Principal's Report
From Christian's desk....
Welcome Back
Welcome back to Term 2 learning!
Since our last newsletter the world has gone through considerable change. Whilst this has presented many of us with challenges, there has been so much to celebrate. A personal highlight of mine has been the positive way our community has approached these challenges.
I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work of our school staff and their ‘can-do’ attitude. The way they have worked together to ensure that all students are supported and experience success has been nothing short of remarkable. Further, they have garnered so much energy from the constant positive feedback they have received by our community. For this I thank you.
If you haven't already seen it, or even if you have, I encourage you to grab the kids and take a(nother) look at our staff "Staying Inside" video. It's the smiles that make it all worthwhile!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kUECoUWxFuItyM9MaaKAaq4Im-IvZQxx
To our families, I would like to also congratulate you on how you are approaching remote learning. As a parent of three children, aged seven, six and two, I can empathise with you, this is hard at times! This period of time is going to be especially challenging for so many. Without going into too much detail or being too preachy, I encourage us all to ‘see the bright side’. If you’re juggling work and remote learning, be thankful and feel comforted that you still have a job. For those that are not as gainfully employed as you may have been previously, see this as a great opportunity to spend more time with your kids. For those that are experiencing hardship, seek support. And to all, hug your kids!
We are a community, the land on Campaspe Drive accommodates us but it’s the people who make Croydon Hills Primary School so great.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the critical workers in the community, namely our nurses, doctors and health care workers who are on the front line, who are in some cases caring for and most likely to be in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. Thank you.
Communication
A reminder that our school has a number of communication tools, each used for a variety of purposes.
- Compass: is our school’s formal communication tool. It is used to inform families of school operational business and for attendance, payments and permissions.
- Global website: our school’s global website is used for two purposes. It has links to important sites and documents for our current families. This includes the link to our Home Learning website, school and DET policies, Compass, FlexiSchools and Out of School Hours Care. Secondly, it shows our school off to the broader community, providing information regarding the school's approaches to education and wellbeing and outlining many of our programs.
- Facebook: our school has two acknowledged sites and several unofficial pages. Our global page is ‘open’ and is a great forum for us to share our wonderful school to the broader community. Secondly, we have our school endorsed parent run CHAPS page which is ‘closed’. To be able to view this page you must apply and be approved. This page is great for our families to seek support from one another. It is moderated by CHAPS members, with whom I work closely. Learning Levels and some classes also have their own private groups. These are not ‘official’ school pages. They are an avenue for families to engage with each other at small group level. School staff do not converse on these pages.
School Photos
At this stage I have no update as to when school photos will be distributed, but we are hoping they will be delivered to school by the end of next week. Once we have them we will notify all families about arrangements for either collection or postal delivery.
Christian Holdsworth - Principal