Acting Principal's Report

Welcome Back

 

A very big welcome back to all our students and families. We have a big term planned and look forward to getting back into it. I am very pleased to report that during the first few weeks our students have been demonstrating the school expectations in the classroom and in the yard and it has been wonderful to catch up with the students and find out about their holiday adventures.

 

This is reminder that we have a pupil free day on Monday, 3rd of June. On this day our staff will be involved in professional development activities.

School Review

High quality self-evaluation is a critical element in school improvement. It gives us the means to identify our achievements and areas for improvement over the four years of the school strategic plan. International evidence indicates that rigorous self-evaluation can lead to sustainable school improvement by encouraging continual self-improvement and professional excellence. The Victorian Department of Education measure the improvements in schools by holding a review every four years and in term 3 it is our turn to review our practice.

 

We are very excited as it gives us an opportunity to learn from each other, learn from research, learn from our parents and carers and learn from our students as we continually strive to improve our practice. As part of the process we have started working with our staff and students to elicit information about what we are doing well and how we can improve. We would also love to get some feedback from the parents and carers of Concord School and as such will be holding some community forums later in the term. We plan to host two such sessions to give everyone an opportunity to attend. One session will be held on Wednesday the 12th of June in our transition building from 9:30am – 10:30am and a repeat session would be held on Thursday the 13th of June in our transition building from 6:30pm – 7:30pm. We will also have a child minding option for the evening session to allow more parents the possibility of attending. As a school we invite feedback as we really want to improve our practices so we can ensure that our students are ‘the best they can be’ and would love to see you at one of these sessions. Together we can make a huge difference.

Food Working Party

At Concord School we do try to make sure we are following best practice in every area and we have recently received some feedback in regards to our food practices. We understand that there are some concerns in this area and in order to address them we are developing a working party. This working party will assist the school to evolve our practices and develop a policy regarding the acceptable food practices. It will consist of two Concord staff members and we would also love to get parent/carer involvement. If you feel that you could offer your support to this working party please email me at lamers.kirrily.l@edumail.vic.gov.au . Thanks in advance for your support.  

Parent Communication Survey

Last term we asked our parent community to give us some feedback regarding our communication. This is something that we want to improve and we were really pleased with the number of respondents to the survey. In total 134 members of our community responded to the survey and we wanted to share with you our process and outline how we plan to address some of the concerns that were raised.

As a leadership team we have unpacked the data and feedback and we have also worked with our teaching staff to ensure that we are responsive to this feedback. On the whole respondents were relatively positive about our communication but we still wanted to alert you to the alterations that we are making. The following is a summary of the survey.

Summary

  • Parents/carers on the whole want, weekly communication
  • Parents/carers prefer Communication diary and Compass email
  • 59% respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with 2018 level of communication
  • 20% are dissatisfied

Requirements

  • Primary: minimum twice weekly diary comments
  • Secondary : minimum once per week

Though the majority of families were satisfied with opportunities for parents to meet with staff we would like to make sure that everyone is aware that staff are available to meet at times that are not designated times such as SSG or Meet the Teacher. All teachers, Team Leaders and Principal class will always make the time to meet with you to discuss your concerns. Please feel free to make an appointment at any time to meet with us as we all want what is best for the students and believe that our ability to communicate with each other supports that outcome.

 

We will continue to produce a newsletter on a fortnightly basis but will reduce the section newsletter to a once per term item. We will also adapt the content of the section newsletter to incorporate photos with a small blurb, section events and upcoming reminders as the majority of respondents asked for these changes.

 

Finally, the idea of a school holiday program was not widely supported and we will not be running one in the near future.

 

Thanks to all the people who took the time to respond to this survey. I believe that we will improve our communication immediately and hope to continue to grow as the year progresses. If you left a comment that you feel we still need to address please contact me as I am more than happy to have a chat about any concerns you may have.

Staff on Leave

The following staff members will be taking leave at some point in Term 2.

Susanne Bates 22nd April – 9th May

Kris Lord -Term 2

Rhi Campbell 29th April-27th May

Sharon Black 13th -28th May

Rebecca Campbell 15th – 24th May

Thom Irwin 17th - 28th June

Natalie Vallendar 18th – 27th June

Elise Vallendar 18th – 27th June

North East Link Update

North East Link will complete the missing link in Melbourne’s freeway network. North East Link will connect an upgraded Eastern Freeway to the M80 Ring Road in Greensborough, including twin tunnels, a new express busway and more than 25 kilometres of new and upgraded walking and cycling paths. 

As part of the planning and approval stage of the project, North East Link Project (NELP) has prepared a rigorous study that describes current conditions and potential impacts associated with the project, known as an Environment Effects Statement (EES).

The EES was released on 10 April 2019 and will be available for public viewing until 7 June 2019 at local libraries, council offices and online at http://northeastlink.vic.gov.au/

To help navigate the EES documents, talk to technical specialists about the project and learn more about the EES process, a number of information sessions will be held during the EES exhibition period.

  • Saturday 27 April 2019, Watsonia Hub 10am – 4pm
  • Tuesday 30th April MCC Kew Sports Club, 397 Barkers Road, Kew. 4pm – 8pm
  • Saturday 4 May Manningham Hotel and Club 10am – 2pm
  • Sunday 5 May, Manningham Hotel and Club 10am – 2pm
  • Tuesday 7 May, New Hope Baptist Church, Blackburn North 4pm-8pm
  • Saturday 11 May 2019, Watsonia Hub 10am-4pm

During the EES exhibition period, you can make a submission to Planning Panels Victoria via the Engage Victoria Website (https://engage.vic.gov.au/north-east-link-project). Following this, anyone who has written a submission will have the opportunity to speak at an independent panel if they nominate to do so when making their submission.

If you would like more information about the EES process or upcoming community sessions, please visit NELP website http://northeastlink.vic.gov.au/

Call 1800 105 105

Email community@northeastlink.vic.gov.au

Back Gate Entrance

Due to the renovations to the Loyola Reserve Clubrooms,  the usual gate behind our school is now unsafe as an entrance. It will likely be closed until the completion of our Building works.

In the meantime we have opened the side gate next to the bus garage and the portables and the back gate that is behind the transition building is also available for use. We thank you for your understanding.   

Child Safety Standards

This week our focus is on ‘Standard 4, Screening, supervision, training and other human resource practices that reduce the risk of child abuse.’ At Concord School we take these risks very seriously and have developed processes to ensure our hiring practices and staff training reduce the risk. We have even developed protocols to continue our safe practices when inducting volunteers.

This standard is addressed through implementation of Department Recruitment in Schools polices and guidelines and Probation Guidelines, comprehensive staff induction, register of VIT registration and WWC documentation and ongoing professional learning in maintaining a child-safe environment.

Principal Award- Noah Weinstock

Noah is a student who tackles all areas of schooling with enthusiasm.  He is undertaking the Foundation VCAL program and studying Certificate II in Building and Construction. In addition, Noah is undertaking a School Based Apprenticeship in Warehousing Operations at the Salvation Army in Brunswick each Tuesday and Thursday. He confidently travels on public transport independently and is developing and demonstrating various employability skills, including teamwork, communication, problem-solving and organisation. 

 

Congratulations on consistently doing your best, Noah.

 

 

Acting Principal

Kirrily Lamers