Heights Happenings – 2025 – Term 4, Week 2

Welcome back to school for the final term of 2025! I hope everyone had a great school holiday break.

Congratulations to Miss Turcinovic

I am very pleased to announce to the school community that Miss Elly Turcinovic has given birth to a baby boy, Hayes Renato. Mum and baby are doing very well, and we can’t wait to meet them sometime soon.

2026 Enrolments

With planning and preparation well underway for next year, it is important that we know about enrolment changes for next year. If your child/children will not be attending Boronia Heights Primary School in 2026, please let your child’s teacher and the office staff know as soon as possible. This helps us greatly when allocating children to classes.

Class Placements for 2026

Over the coming weeks our teaching staff are meeting to place students in classes for next year. A lot of thought and time goes into this process. Teachers look at academic data to ensure an even spread of students, discuss social relationships and individual student needs to ensure that we provide the best learning opportunities for all our students.

If you have any information about your child’s academic, behavioural, physical or social factors which you would like us to consider when deciding class placements please put any requests in writing to me by emailing Mathew.anderton@education.vic.gov.au.  All requests must be received by Friday 31st October.

Your requests will be shared with the teachers to assist them to develop the class lists. If you have particular concerns that you do not wish to be shared with the teachers, please make contact with me.

iPad Program in Years 3-6

Yesterday’s announcement by the Minister for Education, Ben Carroll, about restricting the purchasing of digital devices by parents and limiting the amount of screen time in classrooms, means we are going to make changes to the way we use digital devices in our school. While the change doesn’t come into effect until 2027, I am using this announcement as a way to reflect on our current BYOD iPad Program and how we can move forward.

The information session planned for Thursday 23^rd October at 5:30pm with Justin North and I has been postponed until we learn more about the impact of these changes. We will inform parents about the BYOD iPad Program once we have made a decision. Please keep an eye out on Compass for messages related to the iPad program.

While I’m on the topic of digital learning, I’d like to reinforce a few cyber safety messages to help our students can stay safe online at school and at home. We teach the children the importance of not sharing personal information online with people they don’t know. This includes information like name, photos, family members, phone numbers, email and home addresses and the school they attend. I’ve recently heard of video messaging websites that allow you to connect with random people from anywhere in the world. Understandably this has some quite considerable child safety concerns. I have checked with the Department’s IT team, and they have assured me that these sites are not accessible within the school’s network. However, there is a risk of children having access to them when at home.

While these may appear fun or harmless to children, they carry serious risks, including exposure to inappropriate content, contact from adults posing as students and sharing of personal information.

Here are some key points I’d like to share with you to help protect your children at home:

• Be aware of what these platforms are. Apps like Monkey and the now-defunct Omegle match people with strangers for video chats. There is little to no moderation, meaning children can be exposed to explicit or unsafe material within seconds of joining.
• Have regular conversations about what your child does online. Ask them which apps they use, what they enjoy about them, and who they talk to.
• Set clear boundaries and family rules about which apps and websites are appropriate. Encourage your child, as we do, to only connect with people they know in real life and to keep accounts private.
• Use parental controls and monitoring tools which are available on Apple and Android devices, built-in settings can block adult content and limit app downloads by age rating.
• Children learn from what they see, so show them how you manage your own screen time and privacy settings responsibly.
• Watch for changes in mood, secrecy about online activity, or withdrawal. These can be signs your child has had an uncomfortable experience online.
• Encourage reporting and blocking. If your child encounters inappropriate behaviour or content, help them block and report the user immediately. Let them know they’ll never be in trouble for telling you.

We want our students to use digital technologies safely and responsibly. Whether we agree with it or not, digital tools are a reality of our world so it’s our job to teach children what’s OK and not OK. Please reach out to us if you need some support in reinforcing safe online behaviours at home.

Rotary Skills Shed and Westfield Knox Local Hero

The Rotary Club of Boronia have been partnering with the school for more than a year to deliver a Youth Skills Shed program to select children at Boronia Heights and neighbouring schools. This program teaches children the basic skills of carpentry, concreting, electrical work, sign writing and other trade-based techniques. It is delivered by qualified trades people working alongside Rotary mentors, many of whom are retirees and wanting to teach a new generation worthwhile skills for future employment.

I was thrilled to hear earlier this week that the man who had the vision to bring this to life, Mr Ray Siegersma, was awarded the Westfield Knox Local Hero Award. This is a thoroughly deserved award in recognition of all the work Ray and his team have done to get the project off the ground and running it so successfully. Ray is using the $20,000 grant reward to invest back into the program and expand it to other schools who can benefit from a similar program. We are very thankful to Ray and The Rotary Club for developing such a strong partnership with BHPS.

Thank you and enjoy your weekend.

Mat Anderton

CARE Ticket Winners

Term 3 Principals Awards

Congratulations to the following students:

Tech Safe Parents – 2025 Webinar Series

Webinar 5: Safe Gaming for Kids: Building Boundaries for Positive Play

Did you know 81% of students have played online with strangers? *

Is your child spending too much time gaming and potentially encountering strangers online? Are you unsure how to set boundaries without conflict? Join this practical webinar for parents, where you’ll gain simple strategies to manage gaming habits, create healthy boundaries and help your child build a positive, balanced relationship with online games. Perfect for all parents – whether you’re tech-savvy or just starting out!

*Source: Cyber Safety Project, Teens and Screens 2025 Report

🗓️ Thursday 23 October 2025 | 7.30pm AEDT

💻 Online via Zoom

🔗 Register: cybersafetyproject.com/parents2025

The previous webinars are also available to view on demand using the same link:

• Webinar 1: Online Safety Essentials: Keeping Your Kids Safe in the Digital World
• Webinar 2: Cyberbullying Uncovered: Empowering Parents to Protect Kids’ Wellbeing
• Webinar 3: The Social Media Guide: What Every Parent Needs to Know in 2025
• Webinar 4: AI Deepfakes & Misinformation: Understanding AI’s impact on Your Kids

Hats in term 4

Just a reminder hats are to worn in term 4. They are available to purchase at the office if required.

Attendance

Please remember if your child will be absent ALL day, you need to enter an absence note on COMPASS. The office will be following up all unexplained absences.

Compass will automatically generate an SMS at 10.00am if your child is not at school. Please note that if you are bringing your child in late, ignore this SMS as late arrivals get signed in on the COMPASS Kiosk at the office on your arrival.  However, if your child is going to be absent for a complete day, you must approve this absence with a ‘note’ on Compass. This will avoid you receiving additional correspondence from the office to follow up this unexplained absence.

Name Your Belongings

We know you treasure your uniform and books. Please remember to label all uniform, books and belongings coming to school. Like most years, we have had an incredible amount of lost property through the year. The majority was unnamed, along with illegible tags. We would love lost items to boomerang back to your kids.

Mascot Design Competition

Thank you to all the students who entered our mascot design competition. We had so many creative and thoughtful ideas! All entries are currently on display in the gym.

A panel selected a shortlist of designs and students have been voting for their favourite. The winner will be announced soon!

Well done to the following shortlisted entries:
Koko the CARE Koala by Matilda D (4A)
Murrup the Cockatoo by Matilda B (4A)
We also had a few excellent entries for the Bee mascot idea — well done to Harper S (6A), Izzy L (4B), and Paige S (4B).

Year 6 – Character Strength Masks
Year 6 artists created masks inspired by their own character strengths. They identified their strengths and used these to guide their designs, showing them through symbols, colours and connections. Using modroc, they built the mask base and shaped it into a unique form. The masks are on display in the Year 6 foyer. Well done to the following students for winning the Monet of the Week award for their excellent mask design – April, Dom, Bella, Madi A, Sophie, Blake, Ava and Zoe R.

Tara Henstock
Visual Arts Co-ordinator

Hoop Time

Our four Hoop Time programs (Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 programs) have now concluded for this year. It has been incredible to see the program grow within our school over the last two years. Participation numbers has risen 86% in two years, from 94 BHPS participants in 2023 to 175 BHPS participants in 2025. I look forward to even more growth in future years. I wish to extend my gratitude to all of the parents who assisted with the Hoop Time events this year!

Active Club

Active Club is back up and running in term 4, with a great turn out upon its return. Active Club is run on Monday and Wednesday mornings between 8:20-8:45am this term and is open to all BHPS students and families to join in. Participants are free to walk, jog, or run their way around our two ovals at school as a great way to start the day. I look forward to seeing you there (enter via the Phipps Ave entrance).

Lunchtime Sports

This term we have introduced some lunchtime sports clubs to provide additional opportunities for the kids to practice and play some sports that they may not normally have access to during their play times. On Wednesdays, the gym is open to all Year 3 & 4 students, on Thursdays it’s open for Year 5 & 6 students, and the Prep-Year 2 students get access on Friday. This term they will have the opportunity to try and play Tennis, Badminton, & Table Tennis.

Upcoming sports events:

Oct. 22: Division Softball finals

Oct. 23: Eastern Metropolitan Regional Athletics

Oct. 27: Summer Interschool sports catch-up event

Nov. 19: 5C & 6C Surfing excursion

Nov 25: 5B & 6A Surfing excursion

Nov 27: 5A & 6B Surfing excursion

Shae Warren
Physical Education Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

Let’s start with this: You love your child. That love you feel for your child is raw and visceral – that kick-in-the-stomach kind of love. And, because of that, nothing hurts more than to see your child in pain. With physical pain, you pull-out the first-aid kit, the homemade chicken noodle soup, or your favorite little boo-boo buddy! With emotional pain, you give your child a hug, you try to console them, and you wipe away their tears. But, the second you find out the pain came from another child, that sweet, warm mother hen morphs into Mama Bear! What once was warmth and compassion is now anger.

“Wait…what? What did Riley do to you? Riley did WHAT? What did the teacher do? Riley didn’t get in trouble? Is Riley like this to all the kids in your class? What else has Riley been doing?”

One of the most surprising omissions that we hear from parents is that their response to this intense, protective, emotionally-charged feeling is to confront the other child’s parent by either calling, texting, or approaching them in the parking lot at school. While we get and understand why you’re upset…

Here are the Top 10 Reasons
You Should NOT Confront the Other Child’s Parents:

1. Your child doesn’t want you to. This has emerged as the #1 reason why children do not open up to their parents about issues with friends – they’re worried you’re going to make it worse and it almost always does! Involving the other child’s parent is humiliating, embarrassing, and erodes trust. Believe me…this is the last thing they want you to do and risks your child shutting you out.
2. You can’t view the situation or your child objectively. No matter how hard you try to see things from all perspectives, you will naturally have a bias towards your own child. You not only love your child, you also have a very large sample size of their behavior (i.e. their entire life) to draw conclusions. You know them inside-out and you are very familiar with who they are, albeit you see these things through rose-colored glasses. You will naturally not see the other child in the same light. And, unless you are a teacher or you work with children their age, it is very hard to have an accurate, fair take on what’s ‘normal’ behavior for children. If you do feel there is a situation that requires adult-intervention, see if there is a teacher or Guidance Counsellor who can work with both parties as an objective mediator.
3. Your Mama Bear instinct kicks in and, let’s face it, she tends to over-react. This is totally out of your control. When we picture anything negative happening to our child, we immediately experience an innate, sometimes even physical reaction. When we hear a tragic news story on TV and imagine it’s our child, tears or those gut-wrenching feelings are immanent. These powerful emotions are animal-instincts designed to protect, not to have delicate conversations about our daughter or son’s Friendship Fires®at the local café.
4. Get off the rollercoaster. You should not ride anybody else’s rollercoaster, but your own. You’ve been there, done that, and you don’t need to re-live playground politics. You can cheer your child on (Think of yourself as a Friendship Coach!) and offer support, but don’t ride the rollercoaster with them…and we all know you don’t have the ‘stomach for it’ like you used to!
5. Your perspective is different than your child’s. What’s huge to you might be small for them or vice-versa. As an adult, you are lucky to have the Grand Scheme of Things and, because of that, you have one of life’s greatest gifts: Perspective. A child has not developed this yet and is figuring things out. They’ll get there, but don’t project your perspective onto them. They might have situations that are water off a duck’s back to them (while you’re still steaming!) and situations that seem bigger than they should be. It’s their reality, not yours.
6. Rescuing them isn’t helping. Empower them to put out Friendship Fires®on their own. Getting over-involved to swoop in and save the day is right in line with today’s “Helicopter Parenting” phenomenon. Solving our children’s problems for them does more damage than good and robs them of the chance to learn these critical conflict-resolution skills. Use these opportunities as Teachable Moments to empower, equip, and train your children to stand up for themselves. These Teachable Moments are golden…take advantage of these real-life learning situations.
7. It often makes the situation worse and rarely ends well. Not only will your children resent that you discussed their personal issues, it often makes matters worse for them at school. Telling your parents about a Friendship Fire®is not considered a ‘cool thing to do’ (we’re doing our best to change that!) and word travels fast. Plus, 9 times out of 10, the conversation with the other parent will not go well…there are too many factors working against you to have a productive, harmonious conversation.
8. It makes things unnecessarily awkward between you and that parent. In the 1/10 times where the conversation seems to go relatively well, even if both parents are well-meaning, it is often the beginning of the end. Your relationship with that parent will naturally feel awkward and one or both of you will come away feeling defensive (it’s instinctive). There will be a hypersensitivity that develops and the next time you see or hear of THEIR child doing something, it will bug you…even if it’s a little bit. It just will.
9. Relax… Give it some time. The truth of the matter is, your child could be “Besties” with this other child tomorrow. Kids get over their friendship issues quickly – they don’t cut as deep – which is a good thing! Just be patient. Don’t worry, your child will not grow up to be a push-over with no friends, as long as you’re coaching them along the way. Interpersonal skills develop over time and, like everything, they need to practice.
10. Your child’s got this! Don’t deny your child this amazing opportunity to learn and grow. It’s in our struggles that we strengthen, so give them this chance to dig deep. Use this platform called friendship to allow your child to learn valuable life lessons. Ask them, “What can YOU do to get the friendship back in the green-zone on the Friend-o-Meter?” Continue to bring the focus back to your child, empowering them with skills, reminding them that they can do it…because they can!

As parents, we need to remember this quote: “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Conflict-resolution, interpersonal skills, empathy, and resiliency don’t just happen…they are formed through personal experience. These qualities are critical in developing healthy relationships. Success in life, no matter how you define it, relies on the ability to form and maintain healthy, feel-good relationships. And we need to give our kids a chance to develop these skills on their own.

Trust me, your child has got this! 

Written by Dana Kerford
Friendship Expert and Founder of URSTRONG

For other great blog posts from this author, see https://urstrong.com/blog/

Have a great week!

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

Sarah Weichert

Sarah.weichert@education.vic.gov.au

Trivia Night sponsors

Thank you to the following sponsors:

Leah Hodgson
Boronia Heights Hubsters