Traffic and Safety Reminder

The safety of our students, staff, and families is always our highest priority. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of safe and courteous behaviour during drop-off and pick-up times.

We ask all drivers to please respect traffic signage and use only designated parking areas. Adhering to posted speed limits in and around the school is essential, particularly as children can move quickly and unpredictably. Extra care should be taken when parking and especially when reversing, as visibility can be limited in busy areas.

Some additional suggestions to ease the congestion include having Middle School and Senior School students arranging to meet their parents a block or two away from the school site, and/or having a later collection time, for example, 3:40pm.

All members of our community are reminded to demonstrate patience and courtesy toward one another - drivers or pedestrians. Calm, respectful interactions, help ensure that our school environment remains positive and welcoming for everyone.

By working together and modelling safe, respectful behaviour, we can help ensure that arrival and dismissal times run smoothly and, most importantly, that every child remains safe.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.

Peter Dickinson

Deputy Principal

Exceed the Expected

Exceeding the Expected – One School, Together                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
As I move between our ELC classrooms and Year 12 learning spaces each day, I’m reminded that a school is not defined by age levels. It is defined by culture. By the way we speak to one another. By how we respond when things are challenging. By the small, quiet choices that shape our community.

This year, our theme Exceed the Expected is not about doing more just because. It is about intention. It is about asking, “What does excellence look like?” and then choosing to rise toward it. Sitting in the discomfort.

Excellence at Oakleigh Grammar is grounded in our HARK values

Humility reminds us that leadership is service. That we can achieve greatly while remaining grounded.
Aspiration encourages our students to aim high not only academically, but in character and contribution.
Respect underpins every interaction. It is visible in how we listen, how we disagree, and how we honour difference.
Kindness is not softness. It is strength. It is choosing empathy when it would be easier to withdraw.

Across ELC to Year 12, we are seeing students step into these values in meaningful ways. Our younger learners are developing independence and voice. Our Junior School students are modelling leadership through action rather than titles. Our Middle and Senior students are increasingly taking ownership of their pathways and working towards navigating the challenge alongside this.

Exceeding the expected does not mean perfection. It means growth. It means reflection.
Together, we continue to exceed what is expected not because we are asked to, but because it reflects who we are.
When we sit in discomfort with humility and kindness, we build the resilience to exceed what we thought was possible.
 

Shelley Parkes 

Assistant Principal - Head of Junior School

The Courage to Begin

Oakleigh Grammar’s 2026 academic year is well underway and with familiar promise we hope for a clean start, a clear focus, and a chance to do the work better than we did it before. However, a fresh calendar is different from fresh results. Results follow habits. They follow the small decisions we take and do when no one is watching. Results occur when we follow through when the task is difficult, when the standard is high, but the easy option is to delay, or to take the easy path.

The academic goal is as simple as it is important. Aim high, not through noise or pressure, but through precision and determination. Learning is a deliberate act, not accidental. Contrary to common practice, it is not dependent on motivation or waiting for the “right time”. Thinking matters, and learning is difficult. Only when we accept this can our knowledge, skill and achievement grow and flourish.

At the beginning of the year our ambitions are high, and our hope for success is a limitless field of dreams. However, our biggest obstacle in crossing it is not the self-talk of our inability, but indeed, our hesitation to begin the journey. It is the quiet, subversive belief that we will “get to it soon,” that we must wait until we are, or at least feel, ready for the crossing. We tell ourselves that confidence must come first. In truth, confidence is usually the outcome, not the entry point. Shakespeare captured the risk we face at the start of any serious endeavour: “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” (Measure for Measure” Act 1. Sc 4.) Doubt can look safe. It can sound reasonable. But it steals our progress.

We have begun the year and our studies with a commitment and the expectation that strong learning is sustained attention, careful thinking, and the willingness to confront what we do not yet know. We understand that high achievement is not talent on display, but a craft developed through consistent work and extra effort.

For our students, now is the time act. Learning is a verb; it is something to be done, not just something that happens to us. Each lesson is a chance to sharpen your thinking, to move forward in your achievements and success. For our staff, we will keep the academic core clear and strong, so every student experiences both challenge and support. For our families, keep supporting the quiet disciplines and actions that make success possible, and keep the conversations anchored in progress, not promises.

We have started this year with optimism, not the soft kind, but the type built with clarity, standards, and on the daily choice to act.

Exceed the Expected

Lance Ryan

Assistant Principal - Academic