Welcome Back to Our Second Year!

Welcome back to a brand-new school year at Mirniyan Primary School!
As we opened our doors for our second year, we were excited to see our students, families, and staff return with smiling faces and ready hearts.

Last year we laid the foundations of our school community, building friendships, routines, and a shared love of learning. This year, we’re growing even stronger together. There are so many opportunities ahead for learning, creativity, and celebrating successes, big and small.

Thank you to our wonderful families for being part of our journey, and to our dedicated staff for their preparations and hard work getting classrooms and the school office ready to welcome our students and families and for the care and commitment they bring every day. To our students: we’re so proud of you and can’t wait to see all that you’ll achieve this year.

Our school has grown from 229 students at the end of 2025 to 314 students at the start of 2026.

Our staff has grown from 22 staff in 2025 to 46 staff in 2026. You can see photos of all our staff on our Facebook page.

We welcome the following new staff to our Mirniyan team:

TEACHERS

Stacey Butler

Hayley Dimitrakas

Tara Otenhoff

Shantelle Rizzo

Kobi Pratt

Dan Vickers

Icey Voon-Lord

Samantha Jones

Maria Zafiriou

Anju Dharmathilake

Emma Hodgson

EDUCATION SUPPORT STAFF

Prabjot Singh

Jessica Caron

Eilidh Gallagher

Ardra Sathyanadh

Samantha Reid

Rebecca Colley

Our 16 classes have all had a great start to the year and our new Prep students have settled in quickly to their new school.

Prep A- Sahra Eishold

Prep B -Stacey Butler

Prep C -Jiya Robinson

Prep D -Hayley Dimitrakas and Katie Blythman

Prep E- Rachel Creely

1/2A- Tara Ottenhoff

1/2B Shantelle Rizzo and Kobi Pratt

1/2C- Hannah Jaffe and

1/2D Dana Vickers and Icey Voon-Lord

1/2E Samantha Jones

1/2F- Marai Zafiriou

3/4A- Lilli Cooper

3/4B- Anju Dharmathilake

3/4C- Nicol Biuk

5/6A- Martine Ziino

5/6B- Brad Clinch

Visual and Performing Arts- Jaime Humphrey

Science and Sustainability- Lisa Formby

LOTE: Auslan- Emma Hodgson

Physical Education and Health- Dani Remnant

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages:

Amharic

Arabic

Chinese

Dari

Gujarati

Mandarin

Somali

Sudanese

Turkish

Urdu

Vietnamese

Our school has grown this year and that means more students arriving and leaving our school grounds, so we ask that all families take extra care around these times when driving to ensure our students are safe.

The Drop-off/Pick-up Zone signs installed by our local council are on Welsummer Drive at the front of the school help to keep our students safe and the traffic flowing.

When using the Drop-off/Pick-up zone during the times on the sign please adhere to the following to ensure safety:

• Quickly drop off your child
• Stop here for 2 minutes only
• Do not leave your car
• Move as far up as you can
• Child not there? Drive out and come back
• Do not park here and wait

Please watch the animations to learn more about driving around schools and drop off and pick up zones.

Please also take care to only park or stop in approved parking zones.

https://youtu.be/zh0g_EM5qe0

Safe Around Schools | City of Casey