TWPS CARNEVALE
Come and see our talented TWPS students perform songs and dances from around the world!

THURSDAY 4th DECEMBER: Arrive at 4pm for a 4:15pm start!

3:15pm: Children finish school day and go home.
4:00pm: Children with their family return to school for the Carnevale
4:15pm - 5:30pm: TWPS Carnevale (Students perform)

Location: Thomastown West Primary School Basketball Court

-Sausage in bread (Halal) & drinks available to purchase OR bring your own
 food and drinks.

-PLEASE bring your own chairs and blankets.

Wild  Hair Day
A huge thank you to our School Representative (SRC), led by our SRC Captains Dakota  and Maria with the assistance of Mrs Orsillo, for organising Wild Hair Day! Further below, we are excited to share the photos of the unique and imaginative hairstyles.

Alongside all the fun, $138.00 was raised for a GAGA PIT a fantastic contribution towards enhancing our school playground!  Well done to the SRC for making it such a special and enjoyable day and thank you to parents and carers for your support and efforts in helping make it a success.

Student Leadership Interviews
One of my favourite times of the year is when the Mr Crotti and I interview our student leaders for the position of School Captains, Student Voice Captains and SRC Captains. I cannot express enough how impressed and proud we were of the interviewees on Tuesday. They all went home with their heads held high, celebrating their achievement of being shortlisted. Another special moment during the leadership interviews is when the current school captains join us as members on the panel. I love it when they reassure the grade 5’s during the interview, as they reflect on their leadership growth over the past 12 months. Next week, these leaders will be appointed to their 2026 position. We look forward to sharing the results with you in next week’s newsletter.

Swimming
Last two swimming lessons for 2025 Friendly reminder that this Monday (01/12/25) and then next Monday (8/12/25) are the final days for swimming lessons this year. Please note, we have had a number of children who forget their swimming gear each Monday. Support your child to build their personal responsibility by encouraging them to pop their swimming gear in their bag on Sunday night. Thank you.

Interschool Chess Tournament
On Wednesday, TWPS sponsored three of our grade 5-6 students to participate  in an interschool chess tournament. The event was hosted at Oak Park Primary School and involved seven schools with 76 competitors,. Mr Crotti and the boys thought it was the perfect place to spend a rainy day focused on strategy. Otto, Cyrus and Harraz proudly represented Thomastown West, demonstrating our school values throughout the day. The tournament included seven rounds of chess, and all three students experienced the full range of competition, winning some games, losing some, and even finishing with a draw (stalemate). It was a fantastic day of learning, concentration and sportsmanship. Congratulations to our team of 3 and we hope to send more students from our free lunch time chess club to tournaments in the future.

                              
Contaminated Sand
As per Wednesday’s Compass Newsfeed and Class Dojo message, you will be aware of the recent alert regarding craft sand products that may contain asbestos. For the most up-to-date information about the recall, including the list of affected products, please visit the ACCC website: https://www.productsafety.gov.au . At TWPS, we have followed the Department of Education’s guidance to collect and safely dispose of any relevant products, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely. We had a small amount of craft/kinetic sand products in the Junior School sensory tubs which have been removed and safely disposed of. Of these products, only a minimal amount were produced by a recalled brand, but we have removed all similar products to be safe. Current advice from both National and Victorian health authorities indicates that the risk to human health from these products is low. If you have any of the recalled sand products at home, health authorities recommend that you stop using them immediately and follow the safety instructions provided on the ACCC website https://www.productsafety.gov.au for safe disposal and further health information.

Parent Payments for 2026
The 2026 Parent Payments were sent home last month. We greatly appreciate our families and their support with paying Curriculum Contributions. All funds received from parents assist our school to fund programs and experiences that go beyond the core literacy and numeracy learning.

To enable us to have classroom supplies ready to start the school year, you may choose to make your School Contribution this year: 

• Monday – Friday 8:30am - 4:00pm during Term 4 (October, November, December 2025)

Or School Curriculum contributions can be made by parents and carers in the first weeks of Term 1, 2026:

• Tuesday 27^th January  (Curriculum Day)  8:30am - 4:00pm
• Wednesday 28^th January – Friday 30th January   8:30am-9:30am and 2:30pm – 3:30pm
• Monday 2^nd February – Friday 6^th February      8:30am-9:30am and 2:30pm – 3:30pm

Educational items for the students to own purchased from MAXIM:

Avoid a late fee!

• Before 19^th December 2025: The 19^th December is the last day to order to guarantee student’s pack is delivered to the school before Term 1 begins.

***A late fee of $15.00 will apply to orders placed on or after 20 December 2025***

• Orders will be accepted over the December/January holidays HOWEVER, orders after 12/12/25 will be delivered in the first 2 weeks of Term 1 instead.
• LAST CHANCE to order is the Friday of Week 3, Term 1 2026. Orders will not be accepted after 13^th February 2026.

Thank you in advance for your support in assisting us to provide the very best education for our students.

At assembly today, the WINNERS were announced:

✅The WINNER of the ‘EARLY BIRD’ prize for the family who submitted their online MAXIM order before 7/11/25 who wins a UNIFORM SHOP VOUCHER is Nardin Rm 3.

✅The WINNER of the ‘EARLY BIRD’ prize for the family who submitted their online MAXIM order before 21/11/25 who wins a FREE LUNCH is Zuhdi Rm 17.

Prep Transition
Our Prep transition program has been highly successful this year, with children settling quickly, families feeling informed and supported, and sessions that created a calm and welcoming start for our new students. Effective transition is essential as it reduces anxiety, builds early trust between home and school, and sets the foundation for positive learning habits from day one. This smooth and well-coordinated process is a direct result of the hard work behind the scenes. Thank you to the Prep Team for their significant effort in planning, organising, and delivering such a positive experience for our 2025 Prep students and their families!

Thomastown West Community Hub
Last Friday, Thomastown Neighbourhood House (TNH) held its Annual General Meeting at our Community Hub at Thomastown West Primary School. Mrs Young attended the event, along with many others. It was a great opportunity to celebrate TNH’s achievements and connect with members of the Thomastown community. Neighbourhood Houses play a vital role in strengthening social connection, particularly for families who may be isolated or facing hardship. They also provide accessible programs and services that build skills, wellbeing, and community resilience.

You may have noticed the Hub is looking a different. Thanks to a grant accessed by TNH, our Hub has a coffee cart that will be open next year. Looking forward to sharing more information with you about the exciting Hub updates for 2026!

AFL Clinics at School
This week, the whole school participated in AFL clinics that focused on developing kicking and handballing skills. Students enjoyed learning new techniques and building confidence through fun, engaging drills.

Each student will be bringing home a pamphlet with information on how to register your child for upcoming AFL programs. Please check your child’s bag for the pamphlet and follow the instructions if you’d like to get involved.

Education is Powerful, Student Agency Matters,
Teachers Make a Difference and Every Day of Learning Counts!

Kind regards,

TWPS CURRICULM DAYS
*Students do NOT attend school on these days*

*Whole School Professional Practice Day for Staff. Students do not attend school.

TERM DATES

Social Media Age Restrictions

How to support your child under 16 with the new social media age restrictions:

From 10 December 2025, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 will require social media platforms to:

• prevent children and young people under 16 from having a social media account
• deactivate or freeze existing accounts held by people under 16.

Delaying access to social media protects the health and wellbeing of young people and gives them extra time to build real world connections and digital literacy skills.

The responsibility will be on the social media platforms, not parents, carers, children or schools, to implement these new restrictions.

Most popular social media platforms will be age restricted. These include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit and YouTube.

Messaging services and online games, as well as apps and platforms that support health and education, can still be used.

How to help under 16s prepare for the change

Parents and carers play an important role in supporting their children to be safe online.

To help get under 16s ready for the social media minimum age requirements, you can go to the eSafety website to learn more about the social media age restrictions and find tips on how to talk about social media age restrictions with young people.

What the change means for our school

At our school, all age-restricted social media platforms are blocked for student use on the school network.

Living Our School Values in the Final Weeks of Term

As we approach the end of our school year, with only three weeks left, our students are busy rehearsing for Carnevale, working hard in their classrooms, and preparing for an exciting finish to 2025. 

During this time, our school values remain at the heart of everything we do. They guide how we learn, how we treat one another, and how we end the year with positivity and pride.

Below are our school values and what they mean for our students:

Respect

Respect is thinking and acting in a positive way about yourself, others and the environment.
This means:
You act in a way that shows you care about a person’s feelings and well-being.

Responsibility

Being responsible means you do the things you are expected to do and accept the consequences (results) of your actions.
✔ I make the right choice.
✔ I encourage others to do the right thing.
This means:
Doing what is right!

Resilience

Resilience is what helps you to cope and get through hard times.
Sometimes it makes you even stronger than you were before.
This means:
You can bounce back and recover after difficult times.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person or to understand the situation they are in.
This means:
Understanding how others feel — ‘Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes’.

Striving to Be Your Best

Striving to be your best is the ability to keep working toward a goal, overcoming challenges and sticking with it even when it's hard.
This means:
Believing in yourself, making choices you are proud of, and always trying your best.

As we head into the final weeks of term, we encourage all students to keep demonstrating these values in their learning and in their friendships. 

Thank you to our families for your ongoing support, together we will finish the year with pride, positivity and a strong sense of community.

Mrs Colakovski and Mrs Santiglia

TWPS Wellbeing Leaders

CUP OF LIFE

As part of the Department of Education Every Day Counts initiative, schools report attendance in percentages. 

The Government regard 95% as the minimum satisfactory attendance for a school student.

The percentages in the table below indicates the average attendance for each class for this week.

The shaded boxes  below indicate which classroom has the highest level of attendance.

Student Attendance Report

Every day of learning really does count!

At TWPS we want every child to achieve their full potential and we know that parents share this goal. There is a clear link between good attendance and educational achievement. If your child is not in school, on time, as often as possible they will be missing out on many important parts of their
education.                      

Why is regular attendance at school important?

Regular school attendance will mean that your child has a better chance in life. Your child will achieve better when they go to school all day, every school day...

*they learn better   
*they make friends      
*they are happier   
*they have a brighter future

If your child is sick, of course it is appropriate to keep your child at home but

other ‘days off’ school add up to lost learning.  See below:

CUP OF LIFE

Well done to all the boys and girls who are attending school every day. 
Congratulations! The rooms that had the BEST ATTENDANCE for:

* Term 4 Week 7 is Room 3

* Term 4 Week 8 is Room 6

Term 4

Term 3

Term 2

Term 1

TERM 4 WEEK 7
 
Scroll down to view our super stars in the photo below

TERM 4 WEEK 8
 
Scroll down to view our super stars in the photo below