One of the simplest and nicest ways we can bring our community together is through assemblies. During remote learning last year, we all came to realise the importance of assembly and the important role it played in providing a team spirit and driving a culture where students can meet as a whole school to celebrate achievements and stay up to date on the latest news and events.

Earlier this week I put out to the community the idea of changing our Assembly time from 9am on a Monday to 3pm on a Monday. As a school we are always reflecting, adapting and responding to the needs of our students. In discussions with the teachers, it was raised that Monday morning is a precious time as a teacher to set the routines, expectations and check-in with their students so that the learning can start as quickly as possible. Ask any teacher and they will tell you, between 9-11am is the most important time in terms of work stamina of their students. This is why most primary schools will use the morning block to teach Literacy. If we have assembly at 9am it usually means no learning begins until 10am. If we calculate this hour over the year, each student is loosing roughly 40 hours of Literacy time a year.

Still, we surveyed our community to get a broader view of the needs of our parents. The results of the survey are below and based on this and the support from the students themselves, we will be changing our assembly time to be 3pm on Mondays from next week. If we have a particularly jammed packed assembly, we will begin slightly earlier so that those with after school activities are not held up.

We are also trying to improve the way we inform parents about what is happening in assembly. From Monday 10th May we will be having class presentations from our students as a regular part of our assembly agenda. Starting with Prep S on May 10, a different class will present each week. Parents are encouraged to attend assembly if their child's class is presenting. Please see the new Assembly page of the newsletter to check when your child's class is presenting. The presentation will vary and can be a song, a whole class reflection on learning or an excursion, showcasing projects, writing or work covered in the classroom.

Our survey also indicated that a recording of assembly for those families that cannot attend would be appreciated by our community. This is something that we can begin working towards and I am keen to try to have our school leaders in Year 6 be a part of making this happen. I will keep you up to date on how we are progressing in regards to recording.

We will also be having a class a week provide content to this newsletter as a way of sharing with our community what is happening in our classrooms.

This Sunday is our first 2021 Working Bee. If you and the family are free anytime between 9am and 1pm, we really could use your help on Sunday. Last year, only one Working Bee in Term 1 was able to take place and so it has been a while since our school has been attended too. Our groundskeeper, Kevin, does a great job making sure our school looks neat and tidy, but there is only so much he can do with the short hours he does.

If you are able to attend and can bring any of the following equipment, that would also be a great help;

wheelbarrows
shovels
rakes
gloves
blowers
sander

Of course, kids are welcome and there will be a sausage sizzle for lunch supplied.

Lastly I have arranged a parent webinar, run by Bully Zero on May 10th @7pm-8pm. This online session will focus on the ways in which we as a school community can detect, prevent and manage different kinds of bullying. How do we recognise the signs, talk to our children about it and most importantly, what do we do and where do we go for help.

This is a really valuable session for families, particularly as it also provides content on Cybersafety and Cyber-bullying. Since our children have begun using technology far more after remote learning, as a parent it can be difficult to track and monitor our children's online activity. I know that my grade 6 daughter went into Covid lockdown a little girl and came out of it a young tween, who permanently thinks her phone should be attached to her hand now. So, I for one am looking forward to the session and hope to also gain some understanding of the more recent trends and statistics as well as how to manage parental controls.

Register now using the link below. There is a capacity limit that Bully Zero has set for this webinar, so register now and you will receive the meeting details. There is no cost for this session to our parents.

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SBKxAxfnQNCiZBGd9xXk4A

Have a great weekend, and hope to see you on Sunday.

Take care,

Nieta

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