Dear Parents and Carers,
It’s lovely to welcome everyone back to what will be a busy and vibrant Term 4. I look forward to an exciting last term of the school year which always brings such pride from our teachers as they see the progress each child has made since the start of the year.
We have a number of major events this term including the Edu-Dance Concerts, Chapathon and Food Stall, and of course Year 6 graduation activities to finish the year. As always, thank you for your continued support of our staff and school programs. The energy and enthusiasm of our students returning this week has been wonderful to see, and I know our final term will be both rewarding and memorable.
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Smartphone and Social Media Symposium
Last term I was honoured to accept an invitation from Dean Dell’Oro, Headmaster of Hale School, to attend the Smartphone and Social Media Symposium on 17 September. The day brought together school leaders, journalists, education policymakers and sector colleagues to share policy and practical approaches for supporting young people’s wellbeing in an increasingly digital world.
The program included a welcome and keynote address, an address from the Minister for Education, a Hale School case study, a Heads of School panel (which I joined) and a roundtable discussion, followed by a networking lunch where we continued to share ideas for policy and practice.
• Why I was invited — Wait Mate
I spoke briefly about Wait Mate, a growing national, community-led non-profit that helps families delay giving children smartphones until at least high school. The movement gives parents collective confidence to hold the line — and 165 parents in our community have already signed the Wait Mate pledge, which shows how strongly families here feel about protecting their children from early smartphone pressures.
• Context — what I’m seeing
Over my years as principal, I’ve seen early smartphone use lead to classroom distraction, online conflict spilling into school life, increased anxiety, and less real-world play and friendships. Parents want help and solidarity - Wait Mate provides that by connecting families so children aren’t “the only ones” without a phone.
• The proposal
I’m proposing an evening get-together in the library, “Keeping Kids Safe in a Digital & AI World”, a friendly, informative session with refreshments, practical information about online safety and AI, a short panel and time for questions. We’ll also provide ways for parents to give feedback and to sign the Wait Mate pledge on the night.
• The bigger picture
This initiative supports our school’s wellbeing and community engagement priorities: empowering parents, protecting children’s mental health, and building shared values around responsible technology use. With digital and AI influences growing, families look to schools for leadership — hosting this event positions Subiaco Primary at the forefront of that conversation.
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School Development Day
On our School Development Day on Monday the whole staff came together for a focused day of professional learning aimed at improving reading, spelling and vocabulary for every student. We began by analysing school data including NAPLAN results with Alan Ramsey to make sure our teaching is targeted where it will make the biggest difference.
The Centre for Excellence in the Explicit Teaching of Literacy joined us: Julie Brown (Principal Education Officer) led sessions on UFLI Foundations (Kindergarten to Year 2) a highly structured phonics program designed to build students’ foundational reading skills through explicit and systematic instruction. And Upper Primary Literacy – Spelling, Reading and Vocabulary (Years 3–6): Staff learned about Word Origins, an evidence-informed program that helps students in Years 3–6 deepen their understanding of spelling patterns, word meanings, and the origins of English words.
Teachers worked with the Subiaco PS Centre for Excellence in the Explicit Teaching of Literacy team, Nicole Simons, Lia Maroni and Jess Rawson to refine how they use Daily Reviews to reinforce learning and ensure concepts are remembered over time, and “Reading with a Pencil" which is a strategy to support students in actively engaging with texts through annotation, questioning, and discussion to strengthen comprehension.
It was a productive day and we’re excited to bring these evidence-based approaches into our classrooms to support your child’s literacy progress.
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Creative Schools
Wednesday and Thursday this week were the final reflection days for the Creative Schools program with Year 4/5 teacher Miss Gemma Hayley and Year 4 teacher Miss Jennie Richardson. It was a fantastic celebration of the journey these classes undertook over the past two terms, exploring the creative application of learning across the curriculum.
The Creative Schools program also focuses on the development of five creative habits of learning—being collaborative, imaginative, disciplined, inquisitive and persistent.
These habits are essential life skills, and it was inspiring to see how intentionally they have been fostered within these classrooms. Students reflected on their learning, collaborated in new ways, and showed persistence through complex challenges.
Highlights of their projects included:
Year 4 M4
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seeing Ms Richardson’s Hungry Caterpillar overalls make an appearance in the Book Week parade
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learning how to use sewing machines for the first time
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running a Market Day stall at the Subiaco Farmers Market
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robotics activity where the students coded robots to travel around the world collecting materials to design outfits for a runway show
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iMovies brought powerful attention to the issue of fast fashion through movement, sound, and imagery — a project the students were so proud to share to make sure everybody in our community learns about the implications of buying fast fashion.
Year 4/5 U4
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being able to show their interactive books to the rest of the school and share their process and skills learnt. They were so rapt that other people would want to actually take the time out to look and read what they had created and then ask them questions about it
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getting to teach the other students the creative habits and watch them enjoying practising each of the learning habits
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seeing things with ‘new eyes’ and looking at things from a different perspective
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recording sounds in the environment and then turning them into artwork.
Teacher Highlights
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seeing some students who find ‘regular’ classroom activities trickier, excel when they were able to do many of these activities hands on and show their understanding in a different way
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watching the students collaborate and seeing new bonds and friendships formed
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the students becoming more reflective learners and really thinking about what they had just done, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and things they can keep working on
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seeing everyone have success on the showcase day and being able to complete the task and project. There was a lot of persistence shown throughout!
Our teachers and students in U4 and M4 can feel very proud of their courage to embrace new pedagogies, collaborate closely with their creative practitioners, and step outside their comfort zones.
Warm regards,
Heather McNeil
