Not going anywhere but the beach beckons

Kim Flack takes stock of 2025 with the same cool manner she has had for four years at the helm of Euroa Primary School. Time with any principal is precious, as found by this masthead throughout the year, but any time with Kim Flack is always cherished time because there is so much to hear about what is going on at EPS and within 48 hours of this opportunity she was heading to a beach. In the final school week we found Ms Flack in her office in air conditioning bliss as the blistering conditions melted the roads outside. The school's support dog Lenny is 'meant to be sleeping' and is admittedly faking it as best he can, half in a bean bag, half out. The education journey for local kids through Euroa's three schools is in very good hands, and Flack is always reminding one of the interactions between her and Anna Eddy at the secondary school and Sam Kerlin at St John's Primary, the three having a collegiality of great worth. Last week, EPS had a modified timetable and if it meant all students were in an airconditioned room watching a film on Thursday afternoon, then that's good enough for everyone, but especially Kim Flack who still has 'just one more' report to write. In other rooms, teachers are standing back to admire their classrooms being set up for 2026. "Students start going away during this week, so we cannot really run a full program with fidelity, so it's more of a pack-down week," Ms Flack said. "Last week was a bonanza week with extra breakfasts and extra concerts and meetings and the colour run, so we are very exhausted but (teachers) still use this week as a kind of 'head start', but a head start for teachers. "We are exhausted; but, we are ready for next year." In a first, Ms Flack does not have tonsilitis, an annual bout that crops up in the final week of any other year, so she is on for a chat. "I am here to stay," she said, referring to the well-reported period of a revolving door of principals and acting principals in the several years before the department appointed in 2022 this young and energetic principal from Werribee where she'd cut her teeth. The youthfulness and energy are still evident, and the sense of grounding that Flack has instilled at the school is measured by one of education's best metrics: No staff are leaving over the break for other pastures. The other measure is the proportion of students in Grade six who are enrolling at Euroa Secondary College, with a relatively high 21 out of 24 making the 800m trek down Clifton Street in January. "That's happening because of the transition days we do with the high school," she said. "And in fact, they provide extra transition days earlier on, so when our kids turn up at the secondary college on day one, they feel at home." Plans for 2026 include developing the former Castle Creek Primary School property, a two-hectare block the school effectively inherited and is starting to renovate. "It's a bush block really, and we want to keep it like that, so we won't be building paths through the bush or anything like that. "We are also going to develop connecting with country there, as we found a scar tree on the site." Also starting next year is the Department of Education's new phonics-based literacy program which a visionary like Kim Flack has already made a start on. The widely applauded return of phonics to teaching basic literacy has already been tried and tested in Euroa after decades of various 'whole language' literacy learning methods that made up the nationwide 'reading wars' from the late 1960s. This Christmas pudding's proof came earlier in the year in the form of a lift in NAPLAN results which Ms Flack attributes to explicit teaching (The Euroa Gazette, 3 September 2025). The final weeks of the term also saw awards being celebrated for individual students. Annabelle Cleeland's Sir Weary Dunlop Award was given to Charlotte Watson for having those values which Dunlop brought to his legendary life story: compassion, humility, friendship, forgiveness, courage, leadership, and integrity. The Ian Clinch Award attracted much comment this year, with Hudson King snatching it out from under others' noses. "To win that, you need to be more than just the best sports kid in the school," Flack explained. "You have to not only do well in all three of athletics, swimming, and cross country; but you need to be at the 'next level'. "This year was different - it usually goes to a Grade six student. "Hudson's in Grade four." Behind the scenes, there is a lot more to Euroa Primary School that not everyone sees, with Ms Flack praising the importance of the Happy, Healthy Kids program which seems to be having a rebirth under the umbrella of the Strathbogie Ranges Community Foundation. Happy, Healthy Kids involves ideally a school-based clinic to support the mental and physical health amongst children of families who have difficulty accessing help due to cost, transport, and availability of services. Flack and her school community see those people with health needs who often go without help. "Big picture, long term, I ask what does the town need? "But at the moment, it's a matter of watch this space."