Ibis Flyer

Welcome to 2026, what a great start we have had to the new school year. I have really enjoyed seeing students, staff and families in classrooms and around the school. Before students returned, our staff had a busy day of professional learning together as well as time for setting up classrooms and preparing to welcome our students. Thank you to our dedicated staff for all of your work during our professional learning day and for supporting out students.

You may be aware that we have some new staff on board this year. Tatiana Dorosh has joined us in the role of Education Support, Jess Riches is teaching in Year 1 and Chloe Rathjen is teaching in Year 2. Welcome to Balnarring Primary School.

It has been wonderful to see our Foundation students starting school. We are so proud of how they have settled into school life.

Over the school holiday break we had a number of grounds and facilities improvements take place these included:

-Solar panels on the main building roof

-Bushfire fuel reduction works in the Wetlands

-Fencing on the perimeter of the school near the oval

-New retaining walls in the courtyard area

-Mowing and excess leaf litter site tidy up

-All star pickets and bunting removed for the drainage works that took place last year

I also want to ask for the support of families to help care for our garden areas, in particular the area out the front of the school. As the pickets and bunting are now down, we still want to allow time for this area to re grow. With this in mind, students have been asked not to play in this area and we would like to encourage everybody to stay on the path when moving though this area of the school.

We celebrated World Wetlands Day on Monday 2 February with students having the option to wear green, bring a gold coin donation and raise funds for the upkeep of our Balnarring Community Wetlands. We raised $230.60, thank you to students and families for this support. In addition to this, students have been working in science lessons with Kate to develop pledges of how they intend to care for the wetlands. Our students have put some great thought into these.

We have started the year with a focus on teaching and establishing clear expectations and safe and predictable routines. Classrooms and teachers are in the process of developing consistent routines that they can practise with students that will then become familiar. Our classrooms also have predictable processes for gaining students attention, using whiteboards, using pair share responses and selecting non volunteers (not just those with their hands up) to contribute and respond during conversations and activities. These evidence based practices help us to maximise the engagement of all students and maintain positive classroom environments.

t is the time of year where our school council election takes place. This year there are 3 parent vacancies but 0 staff vacancies. Nomination forms will be available from the school office from Monday 9 February with nominations closing on Friday 20 February. The role of the School Council is to work in support of the Principal in overseeing the Governance of the school. Parents/Carers who are interested in nominating for 2026 School Council at Balnarring Primary School should submit a nomination form at the school office. From the 2026 school year, school council members, except VIT registered teachers and students, are required to hold a Working with Children Clearance (WWCC) (either a volunteer WWCC, or employee WWCC if they already have this), when nominating for a role on school council.

Please save the date for our school picnic! We would love to bring our school community together for a picnic on Thursday 5th March from 4:00pm-5:30pm. See separate flyer on Compass.

Bethany Jackson
Principal

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy Information – Balnarring Primary School, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Appendix A

Fact sheet 1: school council elections – information for parents

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad direction of a school, in accordance with Ministerial Order 1280 Constitution of Government School Councils, and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a school council may directly influence the quality of education for students.

Who is on the school council?

For most primary school councils, there are several possible categories of membership:

• A mandated elected parent member category –members of this category generally comprise more than one third of the council’s total membership. Department employees can be parent members at their child’s school providing that they are not engaged in work at the school.
• A mandated elected school employee member category – members of this category make up no more than one-third of membership. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.
• An optional community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experience. Department employees are not eligible to be community members.
• A small number of school councils have nominee members.
• For all schools with a Year 7 and above cohort, there is an additional category of membership:
• A mandated elected student member category, two positions.
• Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. The term of office of half the members expires each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

Why is parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills and a range of experiences and knowledge that can help inform and shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

Do I need special experience to be on school council?

Each member brings their own valuable skills and knowledge to the role, however, in order to successfully perform their duties, councillors may need to gain some new skills and knowledge.

It is important to have an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

Code of conduct for school councillors

School councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004.

School councillors must comply with the Code of Conduct for Directors of Victorian Public Entities issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:

• act with honesty and integrity – be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty
• act in good faith in the best interests of the school – work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds
• act fairly and impartially – consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to have a balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self-interest
• use information appropriately – respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available
• exercise due care, diligence and skill – accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school
• use the position appropriately – not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage
• act in a financially responsible manner – observe all the above principles when making financial decisions
• comply with relevant legislation and policies – know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law
• demonstrate leadership and stewardship – set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable

Indemnity for school council members

School councillors are indemnified against any liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by the council or any other person in respect of anything necessarily or reasonably done, or omitted to be done by the councillor in good faith in:

a. the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a councillor, or

b. the reasonable belief that the act or omission was in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function of a council.

In other words, school councillors are not legally liable for any loss or damage suffered by council or others as a result of reasonable actions taken in good faith.

How can you become involved?

By participating in, and voting in the school council elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might consider:

• standing for election as a member of the school council
• encouraging another person to stand for election.

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations in Term 1 of each year. Council elections must be completed by 31 March, unless varied by the Minister for Education.

If you stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or, you can nominate yourself in the parent member category. You can only be nominated by another member of the same category that you are eligible for (e.g. a member of the parent electorate may only nominate another parent of that electorate).

Department employees with a child enrolled at a school where they are not engaged in work, are eligible to nominate for parent membership at that school.

Return your completed nomination form to the principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. You will receive a Nomination Form Receipt via post, email or by hand delivery.

Generally, if there are more nominations than vacancies a ballot will be conducted in the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Remember

• Consider standing for election to school council.

• Ask the principal for instructions if you are not sure what to do.

• Be sure to vote if the election goes to ballot.

• Contact the principal if you are unsure about what is required at any stage of the election process