THE chooks, the dogs, the teachers, the parents and the kids; everyone was up for it and raring to go when the gates opened at the Loch Primary School last Wednesday on the first day of the 2025 school year.
Most of the school’s 125 students streamed in, with the exception of the 20 or so new preppies, who were starting later in the week, and it was quickly down to work.
Klover, one of the school’s two Leonberger therapy dogs, even at just one-year-old already a gentle giant, was doing his rounds and there was activity out in the yard too, while the kids were getting down to it inside, with tradesmen applying the finishing touches to a new wellbeing centre, and a brood of chickens at work in the garden under the watchful eye of an alert rooster.
There’s a path meandering up from a secure new fence and gates, past the wellbeing room, through a colourful playground, which will soon be augmented by a set of monkey bars financed by the school community, past the garden and into the classrooms.
Gone are the days of austere-looking school grounds and rooms with Loch boasting some great improvements in recent years, and more on the way while the much-loved facility caters to a steadily growing population.
“The new wellbeing centre is just an old shed we’ve adapted and renovated with a big new deck,” said principal Liz Alderson.
“We’ve got three staff who specialize in wellbeing support, and they mainly used the staff room before but with people coming and going it wasn’t ideal. This new space will be great.”
And it’s right on message for one of the key themes across schools in Victoria to “continue the nation leading investment in initiatives that support wellbeing for learning, including access to mental health professionals in schools”.
It’s a first order focus, together with a number of new learning programs, including phonics and numeracy checks in Year 1, to make sure the kids are on the right track.
Which is why Loch has its three-way conferences between parents, teachers and kids early in term 1, as part briefing but also to discuss the student’s individual needs in the year ahead.
“We’ve had quite a few improvements over the past year and the next will be the arrival of a new ‘Mod 5’ classroom to replace an old 1960s building that’s long past its use-by date.”
The school worked super hard to get the new building which will provide two modern classrooms and office space in the middle.
The school has a total staff of about 20 including a new business manager Sophie Doig, education support person Sam White and learning specialist Sam Jelbart.
Highlights of term 1 include the eagerly anticipated trip to the Prom for Grade 6s, the swimming carnival next Friday at the Poowong Pool, swimming sessions for seniors at Splash in Leongatha, and the Easter bonnet parade and end-of-term activities.
“That’ll come around soon enough,” said Liz.
Another welcome activity in term 1 is the peer mediation sessions with the Poowong and Nyora primary schools where scenarios about conflict resolution in the classroom and out in the playground are explored.
“We’ve had that going for 10 years now and some parents come back and tell us they are still using some of those techniques years later,” said Liz.
There’s an exciting year ahead for students, teachers and parents at Loch Primary School with the thought of the two lovable therapy dogs Klover and Koa roaming around keeping everyone connected an especially soothing thought.
