Principal's Report

Pakenham Springs Primary School acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the land on which the School stands.

As the term comes to an end it is a good time to reflect on the highlights of the term while we plan for the rest of the year.  Term one started with our first ever Year 6 Conference, students heard from motivational speakers and set goals.  Since then our year 6's have been great role models in their learning and behaviour to the rest of the school.

School Wide Positive Behaviour is a daily priority across the school and we continually model, teach and acknowledge our school values of Respect, Resilience and Responsibility. The Froggy Dollar Shop continues to be busy as students achieve their Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates. 

Reading has been a big focus since day one with all teachers taking on the consistent Readers Workshop approach.   We are very fortunate to have the expertise of Megan Ryan who co-presents the Cardinia schools literacy professional development.   As well as teaching at Pakenham Springs, Megan has done additional training to gain skills in current best teaching practice in literacy.  Megan is leading our teachers to ensure we are teaching reading with the most effective researched approach.

Also this term we had our classrooms fitted out with a new ergonomic chair and table for every student, teacher and Learning Support Assistant.  I have heard that our old furniture has arrived in Port Moresby but still waiting to hear if the two containers to Kiribati has arrived.  Next term we hope to coordinate a special assembly with Pacific Assist who are making a video of the whole project.  Stay tuned!

Lastly,  yesterday's highlight was our wonderful Renee Cotterell's birthday.  As a principal team, we are very lucky to have staff who work so hard yet have fun in the process and make every day great, but especially on our birthdays.

Happy birthday Renee!

Open Afternoon

Last Wednesday was a beautiful afternoon for our first Open Afternoon for the year. We had 432 families represented and celebrating the students achievements. Thank you to those who voted on the Writing Display Boards, congratulations to our Year 1 team who won with the most votes. 

A big thank you to our helpers on the BBQ and our Easter raffle ticket sellers. 

Term One Attendance

We have been closely monitoring attendance and supporting students to improve attendance.  Our 2018 attendance improved from 2017 and already we are doing better this year.  Below is a snapshot of student attendance so far this year.  A huge congratulations to our 190 students who have not missed a day.  They must be very healthy and motivated! 

I will keep you updated throughout the year.

WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO TELL US

WHAT THEY THINK!

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction and we are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of our school.   The Attitudes to School Survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school.   Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.

Students from Year 4 to Year 6 at our school will participate in the survey.  Your child will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose-built secure online survey tool.   It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child.  Your child has the right to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any point before, during, or after completion of the survey.

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey.   The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used to link data for statistical and research purposes only.  All responses to the survey are kept anonymous in the response file.   Personal identification data will not be recorded in the survey response file.   This ensures that the confidentiality of your child’s responses is protected at all times.

This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school over the period Monday 6th May to Friday 10 May.   The survey only takes 20 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time.

The survey results will be reported back to the school before the end of term 2.   All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified.   Data suppression rules are used for schools with low student numbers per year level.

Last year we used the survey results to plan our goals for the year and to make improvements as feedback was received.

If you would like more information, please speak to your child’s teacher or visit: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/management/improvement/Pages/performsurveyat.aspx

OshClub

Recently I met with one of the friendly managers of OshClub who shared the plans for the holiday program.  If you need Vacation Care please see the details in this newsletter and in the attachment below.  It looks like a great program to keep your children amused in the holiday period. 

Worlds Greatest Shave

A big pat on the back goes to our STEM teacher Tanjil-Lea Delport.  This morning at assembly she took the massive step of shaving her hair as part of the WORLDS GREATEST SHAVE.  

It isn't too late to support Tanjil-Lea and the Leukaemia Foundation by sponsoring through the following link http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/tanjilleadelport .

FUN RUN

What a way to finish the term. Congratulations to all participants of today's Fun Run and a further congratulations to the overall winners, Jamieson Jets who took out the trophy.  

Please make sure you keep an eye on the 'Upcoming Events' page of the newsletter for all the important dates, including Parent teacher Interviews, Camps and Curriculum Days for 2019.

Kerryn Baillie

Principal