Welcome 2018

Welcome back to the 2018 school year.

I hope all our children are looking forward to returning to school, kindergarten or starting at Arlington for the first time. Their teachers have already begun the preparation to welcome the children to their rooms; the school is an empty and strangely quiet place without the children and we are all looking forward to having them back.

I have written two letters to Arlington families in recent weeks, outlining some of the planning for 2018 and letting our community know about the change to our structure across the two campuses with Jason Barton’s departure.

I hope all parents might be able to attend our regular “Fireside” evenings, scheduled for:

Monday 12 February for the 7s, 8s & 9s at 6pm and for the 10s & 11s at 7pm

Thursday 15 February for the Kindergarten at 6pm and for the 5s & 6s at 7pm

These will take place in the classrooms. Both Natalie Jensen and I will be there for all of the sessions with the teachers. For parents of the kindergarten children they will have the opportunity to also meet Anna Tibb, our new Director who has already set about leading the kindergarten staff in setting up the spaces to delight the children.

We know that there are never dates and times that will suit everyone, so I want to once again remind parents that you are always welcome to make a time to meet with me, with Natalie and with your child’s teachers at any time and to come into the rooms at drop off and pick up times. We want families to share in their children’s learning and to feel welcome in their school.

At the Firesides we will be hoping to finalise Parent Representatives and confirm a meeting date. Natalie and I will support these meetings this year and will confirm a calendar of dates for the year at our first meeting, rotating dates and times in an attempt to accommodate different needs.

Our Parent Reps are very important, being a valuable reference group for us as well as providing a crucial network of contacts for families. Please consider being involved if you possibly can.

The first significant event for all families and a way of welcoming newcomers to the Preshil community is the Family Picnic. Please take note of the date; it is a very enjoyable occasion and will be held on the front lawn at Blackhall Kalimna, our Secondary School, in Sackville Street – and we have put in an order for a perfect late summer balmy evening!

I can now let families know that Talitha Crawford will take on the role of assisting Natalie with the organisation of the day to day running of the campus, as Campus Coordinator. Cressida Batterham-Wilson will be leading the teachers this year to further develop a distinctly Preshilian approach to the Primary Years Programme.

Together with Natalie, the primary school teachers have spent the last 3 days in an intensive professional development workshop run by an IB Educator. Parents will have plenty of opportunity to see the influence of this vibrant and challenging training as the learning programs and projects get underway in each classroom. As we know learning is significantly different at each age level and from child to child; teachers in each classroom will determine the length and emphasis of each project to accommodate the different levels of learning, gender, interests and development of the children, rather than adhering to predetermined units and assessment tasks.

In 2017 our teachers worked very hard to bring real consistency and continuity to the program across the different classrooms. They focused on a stronger ‘instructional’ approach which will now provide a structure for inquiry that supports genuine student agency, challenge and differentiation. We trust them as having the professional experience to tailor the focus and the length of projects to the needs of the specific age groups and the individuals in their classes, to ensure that each child gains the greatest benefit from our outstanding ratio of teachers to students and our highly developed approach to team teaching.

Student agency will also be further supported through opportunities for class meetings, forums and student action, and will have a greater role into a genuinely restorative approach to student management and social wellbeing.

Once again, welcome to the school year and I look forward to talking with all families over the next few weeks.

Marilyn Smith

Principal

marilyn.smith@preshil.vic.edu.au

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