Hesket Primary School News
Friday 20th of February 2026
Dates to Remember
Preps attend full time
Monday 9th - Public Holiday
Wednesday 11th - Friday 13th - NAPLAN Assessments (Grade 3 and 5 students)
Wednesday 25th - Tee Ball Interschool Sport (Selected Grade 4-6 Students)
**New Date**
Friday 27th - Athletics Carnival, Romsey Recreation Reserve (*Spectators Welcome!)
*If you would like to volunteer on the day, you will require an up to date volunteer or employment Working With Children Card
April
Thursday 2nd April - Last Day of Term One - 2.30pm Finish
Other Key Dates
Tuesday May 5th - Grade 3-6 Cross Country - Hanging Rock
Thursday 7th May - School Photos
June 22nd - 26th - Whole School Swimming Program - Kyneton Pool
December 9th - 11th - Whole School Camp – Urban Camp, Melbourne
From the Office
Carpark
I realise the carpark continues to be an issue and School Council has recently been in discussions with Macedon Ranges Shire Council and the Victorian School Building Authority to create solutions that will alleviate the current congestion. Mayor Kate Kendall will soon be visiting the school to view the current parking situation. We will continue to keep you updated on this situation.
Welcome to Year 7 at Kyneton High School
Kyneton High School recently held a special assembly to welcome its new Year 7 students into the school community.
As part of a meaningful tradition, Year 12 leaders formed a guard of honour as the Year 7s entered the hall, symbolising support, belonging and the beginning of their high school journey.
The Raven is KHS’s mascot, inspired by the many ravens around the school grounds and chosen for their intelligence, curiosity and strong social bonds. In this assembly, our Year 12 school captains each introduced a Year 7 student who has volunteered to speak about their hopes for their time at high school on behalf of their homegroup, and to inspire those raven-like qualities in students and staff.
Families at Hesket Primary may remember Ada from Year 6 last year. Now a member of 7D, Ada proudly represented her year level and home group at the assembly, introduced by Year 12 leader Gussie.
Ada shared a quote from Vincent van Gogh: “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
She reflected on how success comes from small daily actions, like making friends, participating and showing effort, and spoke about bringing her competitive spirit to Kyneton High.
The Kyneton High School team were so proud of the confidence Ada showed speaking in front of the entire school and so are we. Thank you Ana and Faye for sharing; we love hearing the great things our Hesket students go on to do with you. 
We just wanted to extend a sincere thank you for everyone's understanding and flexibility during our many relocations over the last three weeks. We realise that it's not ideal for anyone and there is nothing we want more than being back on site with our students in their own classrooms.
Parent Payments
Next week all families will receive a letter home in relation to voluntary parent payments. The ongoing support of our families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students and ensures that each child is provided with the same resources. This makes a huge difference to our school and the programs we can offer. Families wishing to make regular payments towards voluntary contributions and any other school-based activities across the year, should feel welcome to set up a regular fortnightly payment to the school’s bank account. Please Seesaw Di if this is something that would suit your family. For example: $10 per student each fortnight, over the school calendar year.
Athletics Day - Friday 27th March
One of our favourite days on the school calendar is our school Athletics Day. On this day, students travel to Romsey oval and participate in a range of track and field activities. For the day to run well, we need lots of parent volunteers to help run activities. We’ll support you with some instructions so there is no need to be an expert of any sort. If you can help out on the day, please send through a Seesaw message to either Seona or Zoe, so we can begin planning the day.
*Can any parent volunteers for the day please send through their Working With Children cards. We note that some cards we have on file have recently expired.
Working With Children Clearances (WWCC)
We value the many volunteers that assist in our classrooms, sports events, school concerts, other events and programs. To ensure that we are meeting our legal obligations and the Child Safe Standards, Hesket Primary School is required to undertake suitability checks which in most cases will involve asking for evidence of a Working with Children (WWC) Clearance. If you wish to volunteer as a parent helper where you are required to work with or alongside students, we will require volunteers to obtain a WWC Clearance and produce their valid card to Seona or Di in the office. Applying for a volunteer WWC is free and can be completed at https://service.vic.gov.au/services/working-with-children.
School Council Nominations
It is that time of the year when we are calling for nominations for School Council. School Councillors have a tenure of two years. Hesket Primary’s School Council comprises of six parent members, three DET employees and one community member.
Jessica Matthews, Lisa Chamberlin and Jade Quinn all finished their terms at our Council meeting earlier this week. Peter Schrieber, Brianna Bell and Christine Amherd are all mid-way through their two year term; there is also a one-year vacancy that we currently have unfilled.
This leaves us with the following vacancies:
- three, two-year parent vacancies
- one, two-year community member vacancy.
I invite both current and new members to apply for the vacant positions. If you would like to be nominated or to self-nominate for one of the vacancies on School Council, please collect a nomination form from the front foyer. Nominations will close at 4.00pm on Friday 7th March.
You do not need any particular experience to be a member of School Council, just willingness to participate and contribute to Hesket Primary. It would be terrific for the school if we could again have a full School Council.
Nomination forms are available from the office.
We have once again registered a team for Run the Rock and predict that many students will choose to participate - last year we had 38 runners!
Our team name for this year is Hesket Primary 2026 and if you join our team using the code RTRSCHOOLS2026, you will also receive a 10% discount.
Team Name - Hesket Primary 2026
Team Access Code - HESKETRTR26
Discount Code - RTRSCHOOLS2026
http://raceroster.com/events/2026/109981/run-the-rock-2026/register?team=890076
From the Students
Caterpillars
The Junior grades got class pets. They got caterpillars. When the caterpillars form into a butterfly they will change colours. The Monarch butterflies will turn orange, white and black. The Monarch caterpillars turn into butterflies faster if it’s hot and if it's colder it may take more time. The Monarch caterpillars have fake legs at the back. Monarch caterpillars travel to the warmer side of Australia. Monarch caterpillars take about two or three weeks to become butterflies. The junior grade’s class pets are in their chrysalis.
By Emily, William Goodwin and William Richards Collom
Playtime
Liam- I have been playing on the slide. I love playing on the slide.
Mack- I have been playing tennis with Oliver and William.
Paige- I have been playing on the playground.
James Joyce- I have been playing cricket with Oscar H, Kieran, Sidney H and Max. Everyone is having a blast.
Caitlin. T- I was playing cops and robbers with Heidi, Emily and Maggie.
Lots of people are playing together on the playground like Jamie, Harry, Archer, Felix and Alex. Everyone loves playtime.
Playtime is a very fun time for everyone at Hesket and it is a good time to play with lots of people.
By Oscar Heinrich, Liam and Paige
Tennis
On February the 16th a troupe of ten Hesketeers set off on an adventure to compete in hot shots tennis. We competed against five other teams in doubles and singles in the hot humid heat. We tried our best, hitting every ball with confidence. The other teams were good sports and great tennis players. Even though we came last we were complimented on our sportsmanship. What a great, exquisite and wonderful day!
By Margot
Claude and Arnie
Claude and Arnie are our new class pets. Claude is a sweet, beautiful and kind-hearted yabby. Arnie is a mussel that eats Claude’s poo and is a calm friend for the class. Claude has recently had babies, we haven’t named them yet. We also have one pet shrimp, his name is Speedy.
By Sienna and Finley
Relocation Day
At Hesket it has been too hot and windy for us to go to school, so we have had to relocate to Romsey Primary School. Although we sadly miss spectacular days at Hesket Primary School, we try to make the best of it. If you are having a confusing time with all this relocating we apologise for the inconvenience. We are usually joined by Mount Macedon Primary School who also live near lots of trees. I hope this taught you more about relocating to Romsey.
By Alex and Ginevra
Prep
At Hesket the Preps have learnt c, a, p, t, b, o and g. Oliver’s favourite thing in Prep is number counting and sentences. Oliver’s best friend is Mack. In Grade Six they will be masterminds! Oliver and all his friends like to play tennis. I know all these Preps will turn in to Einstein.
By Archer and Oliver
Stick Insects
In the Senior grade we have new class pets, stick insects! Science Sam has brought them into our classroom so we can look at the life cycle of the stick insect. First, a female launches a small egg that looks like a seed and makes sure it is far away from her tree, so the baby doesn’t eat all her leaves. Next, the small egg will hatch and it looks like an ant. The little stick insect might go in a nest and eat some food. It will then find a tree to live in and eat leaves. Stick insects then start to shed skin as they grow. Finally, it will shed its last layer and the cycle will repeat. We have had lots of fun learning about our stick insects with Science Sam. Thank you Science Sam.
By Caitlin M, Sidney H and Ruben
Survivor Island
On Tuesday, the Senior grade had a Survivor Island day. Survivor Island is a fun day where teams work together and use interesting strategies to complete tasks. Our cruise ship was thrown down by an underwater volcano and we had to use a wooden plank to help us swim to shore. We picked up some washed up items and built a shelter outside. Teams had to deal with snakes, fires, tsunamis, wounds and terrible injuries. All four teams survived and we were rescued by a helicopter. In the end we all had lots of fun in the decorated classroom.
By Jasper and Caitlin T
Breakfast
Egg and bacon sandwiches, coffee van, playing with our friends, hot cross buns and Mums and Dads. On Friday the 6th of February, Hesket held a welcome back breakfast. Everyone was excited to eat egg and bacon sandwiches, play with our friends and eat hot cross buns. All the mums and dads got drinks from the coffee van and even some of the kids had a hot or iced chocolate and had lots of time to chat to each other. Everyone had a fun breakfast.
By Maggie, Grace G and Stevie
Buddies
In buddies we have been getting to know our buddies. We have also been listening to story box library. Also we made extraordinary paintings with just water, paint and candles. We painted over what we drew with the candles so our buddies could give their mum and dad a Valentine gift. Inside or outside the Senior grade have been trying to help out their courageous buddies. Our buddies are very smart for their age. I suspect all the little kids are having a good time from the smiles on their faces.
By Woody, Immanuel and Heath
Run Club
Every Thursday after lunch Grade Three and above has a choice to go to Run Club or Walk Club. At run club we go across the road and run up the dirt track and back. At walk club we walk around the basketball court and oval. On Friday morning everyone has a choice to do the walk club track and if you do choose to do Friday morning, at the end Ms Aulich will ask you if you ran or walked. If you ran you get a run club point. The distance of the run club run is 2.5km.
By James B, James J and Jobe
Happy Birthday to....
Run Club
15 Runs - Raffi and Sidney C
20 Runs - Oscar C
25 Runs - Caleb and Malakai - Congratulations Run Club 25s
30 Runs - Wilbur and Adeline
35 Runs - Lulu
55 Runs - Oscar H, Caitlin T and Sidney H
60 Runs - Esme
75 Runs - Zoe H and Kieran - Congratulations Run Club 75s
80 Runs - Hannah L
90 Runs - Archer
95 Runs - Jamie, Felix and Ellina
Community News
