Principal's Report

Hello, Bundoora Families!

What a pleasure it is to be back at Bundoora PS after my extended absence due to breaking my femur. Thank you to the families who took the time to wish me well, and those who have checked in with me since my return. It is so good to be part of a caring community. 

Some of the children have been guessing how I broke my leg, and I can tell you that it definitely was not playing tennis or hanging upside down from the monkey bars!

Thank you, Mrs Dunn!

An enormous thank you to Mrs Dunn who was Acting Principal in my absence. She has worked tirelessly to keep the school on course and has earned well-deserved holiday. Thank you, Julie. We are grateful for your work.

Thank you, Mrs Newell!

I would also like to thank Mrs Newell for hard work and commitment to the upcoming concert. She has given up days of her own time to help our students prepare. I enjoyed watching of the rehearsal today and I commend her for our absolute enthusiasm and patience. The concert is going to be amazing!

Thank you also to the parents who have given up time over the last couple of weeks to help Mrs Newell with costuming. This is another huge job and a splendid example of just what our community can accomplish!

Thank you, Miss Skerry

Finally, thank you to Miss Jessica Skerry, our library technician, for the amazing work that she and her band of followers put in for the recent book fair. We managed to raise over $4 000 from the book fair, over $1000 of which goes bank into the school in the form of books for the library.

Year Level Ambassadors (YLAs)

As you may be aware, we moved this year to YLAs instead of the team that sent out the weekly newsletter under the direction of Corrie Quigley last year. 

This is quite a different focus for families to adjust to, but the role has an important focus on building community with the substantial number of new families entering the school over the last two years.

The focus for our YLAs is building community through social activities for children and parents. We have moved away from the weekly newsletters as we found that this was a large workload for the parents and our staff. We also received feedback in the School Council communication survey last year that there were too many emails and compass posts coming out. Families who had children in multiple year levels were receiving multiple emails with the similar information in many cases.

We also found that announcing events too far in the future sometimes meant that, due to circumstances beyond our control, events would be cancelled, and this caused further confusion among parents. 

We constantly strive to improve and have formulated a communication outline with our teachers, and we encourage all teachers to give four to six weeks’ notice of upcoming events, longer in the case of events such as camps. 

Although the YLAs may sometimes pass on messages from the teachers, we encourage parents to talk with teachers where are questions, concerns, or just the desire to volunteer in classrooms. 

Collecting children from school early

We understand that from time-to-time parents need to collect their children from school early. We ask that when doing so, parents avoid collecting children between 11:20 to 12, and between 1:45 to 2:30. These times fall during recess and lunch, and we are unable to access school bags as the buildings are locked during this time. 

 We thank you for your understanding in this matter. 

Staffing

This week a team of teachers and I have been interviewing to find a new grade to teacher, a STEM teacher, and a maths tutor. This is a lengthy process, and we are working to be able to make an announcement by early next week regarding the year two teacher. Some positions will not be finalised until the school holidays, but I will inform families of these staffing appointments as soon as I can. 

Behaviour concerns

I am aware that there is an element of concern in the school community about some of our students’ poor behaviour choices at present. Teachers and the leadership team are working with the Regional Office Staff to seek further advice and assistance. As we are not the only school reaching out for help the process is sometimes slower than we would like. Please rest assured that I will continue to press for extra assistance. 

I would also like to thank the year five/six teachers for their hard work in setting out their five-point behaviour plan for our senior students. We ask that parents continue to talk with their children and reiterate the need to continue to make good choices at school. All Bundoora students have the right to learn and to have fun at school. We will continue to focus on the students who through poor choices, are hindering their classmates experiences at school.

In the meantime, we are following through on other consequences such as removing students from the yard or classroom, in school suspension, and external suspension. Due to confidentiality and privacy, I am not able to tell our students what the aftermath of a behaviour decision is at times. Please assure your children that we are working together to overcome the issues facing us and continually acting, although it may not be immediately obvious to them at the time. 

Communication

I want to reiterate to the school community that I am always available to talk over concerns or answer questions regarding school issues. I am aware that there is a perception among some parents that there is a communication problem in the school. If you are feeling this way I encourage to call or email me so that I can address your concerns. Please do not assume that I am aware of an issue concerning you and not acting on it. It may well be that this is an issue that has not yet been brought to my attention. Please put me to the test me on this and do not just take the viewpoint of another parent without researching answers for yourself.

I am absolutely committed to our students, teachers, and the wider school community. My firm belief is that all students can learn and that is our responsibility to meet each child at their point of need in order to give each child the best possible outcomes in life. I see us as a team, working towards this goal. 

Wishing you all a safe countdown to the school holidays.

Sherrin Strathairn

Principal