EXCELLENCE CARE RESPECT PERSISTENCE PRIDE RESPONSIBILITY

Principal's Message

I extend a warm welcome to all families of Kyneton Primary School and the wider school community. We believe our children are entitled to a high-quality education that is respectful of, and responsive to, their existing competencies, cultural heritage, and histories. We want our children to learn to their full potential in an inspiring, challenging, and supportive environment. Our families can be confident that their children will have access to an education that promotes equity and excellence while attending to the wellbeing of all children.

Respect, persistence, pride, responsibility, personal excellence, and care for others are critical to our children's success and to our success as a school. All employees, students, parents/carers, volunteers, and visitors will be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their sex, gender identity, socioeconomic status, cultural background, sexual orientation, or level of ability.

At Kyneton Primary School, the enjoyment of school life is highly valued, and there is a deep sense of community and belonging. Our philosophy reflects a child-centred approach, characterised by learning that is responsive to each child’s individual needs, talents, and interests. The school seeks to educate the whole child, including supporting their social and emotional development.

We are passionate about helping our children thrive in an ever-changing world. We are proud to partner with MAPPEN, a unique curriculum and professional learning package. This partnership builds on and extends the excellent teaching and learning programs that the school has developed over the years, further enhancing our capacity to provide an exemplary curriculum that meets our children’s needs.

Through the delivery of MAPPEN students investigate concepts, skills and behaviours that are relevant to their success as 21st Century learners. The concepts they learn about are:

Community
Sustainability
Social justice
Creativity
Identity
Change
Discovery
Curiosity

Regardless of which classroom your children are in, you can be confident that the content and quality of teaching will be consistent and rigorously applied across our school. To learn more about the MAPPEN curriculum, please visit the Programs section of our website.

An important aspect of our school is the use of both formative and summative assessment. This allows us to report meaningfully to parents and provides benchmark data that we monitor to ensure we are meeting our high expectations for student learning outcomes. We aspire for our children to be capable learners who:

Know their current level of understanding
Understand where they are heading and are confident in taking on challenges
Select tools to guide their learning
Seek feedback and recognize that errors are opportunities to learn
Monitor their progress and adjust their learning as needed
Recognize their learning and teach others

Our qualified teaching staff engage in continuous professional learning to stay at the forefront of current educational research. This enables them to effectively implement best practices in learning and teaching methodologies, as evidenced by our commitment to ongoing action research and specialist consultancy.

We aim to foster strong partnerships between home and school, recognizing that the best educational opportunities are provided when a positive relationship exists between these two environments. We seek to create a genuine sense of belonging, involvement, and collaboration to support children in reaching their full potential. We look forward to working with you and encourage you to become actively involved in both your child's education and the various activities offered by the school.

At the start of Term 2 in 2018, we relocated to a new school on Edgecombe Street. The new Kyneton Primary School has been hailed as a “benchmark for educational design.” The school embraces 21st-century learning and has moved beyond the traditional classroom. Its layout is flexible, sustainable, and enables educators to perform at the cutting edge of teaching and learning. The design incorporates technology while treating every space within the school and its grounds as a place to learn. The learning environments encourage students to be independent and creative, with spaces that can accommodate both small and large groups, allowing children to work according to their needs and abilities.

On behalf of our families, staff, and School Council, I warmly welcome you to Kyneton Primary School. I look forward to seeing you around the school and within the Kyneton community.

Alistair Rayner
Principal

About Our School

Kyneton Primary School is proud of its achievements in student learning and the growth that our students make over their time at our school.

Our school has a continual focus on using data to determine the individual needs of each student. Teachers design explicit learning experiences that build on each student’s current knowledge base.

Kyneton Primary School staff are also ongoing learners who keep abreast of best education practices and strive to develop teaching and learning programs that match the needs of all students.

KPS SSP Goals & Key Improvement Strategies 2025

1. To maximise student learning outcomes for every student.

Key Improvement Strategies

● Embed the consistent use of data and assessment to inform differentiation at student point of need

1. Review the feedback culture and strategies used across our school to complement the work already undertaken.

2. Align the updated 2.0 Victorian Teaching and Learning Model [VTML] with our current whole-school Instructional Model.

2. To maximise student connectedness, engagement, and wellbeing.

Key Improvement Strategies

● Strengthen staff capacity to activate student agency and engagement in learning.

1. Embed the Mental Health in Primary Schools [MHiPS] initiative, utilising the training and resources to enhance the school’s overall wellbeing approach.

2. Implement the High Impact Wellbeing strategies to equip staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to support and enhance wellbeing.

Student Learning

As a Lead school in the Macedon Ranges and in response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence, Kyneton Primary School is committed to promoting and embedding the Respectful Relationships curriculum and gender equality into our schools ethos, vision and values. In our school the focus is on treating everyone with respect and dignity in the hope of creating real and lasting change in the lives of our students, staff, families and the wider school community.

According to the Attitudes to School Survey undertaken by Year 4, 5 and 6 students, their sense of connectedness to peers and student morale is high. Our Year 4-6 students indicated that they feel happy and positive at school. They rate classroom behaviour as excellent and indicate that they feel safe at school.

Our focus in 2024 is on further developing student perception of the importance of education in their lives. We will also continue to focus on improving consistent attendance through regular communication with parents and students.

Our school uses Restorative Practices. This process is based on the development of a healthy relationship between teacher and student. Restorative practices assist teachers, students and parents to build, maintain and restore relationships. Students build the capacity to self regulate their behaviour which contributes to the improvement of learning outcomes.

As a result, student and teacher surveys have shown that they work in a stimulating, safe environment where teaching and learning is of prime importance.

Child Safe Standards

Kyneton Primary School is committed to child safety. We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and members of the school community. We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all students. We have a zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated seriously. If you would like more information, please see our Child Safe Policy on our website or contact our Child Safe Officer, Julie Arnephy on 5422 1855.

Engagement & Wellbeing

Pathways & Transition

The Transition Program at Kyneton Primary School is regularly rated by parents in the annual Parent Opinion Survey as a significant strength.

Our School offers transition sessions for all students, at all levels of the school. Kyneton Primary School has a strong Buddy program that matches new preps with a senior student who forms a solid, supportive relationship with them. The school has great links with both the feeder preschools and local secondary schools. Throughout the year, there are a range of cross campus activities.

Kyneton Primary School is conscious of the need for transition between year levels and works to make certain that students are placed in the learning community that is most appropriate for them. Teachers regularly meet to moderate and ensure that there is a smooth and supportive progression of teaching and learning across the year levels.