Heights Happenings – 2026 – Term 3, Week 6

Children’s Book Week 2026

Next week, our school will join just about every other primary school across Australia in celebrating Children’s Book Week. It is always a special week at Boronia Heights Primary School because it gives the children and teachers a chance to pick up a good book and enjoy the stories that spark imagination.

This year’s theme, “Symphony of Stories”, celebrates the many characters and experiences that are told through books. Book Week reminds us of the important role reading plays in helping children learn about themselves, others and the world around them.

Throughout the week, students will be exploring a range of outstanding Australian children’s books, including many of the titles shortlisted in the 2026 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. This year’s shortlisted books include:

Picture Book of the Year: Bob and Dob, Dawn, Dear Broccoli, The Frog’s First Song, Once I Was a Giant and Tiwi in Paris.

Early Childhood: The Colours of Home, Derek, The Emperor’s Egg, Frogs Are Our Friends, My Nonno Loves and The Thing About Christmas.

Younger Readers: Inked, Little Bones, The Paperbark Tree Committee, Run, Something Terrible: Tim Tie-Your-Shoelaces and Spirit of the Crocodile.

If you happen to pop into a bookstore please be on the lookout for these books because if you buy one, chances are you’ll be reading something special.

A favourite part of the week is always our Book Week Dress-Up Day on Monday. Students are invited to come dressed as a character from a book they love, and we look forward to seeing the creativity this event brings to our school. Every year I walk away impressed with the costumes the kids and parents have put together. Families are welcome to join us on Monday morning in the gym for the parade.

Our Book Fair will also be open in the library throughout the week. Please come to visit and browse the huge selection of books on offer. Every purchase helps keep our library up to date with the most recent books.

We will wrap up Book Week on Friday with a whole-school incursion delivered by Perform Education. I’m really looking forward to next week. Thank you once again to Mrs Bentley, parent volunteers and the Library captains for all their work during Book Week celebrations.

Congratulations to Mrs Hollingsworth

I am delighted to share some wonderful news with our school community. A few weeks ago, Prep teacher and Learning Specialist, Mrs Kim Hollingsworth, welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Lola, into the world.

Lola is the first child for Kim and her husband, Nick, making this a very special and exciting chapter in their lives as they begin their journey into parenthood. We know many families and colleagues will join us in congratulating Kim and Nick on their new baby girl.

On behalf of the Boronia Heights Primary School community, we send our warmest congratulations and wish them every happiness as they enjoy these precious early weeks with Lola.

Progress Reporting in Term 3

Later this term you will be receiving a mid-semester Progress Report for your child/ren. These check-in reports give parents an update on how your child is progressing academically according to the curriculum achievement standards for English and Mathematics. The report will also include a rated scale about your child’s behaviour and effort. At the top of the report is a summary of the learning covered this term.

A message will be sent to all families once the Progress Reports are available to view. If you have any questions about your child’s progress, please share this with your child’s teacher when you meet for the three-way conference day on Thursday 17^th September.

Enjoy your weekend,

Mat Anderton
Principal

Prep enrolments 2027

Do you have a child starting Prep at BHPS in 2027?

Have you accepted your offer from BHPS yet?

Have you logged into our Vic Students portal to accept the offer?

Please accept your offer as soon as possible.

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.

2026 Book Week (August 24th – 28th)

Book Week Celebrations are coming!

On Monday 24th August, we will start with our Book Character Dress up day. Students can come dressed as their favourite Book Character and we will hold a whole school parade at 9.15am. You may like to decorate a hat, decorate a t-shirt or use any items you have at home to represent your favourite book character.
On Friday 28th August we have an amazing incursion with a live performance titled Something Special. Perform Education will provide us with an educational musical adventure linked to this year’s Book Week theme, Symphony of Stories. The production will run two sessions, Prep – 3, aimed at junior students and a 4 – 6 production for senior primary students.
This incursion has been booked with an early bird fee for families of $8.50 per student. This is payable through Compass and due no later than Monday 24th August.
Our annual Book Fair will begin on Monday 24th of August and finish Friday 28th of August. The Book Fair will be open to students during their Library session where students can bring cash in a named envelope to purchase new, fantastic quality and popular books. Junior and senior fiction books, activity packs, journals, picture story books and non-fiction books will all be available for as little as $2 and up to $30. Book Fair will also be open to families between 3.30pm and 4pm each day, in the Library. Be sure to come and check it out!
To run a smooth and successful Book Fair we are asking for parent volunteers to help out after school each day for half an hour. If you are available and able to support us as a cashier or supervising, can you please email me at leanne.bentley@education.vic.gov.au
Your time and support are always greatly appreciated.

Cash sales and EFTPOS will be available at the Book Fair.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Leanne Bentley
Librarian

Canteen closure on Mondays

As from 24 August the Canteen will not be open on Monday’s for the rest of the year.

Footy Day at the Canteen

Friday 18th September is Footy Day at the Canteen. Orders and cash payment must be in by Friday 11th September. Order forms will be sent home Monday.

Gluten free options are available, Gluten free order form available from the office.

State School Spectacular

We’re proud to have 25 of our senior choir students representing us as part of the massed choir in the 2026 Victorian State Schools Spectacular – This Is Me.

Students from across the state will take to the stage at John Cain Arena on Saturday 29 August (1pm and 6:30pm), performing to an audience of around 12,000.

Talented students will feature on stage, while many other students will work behind the scenes, gaining professional experience under the mentorship of Creative Director Neill Gladwin, Musical Director Chong Lim AM and Dance Director Yvette Lee.

Get ready to be amazed by the powerful pop anthems, moving ballads, high-energy choreography, awe-inspiring aerialists and circus performers.

For a wonderful, family entertainment experience, and to cheer on our students from the audience, be quick to secure tickets when they go on sale at 11am Thursday 16 July via www.ticketek.com.au/spectacular

Ticket prices:

• Adult:                           $40
• Child (under 15):          $20
• Concession:                $30

Group Offer:

Buy 10 tickets and get one adult ticket for free.
Group Bookings can be made by calling 1300 364 001.

Cyber Safety

Cyber Safe Parents – Online Safety Webinars for Families

 We’re thrilled to announce our school has partnered with Cyber Safety Project to offer parents access to the Cyber Safe Parents 2026 Webinar Series. These practical, easy-to-understand sessions, available live or on-demand, will provide simple strategies to help families manage online safety, screen time, AI, and digital wellbeing. Pop these important dates into your calendars now:

2026 Topics & Dates:

1. Cyber Safety at Home (Family session) – 10 March
2. AI & Critical Thinking (Parent/Guardian session)  – 20 May
3. Balancing Life & Tech (Parent/Guardian session)   – 3 August
4. Cyberbullying & Resilience (Parent/Guardian session)  – 27 October

All sessions start at 7.30pm AEDT/AEST.

Can’t attend live? Register to receive the recording and resources to watch at a time that suits you.

 👉 Register here: https://cybersafetyproject.com/parents-2026 (do not share this link on social media)

Please click above to watch the first webinar from 10^th March. We will send out communication to you before the next webinar dates if you want to attend online at the same time, otherwise they will always be available to watch when it suits you.

The District Summer interschool sports event that our Year 5 & 6 will participate in is fast approaching … Day 1 on 19^th August, and Day 2 on 27^th August. In the event that the teacher strike goes ahead on the 19^th August, or if one of the days is cancelled due to the weather, we will utilise the reserve day of September 14^th. If any parents would like to assist with supervising and/or coaching your child’s sports team, can you please email Mr. Warren.

The District Athletics event is coming up on 14^th August and it has been wonderful to see so many students attend the optional before school training sessions. We wish everyone involved the best of luck for this event!

I’m exciting to announce that our school has been invited to attend a VERY SPECIAL event at Government House of September 1^st. Some very lucky Year 6 students will get to meet the Governor of Victoria, be taken on a tour of Government House, participate in a cricket match on the lawns of Government House, before enjoying a BBQ there. I can’t wait to hear about your day!

Lastly, the days in which our Year 5 & 6 students and grades will attend their surfing and water safety excursion have now been finalised:

5B & 6B: Thursday 19^th November.

5C & 6A: Wednesday 25^th November.

5A & 6C: Tuesday 1^st December.

2026 Sports events:

Term 3

Aug 27^th: District Summer interschool sports – day 2 (all Yr 5-6 students). *parent volunteers requested.

Sep 1^st: Government House & Cricket Victoria excursion for selected Yr 6 students.

Sep 14^th: District Summer interschool sports – reserve day.

Sep 15^th: Yr 3-4 Hoop Time event at State Basketball Centre. *parent volunteers requested.

Term 4

Nov 19^th: Surfing excursion – group 1: 5B & 6B

Nov 25^th: Surfing excursion – group 2: 5C & 6A

Dec 1^st: Surfing excursion – group 3: 5A & 6C

Shae Warren
Physical Education Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

A Busy Term Ahead in the Art Room!

Term 3 is always an exciting and busy time in the Art Room! Our student artists have already been working incredibly hard on their amazing artworks for the Art Show next term, and they’ll continue creating throughout this term.

As we prepare for both Market Night and the Art Show, I’m looking for parent volunteers who would be willing to lend a hand with preparing artwork for display. There are lots of small jobs that can make a huge difference, such as mounting artwork, labelling pieces and organising displays. Even an hour or two of your time would be greatly appreciated.

Next term, I’ll also be putting out another call for volunteers to help set up the Art Show displays and assist on the evening of the event. These events are always a wonderful celebration of our students’ creativity, and they wouldn’t be possible without the support of our fantastic school community.

If you’re able to help in any way, please email me. prudence.baum@education.vic.gov.au  Your support is greatly appreciated, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Kind Regards,

Prue Baum

NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK 2026

We will also be celebrating National Science Week 2026 during Weeks 5 and 6 of term (10^th – 21^st August), with this year’s theme, “Seeds of Science: Nurturing Knowledge for All.” To celebrate, every class will take part in a special hands-on STEAM activity that combines the theme with Chemical Sciences, melting, creativity and even a little space science! There may even be a delicious scientific challenge involved… I’ll share more details with students soon!

As part of our Science Week celebrations, our Grade 5 and 6 students will participate in a free DNA extraction incursion on Friday 21^st August, 2026, generously supported by Thermo Fisher Scientific, where they will extract DNA from strawberries and experience real-world biotechnology in action.

As part of our Science Week 2026 celebrations, families will also have the opportunity to support our STEAM program through an online Science Week Pop-Up Science Stall through Science Supply Australia (SSA) in Mitcham who stock fun and educational Science related kits, toys and gift ideas.  I have had a long-standing association with SSA who will generously return 10% of all sales back to BHPS as fundraising for our STEAM program to provide additional resources and equipment for classes.

The online shop will be open from the 10^th – 23^rd August, 2026 and delivery of purchases will be made to BHPS during the school week ending the 28^th August, 2026. If you have any questions, please reach out to daniela@ssapl.com.au

Some examples of the items on offer will be included at the end of our newsletter.

Helen Clark – STEAM Specialist

CARE Awards

CARE Ticket Winners- Term 3 Week 2

Specialist awards- Term 3 Week 4

MARKET NIGHT & ART SHOW – Friday October 30th

Leah Hodgson
Boronia Heights Hubsters