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Education Minister welcomes fantastic four to prep

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Prep quads Kevin, Brian, Ryan and Dylan Ranaweera will try out school life a week before the real thing at Courtenay Gardens Primary School today with Education Minister Martin Dixon.

Mr Dixon will present each of the quads with a Primary Kit for Preps, which more than 47,000 preps starting in a government primary school next week will receive from their teachers.

While the official start of the school year is Wednesday February 1, the first day of the 2012 year for teachers, the majority of government school students are expected to start on Thursday February 2.

February 1 is a student-free day in all government schools to allow teachers to prepare for their students' arrival, and schools are able to hold three more student-free days throughout the year – so some schools may have different Term 1 start dates for students.

Around 543,600 students will attend one of 1,539 government schools this year.

"There are always a few nerves on the first day of school from parents and children alike," Mr Dixon said.

"It's an exciting time and a big step for budding students, and the beginning of a lifelong education journey.

"These primary kits are a small gift to wish every prep student a happy and successful start to their school life," Mr Dixon said.

The kits include a book voucher, a water bottle, a pack of textas and a ruler among other items.

"Families face a number of costs when their children start school, and the Victorian Government is glad to be able to offer a helping hand," Mr Dixon said.

The Victorian Government provides eligible families with a one off $300 School Start Bonus per student to help cover the extra costs associated with starting Prep or Year 7.

The Government also provides eligible families with an Education Maintenance Allowance of up to $235 per primary student and $470 per secondary student, split evenly between the parents and the school.

Courtenay Gardens Primary Principal Loretta Hamilton said the school was looking forward to hosting the Ranaweera family's four children.

"We've never had quadruplets before, and it's quite exciting to have them here among the 120 preps starting at Courtenay Gardens this year," Ms Hamilton said.

Ms Hamilton said the quads' Prep teachers had read each of children's transition statements from their kindergarten, that highlighted each child's individual learning strengths and needs.

In the past three years, kindergarten teachers across the state have provided Prep teachers with more than 106,000 Transition Learning and Development Statements to help them to get to know, and best support, their new students.

Back to school statistics

Based on projections, more than 866,000 students will head to government and non-government schools across Victoria this year, including 475,300 primary and 390,800 secondary students.

About 70,000 preps are expected to start school across the state, with close to 47,000 in government schools. In secondary schools there will be about 65,900 year 7 students, including more than 36,200 in government schools.

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