RPS Chatter March 2026

Hello wonderful RPS community,

For those who don’t know me yet, my name is Josh and this year I’m both a Learning Specialist and the STEM teacher at Richmond Primary School. I can honestly say we’ve had such a wonderful start to the year, and I’ve loved being able to teach (and occasionally annoy!) every student in the school rather than just my own class.

Some of my personal highlights so far have been:

• Dressing students in white lab coats so they can become “real scientists”.
• Making little clay creatures with Foundation students and keeping them safe from the summer sun.
• Creating light-up constellations with our Grade 1/2 students using torches and coffee cups.
• Teaching Grade 3/4 students about the incredible size of the solar system and exploring parts of the periodic table.
• Challenging our Grade 5/6 students to calculate the scale of the solar system and code their own scale spheres for celestial objects.

We have a busy but exciting term ahead, including:

• Senior school rocket design incursions
• School Captains’ leadership excursion
• Pizza Day
• The Grade 5/6 Summer Gala Day

Thanks for reading and for all your wonderful support in making the start of the year so fantastic.

Josh

We recently received a lovely email from a parent who is not connected to our school community. She shared that her daughter, who is hearing impaired, has started this year atMelbourne Girls’ College. Her daughter was excited to discover that she can communicate with students from our school using sign language.

It is wonderful to know that after just one year of learning Auslan, our students are already making a positive impact in the wider community through their developing skills.

As parents and carers may be aware, staff at our school who are Australian Education Union (AEU) members have been negotiating, alongside teachers, education support staff, assistant principals, and principals from public schools around Victoria, with the state government and Department of Education for improvements to pay and employment conditions. Negotiations have been ongoing for the past 7 months, and the state government has not made any offer to date.

Currently, Victorian public schools are the lowest funded in Australia, and there are significant staffing shortages across Victoria. Victorian public school teachers are also the lowest paid teachers in Australia, with many education support employees and school leaders paid less than their colleagues in other states and territories who do the same role.

AEU members are seeking pay increases and reductions to excessive workloads, with the aim of ensuring the retention of existing employees and the attraction of the next generation to enable the ongoing provision of a high-quality education to students. Because there has not been any offer, AEU members are undertaking a vote to endorse industrial action, with the union calling a statewide 24-hour stopwork for Tuesday, 24 March, should the government not respond properly to key claims.

The union acknowledges that a decision to stop work is not one to be taken lightly and regrets the impact it has on students and their families, with the state government able to avoid such action if a fair and decent offer is made to employees. If the industrial action goes ahead, we will provide our school community with all the information needed to manage the situation.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Welcome BBQ. Yesterday was a great success, and it was wonderful to see so many families come together and have the opportunity to connect at the start of the year.

A special thank you to Eleanor Thomas for her efforts in helping organise the event, and to all the volunteers who generously gave their time and support to make the event run so smoothly. Your contribution is greatly appreciated and plays an important role in building a positive and welcoming community for everyone involved.

Thank you again for your continued support.

It’s been a busy start to the year for the Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee, with lots of exciting improvements happening around the school.

On 18 December 2025, we received wonderful news from the City of Yarra that RPS had been awarded a $20,000 grant to support improvements and upgrades to Nick’s Garden, helping us continue to develop this important outdoor learning and community space.

January saw major works completed, including the demolition of the old shed and pizza cabinetry, and the construction of a new shed and pizza cabinetry on a freshly poured concrete slab. A new stage and teepee were also built, creating additional play and gathering spaces for students.

We also plan to work with students to design and paint a mural that will feature on the backboard of the stage.

 

On 2 March, a new sensory musical instrument was installed to replace the old jungle drums, adding another fun and interactive element to the playground.

We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to the organisations who generously supported these improvements:

• Bunnings – donated the new garden shed and gave their time to work with students to repaint the Yellowbrick Road and chessboard
• Cley Studio – donated several volcanic rocks and a wheelbarrow
• MJ Harris Painting – donated exterior paint to be used to refresh Nick’s Garden

These contributions of materials, tools, and time have made a meaningful difference to our school environment.

We are looking forward to our first school Working Bee of 2026 next month, where we plan to do lots of work in Nick’s Garden, including preparing the space for many new bushes, trees, and flowering plants arriving in June. There will also be plenty of gardening and maintenance tasks to tackle around the school grounds.

Families are welcome to join for part or all of the event.

Working Bee Details
📅 Date: Sunday 26 April 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00am – 1:00pm
📍 Location: Meet at the school grounds

Finally, we are currently looking for new members to join the Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee, as well as anyone willing to donate their expertise. If you’re interested in helping care for and improve our school grounds, please contact us at rpsbuildingsandgrounds@gmail.com.

Thanks!
Nicole, James and Steph
Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee

Foundation: 

• Neve M – For looking out for others and being a kind friend. You should be very proud, Neve!
• Tillsy C – For excellent effort and showing beautiful manners and respect to everyone around her.
• Gracie L – For a wonderful week in Foundation! Thank you for being so kind and filling our buckets!

 

Year 1/2:

 

• Jacob D – For showing kindness, a positive attitude, and doing your best in all your work.
• Sammy J – For always showing respect, working hard and being a great friend. Bravo, Sammy, you’re a star!

 

Year 3/4:

 

• Manuela V – For compassion and empathy
• Tommy R – Always trying your best and sharing your interesting thoughts and ideas with our class. Well done, Tommy!
• Harper M – For showing responsibility & resilience

 

Year 5/6:

 

• Hugh G – Your kindness and helpfulness make you a wonderful role model. Well done!
• George M – For your wonderful outlook and effort towards your learning. I’m so proud of you mate, don’t stop now!

 

Specialist Subjects:

 

• Zoe E (PA)- For her endless enthusiasm and curious questions during our circus unit
• Camilla B (PE) – For her 2 ball knockout skills and captaining her basketball team with great leadership! Well done Camilla!