LPS eNews
11 June, 2026
Principal's Message
Our Grade 6 students have just returned from a three day camp on the Mornington Peninsula. By all accounts, they had a fabulous time and embraced the adventure activities on offer, as well as this special time with friends.
Thank you to all those staff who volunteered time away from their own families to make this possible: Kathy Verbi, Matthew Appleby, Elin Roberts, Danyon Smith, Adriana Bonollo, Matt Arnott, Jayde Fielding, Anna Cosgrove and organiser Jana Loucas.
Whitehorse Council's Parking Officers have made recent visits to LPS and some parents/carers will have received infringement notices and fines. These can be avoided by simply reading the street signage, as well as not parking over driveways and yellow lines. The officers have also been concerned about the number of cars illegally crossing the solid white line in the middle of Janet St and Amery Ave, or making u-turns in front of the school. If you are unsure of the parking rules, please check our A - Z of Useful Information under 'Parking'.
As well, there have been instances of disrespect and aggression by some drivers in the Pakenham St pick up area. Parents should be aware that parking in the drive-through, preventing anyone following your car from moving, is not allowed.
As colder, wetter weather inevitably adds more traffic around the school, it's important to be patient and follow the parking rules, to keep everyone safe. Surely the adults in our community can do this?
Arrangements for next term's Parent Teacher Meetings can be found on the What's Happening? page. Please note the opening and closing dates for booking these online catch ups with your child's class teacher. As we are required to pay teachers time in lieu for additional hours worked, we regret that teachers will not be rescheduling forgotten appointments. Please note your confirmed times in your diary or calendar.
Parents are reminded that Monday 22 June is our final student-free day this year. Please contact TeamKids if you need childcare.
Finally, I am taking some planned leave for the remainder of this term. During this time, Kathy Verbi will be Acting Principal, most ably assisted by Nat Kiriati.
Kim
Our Vision: Learn • Thrive • Contribute
What's Happening?
Parents may like to note the dates for our Term 3 parent-teacher meetings, which will provide parents with an opportunity to meet online with their child’s classroom teacher and discuss the next steps in learning for their child. As seen on our Event Calendar, these will be held in the first two weeks of Term 3, including after school sessions on Thursday 16 July and Tuesday 21 July.
Each teacher will have availability to meet during school time during this period. Please have a look at the availability for your child’s teacher when the bookings open on June 22.
Next Friday, June 19, our JSC have organised a Crazy Dress Up Day, as a fundraiser
for the "Make-A-Wish Foundation".The Australian children's charity Make-A-Wish Australia grants life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Every dollar raised means more wishes can come true for these children and their families.
We look forward to seeing our students dress up with crazy hair, crazy socks, crazy clothes etc and ask that you also please send along a gold coin donation to support the fundraiser.
With the Opening ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup scheduled for this Friday, our final day of term, Friday 26 June, will also be a free dress up day! Come along dressed in your soccer gear or in the colours of the country that you are supporting. As this is not a fundraiser, no gold coin is required. What an exciting end to the term!
Our Vision: Learn • Thrive • Contribute
Prep
Our Prep students had a fantastic time participating in their swimming program and learning alongside their friends. They enjoyed developing new skills, including floating, using kickboards and noodles, and even diving for pool toys. On Water Safety Day, they learned important lessons about staying safe around water and experienced what it feels like to swim while wearing clothes over their bathers.
We were incredibly proud of the independence our Prep students displayed throughout the program. They took great responsibility for looking after their belongings and returned to school each day with everything they had brought! Their confidence, responsibility, and positive attitude demonstrated just how capable they are, helping to make the swimming program a fun and successful experience!
Curiosity • Respect • Integrity • Resilience
Senior School - Grades 5 & 6
Deakin Science:
Last week, we were lucky enough to welcome pre-service teachers from Deakin University to work with the Grade 5 students during an exciting Science session. Students explored a range of fascinating topics, including states of matter, light, and animal adaptations. Throughout the hour, groups participated in a variety of hands-on activities: some created their own animals and habitats out of playdough, others conducted experiments to investigate how light reflects, and one group even made butter!
‘Museums in Motion’ Inquiry Expo:
Thank you to everyone who attended our Australian History Inquiry Expo. The students worked incredibly hard researching influential Australians from the colonial era and proudly showed their learning through written monologues based on important moments in their chosen person’s life, detailed timelines highlighting significant milestones, and props to help bring their historical figures to life.
Grade 6
Susan Mclean Cyber Safety Session
On Thursday 26 May, the Grade 6 cohort met Susan Mclean, a former police officer and Cyber Safety expert. We spent a session discussing how to stay safe online. She talked about how fast information spreads online, including what apps the government allows and how dangerous the internet can be. Susan taught us how to spot a predator and how to deal with them in real life scenarios. 
Deakin Science
On 22 May, students from Deakin University came to Laburnum Primary School to teach us about Science. The session was all about chemical reactions.
We were split into different groups to learn about different substances. The experiments ranged from making tiny volcanic explosions, creating balloons to rise and mixing different ingredients that you can find in your kitchen. One group even watched a bath bomb dissolve! We used our five senses as part of the experiment to describe the mixtures. It was a highly enjoyable experience!
We were encouraged to be curious and creative during this experience. We appreciate the Deakin students for teaching us Science in a fun and exciting way!
Inquiry Expo
On Thursday 28 May, the Grade 6s had our Inquiry Expo for the term. This term’s inquiry topic was called ‘Museums in Motion’. We worked in pairs to create interesting presentations. Our work consisted of slideshows, historical narratives, timelines, biographies and so much more!
We put so much time and effort into our presentation; we even worked on our presentations at home!
Our Expo was mainly about important Australians throughout history. For example; John Batman, Arthur Phillip, Mary Reibey and other famous people who helped shaped Australia. We made little fidget toys to give out if parents got our quiz questions right.
The Expo was a huge success and we had heaps of fun!
Curiosity • Respect • Integrity • Resilience
Lions Eye Health Program – Free Eye Screening
Screening is conducted free of charge by fully trained volunteers.
It is estimated that 1 in 5 children in Australia have undetected vision problems. Over 80% of what children learn is processed through their eyes, so untreated eye conditions can affect a child’s learning ability, development and self-esteem. This vision screening program can help identify any children who may require further eye examination by an optometrist.
Members of the Lions club have been specifically trained to perform 4 vision screening assessments including:
- Visual Acuity - using a Lea 3m -15 line Symbol Chart
- Colour Vision - using a Quick 6 - Basic Colour Screening Book
- Depth Perception - using a Stereo Fly Screening Tool
- Spot Vision Screener – A state of the art portable machine designed to screen for Myopia (near sightedness),Hyperopia (far sightedness), Astigmatism (blurred vision), Anisometropia (unequal refractive power), Strabismus(eye misalignment) and Anisocoria (unequal pupil size).
The individual screening takes just a few minutes to perform. There is no physical contact made with the child and no eye drops are administered. Individual reports will be sent to parent/ guardians.
If your child is already under the care of an optometrist, they are welcome to participate in the screening activities but will not receive any results.
Consent forms for students in Grades 3-6 will be sent home this week.
Curiosity • Respect • Integrity • Resilience
Contribute: Parents Group News
Get your LPS Umbrellas!
Winter has seemingly arrived early the last few weeks, so now is as good a time as ever to purchase your large, sturdy and long-lasting LPS umbrella. Available for sale at the school office for just $25!
Curiosity • Respect • Integrity • Resilience
Specialists: Performing Arts
At the conclusion of last term, students started planning to learn and perform a play for their buddies. Term 2 began with us reading a selection of plays together. From there, a vote was taken to decide which one would best suit their audience as a performance. The results were:
4M & 4K - The Land Meets the Sea 5R - The Snow-White Rap
4R, 4S, 5H, 5B, 6A, 6L & 6P - The Three Little Pigs Rap 6R - Ghostly Rap
Auditions were held, with students adding their names to sign up sheets. Every student is to be commended for their enthusiasm, preparation and willingness to be part of the audition process. Students could choose to either be a character or join the sound effects and props team. Ms. Farlow has been supporting us with the sets and props.
Photos below show students designing sets, costumes, props, and learning their lines. As our rehearsals progress, students will learn about blocking, the elements of voice, gesture, creating character and mime. They will also use key vocabulary such as the stage directions- upstage, downstage, stage right and stage left.
If you can assist with a simple sewing task, could you please email me via Sentral. This would be very appreciated.
Curiosity • Respect • Integrity • Resilience
Contribute: Community News
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 Winter Holiday Program are now officially OPEN for Laburnum Primary! See what’s happening at our school → |
 Please click on the image for end of Term uniform delivery information. |
 The last class for Digimaker is June 10. Please click on the logo for information for Term 3. |
 Please click here for information for the Open Day on Saturday June 20. |
 Pleae click on the logo for the Winter holiday program. |
 Please click the image for Term 2 after-school basketball, ages 5-9. |