• The exterior of the admin building was painted over the holidays. This work was possible because of donations to our tax-deductible Building Fund, and we thank those families who have made contributions. The Department does not provide funding for this level of ongoing school maintenance and our students are fortunate that our community continues to support our efforts to provide a learning environment in which our students can take pride.
• While the painters were here, they repainted the boat, mushrooms, large blackboard and shop along the Janet St fence. These works were nominated by our Junior School Council as projects for JSC funding, using monies they raised through free dress days. Thank you JSC!
• After introducing the Play Pod to classes last term, this resource is now open every lunch time. From the photos in this eNews, you can see it's getting plenty of use!
• The Quiet Garden also reopened after the completion of Capital Works and subsequent landscaping. It is fantastic to have this area again, drastically expanded, and dedicated for quiet usage that excludes ball games and running around. As you can see from the photos, it's become a quiet games/cards/reading area, as well as an alternative Play Pod space.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) has indicated it may call on members to take area-based half-day stop work action. For our school, we are anticipating this to occur in the week after the June long weekend and potentially involve more staff members than last term.

While the bans apply to every Victorian government school, they will be implemented differently in each school. As previously, please check eNews and Sentral emails for official information, which may be sent very close to this event.

• A ban on all aspects of work related to the provision of written comments on student reports that will be provided to parents;
• A ban on attending one hour of meetings per week;
• A ban on principal class employees attending principal area forum meetings;
• A ban on principal class employees attending the 2026 Government Schools Principal Conference;
• A ban on responding to emails from the Department of Education except emails that relate to child safety matters; occupational health and safety matters; and employee entitlements matters;
• A ban on implementing any new Department programs and/or initiatives.

Parent Electorate:
Siska Frederick
Matthew Hall
Grace Kelly
Raylene Wu (Community Member - Parents Group)

Dept of Education Electorate:
Natalie Kiriati
Kathy Verbi

Executive Officer: Principal - Kim Dray

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute

A reminder for parents to register for Growing up Online with Susan McLean, Australia's leading and world-renowned cyber safety expert. With 27 years of experience in the Victoria Police, Susan was the first Officer to be appointed to a position involving Cyber safety and young people. She is passionate about keeping kids safe online.

DATE - Thursday 21 May
TIME - 5.30-7.00pm

Please see the Susan McLean page in this weeks eNews to register and to find out further information about Growing up Online.

Last Thursday, our Grade 6 leaders were given the opportunity to attend the ANZAC Day service for Primary and Secondary school students at Box Hill Gardens. Our captains stepped forward to lay a wreath on behalf of the students at Laburnum PS. 

On Friday we commemorated ANZAC Day with a whole school service led by our School Captains, Daniel, Emma, Nancy and Sam. They shared the significance of this important chapter of Australia's Military History, and led the school in a minute of silence to pay tribute to those who have served. 

On ANZAC Day we commemorate the landing of Australian and New Zealand  forces at Gallipoli, Türkiye, on 25 April 1915. This day has now become an opportunity to stop and reflect on the sacrifice and dedication of all veterans and the service community, and the families who support them. 

'Lest we forget'

The Quiet Area and Play Pod have been open during lunchtimes since the beginning of Term 2, and students are enjoying the opportunity to build, create and collaborate! The imagination of the LPS children has been put to the test, and they have risen to the challenge, creating cars, swings, restaurants and zoos using the Play Pod parts.

As mentioned in our last eNews, we are looking to increase the amount of material in the Play Pod for students to use and explore. If you have any clean loose parts at home, please consider donating them to our Play Pod.

We are looking for foam building blocks, baskets, sand bags, fabrics, short lengths of PVC piping and connectors, thick cardboard and long cardboard rolls/tubes, cooking implements, mats, wheels, ropes, planks of wood, nets or anything else you think children could use.

We would appreciate any donations you may have to be brought to the front office. Please ensure there are no nails or sharp bits, and that containers have not previously been used for food storage, chemicals or potting mix

Snack Club has returned each Tuesday morning and Thursday recess, with our Snack Club leaders distributing a range of nourishing food to LPS students. As seasonal fruits change, so to do the snack club offerings. Pears have been the 'big hit' over the last fortnight, with apples a consistent favourite!

Apples are one of the most versatile ingredients to cook with. You might to try this Sweet Potato, Apple and Quinoa Salad next time you feel like something fresh and sweet. 

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute

Welcome to our school. As we know that effective school communication relies on parents' engagement with clear information, the following is essential reading for new families.

For information about how the school operates, please see our 'Starting at Laburnum Primary School' page, which includes the A - Z of Useful Information for Parents. This important document was updated in December, and can also be located on our website under the Enrolment tab. Everything on our website can be translated into your home language.

To regularly communicate important information, we use both LPS eNews (our electronic newsletter) and Sentral (for most emails to and from parents). Please ensure you read any messages sent by the school. LPS eNews is emailed to all parents/carers fortnightly and contains essential information about important dates and events. The eNews archive is found on our website here.

A reminder to all our new families to create their Sentral Parent Portal accounts as soon as possible, as this is the school's main avenue for communications to specific families, as well as excursions, student reports and parent-teacher meetings.  You can also email your child's teacher about non-urgent matters through Sentral.

Instructions and access codes have been sent home with your children. The Sentral Parent Portal is also used to upload documents, and includes the 2026 School Map and Parents Group minutes each month.

LPS eNews usually contains a combination of these pages:

• Principal's Message
• School Council Update from the School Council President
• What's Happening? from the Assistant Principals 
• Learn, about academic news
• Thrive, for wellbeing news
• Contribute: Parents Group news
• Contribute: Community information
• Thrive: Superstars, recognising those who have wonderful achievements to share
• Priority Projects: where we update you on projects that are improving our school

As well, all year levels and specialists regularly share their news in these pages:

• Prep
• Junior School - Grades 1 & 2
• Middle School - Grades 3 & 4
• Senior School - Grades 5 & 6
• Specialists

We hope that you'll be using these resources to become more familiar with our school.

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute

We are excited to continue our work with The Stand-Up Project (SUP) for a second year. SUP is a valuable initiative designed to enhance our school’s efforts in fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all students.

SUP takes a whole-school approach to reducing discrimination, harassment, and bullying by bringing students, teachers, and parents together. One of the key features of this program is its peer-led approach, where selected Grade 5 students will take on leadership roles, guiding their peers in building a more respectful and supportive school culture.

We believe that involving students in this way helps them develop crucial life skills, including leadership, empathy, and teamwork.

As parents, your role is vital in reinforcing the program’s values at home through ongoing conversations and by attending upcoming information sessions with us.

The aims of this session are to:

• Provide SUP Leaders with time to become familiar with the program and practise delivering it in a safe, supportive environment.
• Build family understanding of friendship fires, mean on-purpose behaviour and bullying, including effective ways adults can respond.
• Support SUP Leaders to recognise their important role in developing a positive school culture.
• Recognise the important role teachers and families play in supporting children’s wellbeing.

We invite all families at Laburnum Primary School to attend and kindly ask you to RSVP below, so we can have an idea of the number of people attending.

Laburnum Primary School SUP Family Session

When: Monday 11 May at 3.45pm

Where: Staff Community Centre

Please complete the RSVP form here: 

We invite you to learn more about this initiative and how you can support our students on this journey. For more details, you can visit The Stand-Up Project website at www.thestandupproject.com.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to our school community. We are excited about the positive impact SUP will have and look forward to working together to ensure its success.

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute

Last term Grade 1 students were excited to experience the new Play Pod. They showed creativity and curiosity using the variety of materials available to build and explore with classmates. They are looking forward to using this space during play times this term.

In inquiry, students explored the impact of adding sound to stories, experimenting with different instruments and tools. They thoughtfully decided how to match sounds to different parts of a fairytale and worked collaboratively to bring their stories to life for an audience. We were so proud of their creativity and teamwork! Thank you to the parents and carers who joined us at our Expo to celebrate these wonderful performances.

What do cake, day and rain have in common? They all make the same long “a” sound—just spelled in different ways! In our Phonics program, Grade 1 students have been discovering the many ways sounds can be spelled. They have focused on the long “a” and long “e” sounds, exploring patterns like ay, ai, a_e, ee, ea, ie, and e_e.

They are also learning helpful spelling “tricks,” including how recognising syllables in compound words (e.g. raincoat, daydream) can guide which spelling pattern to use in each part of a word. These skills are supporting students’ reading, writing and spelling, and it has been pleasing to see their confidence grow as they become more independent learners.

Curiosity  •   Respect  •  Integrity  •  Resilience

From Jayde Fielding (Learning Specialist) and Sam Gray (Prep Teacher)

To ensure shared understandings and consistent approaches to Reading, we are offering a ‘Classroom Helpers’ workshop. This parents/carers workshop will be held on Thursday 7^th May at 9:15 am in the Staff Community Centre.

This workshop aims to extend parents' and carers' understandings and knowledge about how children learn to read. The outcomes for children are improved when the link between home and school is strengthened.

The workshop will:

• provide background information to help parents and guardians better understand how children learn to read
• provide information about how to support children in becoming strategic readers
• outline some of the tasks parent helpers may encounter during the literacy block

If you wish to assist in the classroom literacy program, teachers are only able to invite parents/helpers who have completed the training in the last three years.

If you would like to attend, click here to complete the online registration form by Wednesday 6th May.

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute

Last term in inquiry, our Grade 3 students explored what makes a community dynamic and how communities evolve over time. They investigated creative ways to support people in becoming healthy, active members of their communities and analysed community health messages to understand how these influence people’s choices.

To conclude the unit, students designed and led activities that promoted physical activity and connection within our classroom community. These were showcased during our Week 10 Expo, where families enthusiastically joined in the games organised by the Grade 3 students. The event successfully fostered connection and encouraged positive, healthy choices—truly a great time for everyone involved!

This term students are excited to experience the new Play Pod, which we were lucky enough to explore in the last week of Term 1. Each class had an opportunity to visit the play pod and test out their creativity and curiosity -  and boy, were the Grade 3s up for the challenge! What a great new resource for play times!

Curiosity  •   Respect  •  Integrity  •  Resilience

Happy Term 2 from LPS Parents Group. We have a few things on this term, so get involved!  

And congratulations to Raylene W who has been elected as the Parents Group Representative for School Council for the third year running. 

LPS Mother’s Day breakfast – Friday 8th May 

You are invited to the first ever LPS Mother’s Day Breakfast! 

When? Friday 8th of May from 7am - 9am. 

Where? LPS school hall. 

Come and share a delicious continental breakfast with other Mums, carers and families from Laburnum Primary School. Dads and Laburnum Primary kids (sorry, no older or younger siblings) are welcome to purchase breakfast tickets too!  

Please BYO plates, bowls, cups and cutlery. 

Tickets are $10 per adult and $5 per child. Book your tickets here: https://www.trybooking.com/DLFZV  

Bookings close Monday 4th May. 

                                   

Mother’s Day Breakfast Volunteers Needed!

We are seeking volunteers to help us prepare and serve the food at the Mother’s Day breakfast.  If you can help out please sign up here: https://signup.com/go/KseqaOr

Volunteers can also buy tickets for breakfast and eat before or after your shift!

LPS Trivia Night – Saturday 16^th May

The Parents Group warmly invites you to the 2026 trivia night!!! A social event for parents and friends of Laburnum Primary School.

• Date: Saturday 16th May
• Time: arrive 7pm for a 7:30pm start
• Location: LPS School Hall (enter via Pakenham St gate)

Get ready for an evening of fun, laughter, friendly competition, and community spirit! Gather a team of friends and family and put your knowledge to the test across a range of fun and engaging trivia rounds. Teams of 8-12 people. People are more than welcome to book a table for 10 friends ($250 for 10 people), but if you want to come solo or with a friend or two, we will ensure everyone is seated on a team.

Please bring along a stash of gold coins to take part in some games on the night. Any profit raised from the event will go towards school 'Priority Projects' infrastructure, e.g. new play equipment, landscaping, seating.

What to expect:

• Exciting trivia challenges
• Prizes for winning teams
• Games throughout the night
• BYO food and drink for your table. Alcohol is permitted 

Tickets: $25 pp

Whether you’re a trivia buff or just in it for the fun, this is a great way to connect with our school community and support the Parents Group.

Don’t miss out – click on the link or scan the QR code for more info and to book your spot today! (Adults only please, this is not an event for children).

https://www.trybooking.com/DLMUT

Entertainment App Membership for Sale!

Your Membership to The Entertainment App will save you up to 50% on dining, shopping and activities – all while supporting our school!  Vouchers are for businesses right across Australia, New Zealand and Bali, and once you activate your membership you have 12 months to use the vouchers.

The app costs $75 for 12 months. Join now to receive:

• A $20 Shell Gift Card
• 12 months of exclusive member savings

For more information or to purchase your membership, please click the link here:

https://subscribe.entertainment.com.au/fundraiser/185r982

Curiosity  •   Respect  •  Integrity  •  Resilience

LPS House Cross Country Carnival

Laburnum Primary School has held its annual House Cross Country Carnival and it was a fantastic event! The weather was perfect as our Grade 3 students, who were competing in their first House Cross Country, took to the course. It was incredibly inspiring to see every student finish the race, demonstrating remarkable resilience and determination.

The House points tally showed what a close and exciting competition it was. Congratulations to Roberts for taking out first place and well done to all students for embodying our school values of resilience throughout the challenging course.

Final House Points:

• Roberts 490
• Conder 420
• McCubbin 360
• Streeton 330

We want to extend a huge thank you to all the parents and teachers who helped out on the day. Your support was invaluable and contributed greatly to the success of the carnival.

Congratulations to the following students who have qualified to represent Laburnum Primary School at the BDPSSA District Cross Country Carnival on Friday 8 May:

Prep - Grade 2

This term the Prep - 2 students will be learning the Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) underarm roll and underarm throw and catch.

The children will be using these skills in a variety of modified games and activities in PE designed for maximum participation and engagement.

Grades 3 - 6

Grades 3 – 6 students will be learning about ‘Striking and Fielding games’ in our Game Sense unit with an emphasis on sports such as, Baseball, T-ball, Cricket, Softball and Kickball.

They will be also developing and refining their FMS of throw and catch in all their lessons this term as a way of building their confidence in a variety of activities. We recognise the importance of these two skills as a building block for other physical activities, allowing children to engage in movement for a range of sports such as, Cricket, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, Netball, Tennis, Dodgeball and more. The children are beginning to understand that this will assist them with their hand-eye coordination, develop their fine and gross motor skills and build confidence to take on more complex tasks in PE.

Level Sport

All students from Grades Prep – 6 have been participating in their one-hour of Level Sport sessions per week with the Specialist teachers. For our Prep – Grade 3 students, they will continue to take part in the Perceptual Motor Program (PMP). PMP is a movement-based program designed to enhance younger students' eye-hand and eye-foot coordination, fitness, balance, locomotion and eye-tracking skills.

Our Grade 6 students will be continuing to practise the skills for Netball, T-ball, Soccer and AFL for the Winter Sports Round Robin and will soon be moving towards practising skills necessary for Cricket, Basketball, Tennis and Volleyball for their Summer Sports Round Robin tournament to be held in Term 3. The Grade 4 and 5 students will also be learning the skills of the sports taught in the Grade 6 level sport curriculum, in preparation for next year.

Grade 6 Update

A reminder that the Grade 6 Winter Sports Round Robin Tournament will be held on Friday 15 May.  Our teams will be competing in T-ball, Soccer, Netball, and AFL against St Thomas, Roberts McCubbin, and Surrey Hills at various locations throughout the day.

Curiosity  •   Respect  •  Integrity  •  Resilience

Details of our Extracurricular Activities for Term 2 are listed below, with a weekly schedule further down this page. 

As teachers will organise the school-based activities and remind students about these, there is no need for parents to register, unless there is a cost for the activity.

Please note that Chess Club requires registration. Chess Club is led by external providers, with a cost involved, if you would like your child to participate. Please see the Contribute page for further information.

Joggers Club
Joggers Club is supervised by our House Captains. Students from Grades 1 - 6 can run, walk or jog laps of the athletics track. 

Chess Club*
The Chess Club at Laburnum P.S. is run by “Chess Ideas”. There is always a free trial session at the beginning of each term. The children are instructed in two small groups, where a new skill or strategy is introduced, followed by a game and is supervised at all times by a teacher from the school.
Please see the Contribute page for further information.

Junior School Council
The Junior School Council provides an avenue for 'student voice' and to contribute positively to the school community. It allows students the opportunity to experience leadership at Laburnum Primary School and consists of two student representatives from each class in Grades 1 to 6. Through active involvement, the Junior School Council encourages student participation within the decision making processes for fundraising, presentations, school events, charity focuses and school recommendations. 

Library
The library is open for students to return and borrow books. They also have the opportunity to read quietly, share a story, choose an activity including craft, chess, puzzles, construction blocks and board games. Our friendly Grade 6 library captains are always on hand to assist students.

Art Club

Art Club is back on Tuesdays! This term, students from Grade 4, 5 & 6 are invited to come to the Art Room between to participate in structured activities, enter competitions and work on personal or group projects. Some activities will be lead by our Art Captains Ananya and Zach. At this time we would like to also encourage our Grade 6 students to participate in painting a sign for our Marrung section of the Library. Keep an eye on the Art Notice Board for updates.

Green Team

Green Team leaders work with students across the school to promote sustainability at Laburnum Primary School. During Term 2 students have an opportunity to join Green Team. Activities around school include keeping Laburnum PS free of rubbish, working in the kitchen garden (pulling out weeds, planting new seeds and watching and taking care of our produce) and also thinking of ways our school can be environmentally friendly.

Instrumental Music lessons

If you would like to register an Expression of Interest for private instrumental lessons at LPS, external instrumental tutors are available to teach the following instruments - violin, viola, percussion, guitar, piano, drums.

Instrumental Music lessons at LPS are only available for students in Grades 1-6. Please see the Forms page to register. Instrumental Tutors invoice parents directly for these lessons at school.


Extracurricular Timetable - Term 2 2026

Curiosity  •   Respect  •  Integrity  •  Resilience

The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools, or ICAS for short, is an independent, skills-based assessment program, designed to match and test skills that are learned in the school classroom.

Every year Laburnum Primary School participates in the ICAS competition in English, Mathematics and Science. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to challenge themselves academically.

Entry is available to students in Grades 4, 5 and 6 ONLY.

As ICAS is not part of the Victorian curriculum provided to all students, the tests will be held before school on the following dates:

• English ICAS test – Tuesday 11th August, 7:45am
• Science ICAS test – Tuesday 18th August, 7:45am
• Maths ICAS test – Wednesday 26th August, 7:45am

Families enter their child through the ICAS Parent Payment System. To enter follow the link below and use the school access code to enrol your child.

Access details for parents:

Your school access code is:  ZPF593

Your parent page link is: 
https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/parent-payment/ZPF593

LPS enrolments close on 27 July. All enrolments must be made by this date.

If you enrol your child, please mark these dates in your calendar. Students cannot sit missed tests.

More information will be provided closer to the test dates.

QR Code for the parent page link: 

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute

School tours are a wonderful way to see Box Hill High School in action, and bookings are now open for a tour of the school for prospective parents/carers and students.

Not only will visitors see classes in operation, but there will also be opportunities to ask questions, meet BHHS staff and students and hear from a member of the Principal Class Team. Explore the school on a tour and find out more about how BHHS provides the perfect balance between academic, social, and emotional growth and development in its students.

School tours at BHHS will run from 10 February – 7 May. Bookings are now open at Trybooking.

As there will be no Open Afternoon during 2026, we encourage you to book your place on a School Tour if you are considering Box Hill High School for your student’s needs in 2027 and beyond.

Free resources for families of adolescents aged 10 to 14 years

The Department of Education has launched an Easing into adolescence webpage for families of students aged 10 to 14 (Grade 5 to Year 8).

The webpage has information and strategies you can use to help ease your child into adolescence and secondary school. These include:

• a guide to emotion coaching. Staff from The University of Melbourne’s Tuning in to Teens Kids program developed the guidance.
• how to support your adolescent with their studies and more generally. Parenting expert and clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller helped develop this resource.

Subtitles for videos by The University of Melbourne on the webpage are available in 10 languages. You can select your preferred language on the translations page.

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute 

Click on these links  below for Community News or information:         

TeamKids Out of School Hours Care  Please register your child here - it's free to register and you'll always have that option for childcare, even in unexpected circumstances.  More information is on our website here. We’re bursting with excitement to let you know that bookings for our Autumn Holiday Program are now officially OPEN for Laburnum Primary! See what’s happening at our school → https://downloads.teamkids.com.au/laburnum_primary.pdf Please click here for Mandarin flyer.

Please click on the Chess Club image for Term 2 registration.

Digimaker will start in Term 2. Please click on the logo for information.

Our Vision:    Learn   •   Thrive  •   Contribute