Welcome to Balnarring Primary School!

Welcome to Balnarring Primary School for 2025. It is wonderful to be back and I am delighted to confirm that we have had a great start to the school year. Our year has started with classrooms developing routines and clear expectations so that students have certainty about what success looks like and staff can then provide lots of positive feedback and acknowledgements to students. Having safe and predictable routines makes our classroom environments more welcoming and inclusive for all students. Classrooms have made a start on developing classroom based ‘Balnarring Way’ matrix documents where students and staff have articulated what is expected in different parts of our school. During the student free day on Friday 7 February, staff will examine these documents to consider what comes up most consistently across the school. This will then allow us to all be on the same page when it comes to living the Balnarring Way in our every day activities.

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas everyone. I would like to send my very best wishes to the Balnarring Primary School community and express my gratitude to our wonderful students, staff and families for a fantastic school year.

I had a great time visiting our Year 4 students on Camp at Pt Leo earlier this week. I have been lucky enough to attend various camps during my 21 years as a teacher but have never been to a camp quite like Pt Leo. When I arrived parents and carers were just leaving having dropped off students, they were all settled into their glamping tents with sleeping bags all made up and getting ready for their first activity rotation. What a great experience this is for our students that really captures who we are as a school making the most of our beautiful natural surroundings and caring for our environment. I was lucky enough to join in with our students discovering the wonders of the rockpools and participating in bike ed while on camp. Best wishes to our Year 5 students who head off to Pt Leo camp later this week and to our Year 3 students who go to camp at The Briars on Monday.

We have had an exciting start to Term 3, I can’t believe we are 3 weeks in already! I can honestly say that I have really enjoyed reconnecting with our students, staff and school community after the school holiday break. Since returning for Term 4 we have already seen some warm days. I would like to take this opportunity to remind students and families that students must bring their broad brimmed school hat to school each day during Term 4.

As we progress through the last few weeks of Term 3, I have reflected on what a wonderful term we have had and there is still plenty to look forward to. This Friday 13 September we have our Move and Groove event. We are delighted to bring our community together with the support of Balnarring Football, Cricket, Netball, Tennis, Basketball and Soccer Clubs as well as some of our very talented parent musicians.

Have you met our two new kids? Last week we had two new baby goats join us. They will be with us until the end of the year, we take care of them by bottle feeding them and spending time with them until they go back to their dairy farm. What a wonderful experience for our students to be part of raising these beautiful kids and having them become part of our Balnarring Primary School Community. Each class will have the opportunity to put forward some options for names with the final names being announced at our next assembly.

There is a very exciting buzz in the air with the Olympics happening. During one of my recess announcements this week I shared a reflection of how during one of the Matilda’s games where they were trailing behind significantly, they later came back to win.

As I begin my very first newsletter submission for Balnarring Primary School I would like to send out my most heart
felt thanks to the school community for being so welcoming towards me.

To say that I will be incredibly sad to leave Balnarring Primary School at the end of this term is an understatement. When I walked in these doors 3 years ago, I had no intention of ever leaving, because I recognised what a beautiful place it is. From the natural learning environments, the high standards expected of our students and of each other but most importantly as I mentioned at our Foundation 2025 information night, the people that walk through these doors each and every day. We have the most incredibly dedicated staff who care very deeply for the students that they teach and their families. They go above and beyond to provide the best learning experiences for their students and are very passionate learners themselves.

How fortunate we have been with the weather in the last couple of weeks. There is certainly a happiness that goes along with the lovely days.