Message from the Principal

Hello! My name is Jacqui and I am the Principal at Christmas Hills Primary School. I have been with the school as Principal since 2019. I am a teaching principal and teach our Bunjil class (years 3-6) three days per week.

I am so proud to be the Principal at this supportive and progressive primary school. We are deeply committed to the well-being of our students, and we ensure that they are provided with exciting and meaningful learning experiences every school day. I bring with me a personal passion for being informed by the best national and international evidence on supporting successful learning outcomes for children. In a nutshell, it’s simple: Primary school kids that feel happy and safe, that believe in themselves as learners and have agency as learners, are set for academic success now and in the future. It is also the case that pressure doesn’t help but high expectations do. High expectations are about genuinely believing in our students and their ability to do well, and not just ordering them to work hard at school. It is necessary to have a combination of having high expectations of children coupled with a child’s belief that it is possible for them to achieve great things. With both of these things present, children can and will perform well academically and personally. These learning principles are common sense but take hard work to implement in schools. We have done the hard work and have successfully embedded individualised and self-directed learning principles at our school. And in line with our ethos – we continually look to improve.

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We are doing exciting things at Christmas Hills Primary School. We are the only state-school in Victoria to have a bush school program embedded into our curriculum. Our students and families are designing and building a bike track in 2022, and we recently received a significant grant to establish an Out of Hours School Care program that commenced in 2022.

All of these things are possible because we are lucky to be a small school located in a beautiful natural environment, yet close to many larger town centres. We want to provide your child with a joyful, exciting and fulfilling primary school experience that preserves the sanctity of childhood. You can contact me at 9730 1238 or 0433 205 083 to discuss how our supportive school can help your child thrive and to arrange a personal school tour.

Warm wishes

Jacqui

Principal's message

Quip Quip classroom: Prep-2

Bunjil classroom: 3-6

Quip Quip classroom

Foundation to Year 2 learning space

Research tells us that the most important footing for children’s learning is that they feel positive about their capacity to learn. This positive disposition to learn is key to successful education outcomes once children reach the age of about seven, when their capacity for cognitive learning enhances.

In Quip Quip, we explicitly build positive experiences to enhance how children feel about themselves as learners. There is no ‘one way’ for children to learn. We develop individualised learning models for each child so that they learn in ways that best suit them, which in turn enhances their learning self-esteem.

Quip Quip and Bunjil students come together for our enriching program of specialist subjects and bush school program. Our specialist subjects are designed to inspire creativity, curiosity and physical activity; appreciation of our natural environment; and a sense of connectedness to Aboriginal Australia and world cultures.

You can visit our Facebook page for regular updates on our learning adventures.

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Bunjil classroom

Years 3 to 6 – self-directed learning

Self-directed learning is a process where students are explicitly supported in developing skills to recognise their own learning needs, set their own agendas and monitor the achievement of their goals. Research tells us that this method of learning engenders self-efficacy, persistence, and collaborative problem-solving skills. This is certainly proving to be the case in our exciting Bunjil classroom where we see tremendous growth in our students personal and interpersonal skills.

We want our children to be confident in their learning and to have an outstanding awareness of the content and curriculum. Our Bunjil students collaborate with teachers on developing an individual work program each fortnight that is specifically tailored to their learning needs and goals. The children work through a mixture of teacher-led and independent tasks to develop their literacy and numeracy skills as well as exploring additional curriculum areas. Whilst teacher-led group sessions and one-to-one conferencing are timetabled for the children throughout the week, they are encouraged to plan their own schedule at other times.

Bunjil students are the owners and authors of their learning and peer cooperation and support is a key feature of our learning space. It is exciting to see students self-starting projects whether it be deciding to explore fungi through our bush school program and incorporating our fungi adventures into art, or using measurement and geometry skills to design and make jackets for each other.

Our educators

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Jacqui Abrahams

Principal & Bunjil classroom teacher

Carla

Bunjil classroom teacher

Svetlana

Quip Quip classroom teacher

Chan

STEM teacher

Briony

Tutor

Jodie

Education Support Officer

Our educators

Our point of difference

Small & child-centred

We are a purposefully small school because we deliver a child-centred education program.

We have outstanding leadership and teaching staff that are committed to child-centred learning and providing joyful experiences for our children every day.

Research-based & progressive

We provide an outstanding learning environment and an innovative learning program, based on the latest research on how children learn best.

Our weekly bush school program is unique to our school and incorporates all areas of the curriculum, e.g. science, design and technology as well as interpersonal skills.

Diverse with tailored
support

We are a highly inclusive school and value diversity. Many families travel to our school from other municipalities because they are confident in the tailored nature of support their child receives at CHPS.

Focused on connection and care

Our children are valued for who they are and feel emotionally safe with their peers and teachers. We do not employ traditional behaviour-based strategies to realise a harmonious school environment. Rather, we focus on connecting with our children and working together to develop their personal strengths and interpersonal skills with an ethos of collaboration, kindness and safety.