst of energy as our school celebrated Footy Day. The yard was a vibrant sea of team colours, with the mighty Hawthorn Football Club easily taking the crown as the most popular team on display this year!

The highlight was the spectacular Footy Day Parade. The vibe was electric, with a massive Mexican wave making its way all the way around the crowd. All students took official team photos and capped off the exciting celebrations with a delicious pizza lunch.

A special thank you goes to Mr Meeking for organising the fantastic sound system, and to our wonderful school community for showing up to support all teams. It was the perfect way to wrap up a fantastic term!