Out and about with Mr Walsh

It has been a settled and productive start to the school year with plenty happening around the traps at Surfside. As our students have settled into their class and yard routines our staff have been busy learning and growing together with our Professional Learning opportunities. Our focus through term 1 is supported by our Annual Implementation Plan covering the areas of Teaching and Learning (specifically numeracy) and the mental health and wellbeing of students. This has been highlighted in the following areas:

Morphology - Morphology is the study of words and their parts. Morphemes, like prefixes, suffixes and base words, are defined as the smallest meaningful units of meaning. Morphemes are important for phonics in both reading and spelling, as well as in vocabulary and comprehension.

Classroom Practice - Review and Retrieval - Cumulative review helps students practice going back to concepts that they have learned and recall an old skill that they have previously acquired to solve the problem, or as Rohrer (2009) coins it, “retrieval practice.” Review also allows students to determine what they remember and what they do not remember and ensure we continue to touch on these areas. Retrieval practice is a strategy in which bringing information to mind enhances and boosts learning. Deliberately recalling information forces us to pull our knowledge “out” and examine what we know.
Berry Street Education Model - Yarning Circles - All of our classes as well as our staff professional learning sessions start with a Yarning Circle - 'It is a place to talk, share, discuss, educate and have a yarn together, a place to build respectful relationships and a space to enrich students' learning experiences. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been using yarning circles for thousands of years. It’s always good to start the day with a circle; a great way to check in and out, frame expectations for the day or session and nurture meaningful relationships within the community.

We look forward to sharing some of our learnings and examples of what is happening in our classrooms throughout the year.

Plenty has been happening in and out of the classroom at Surfside and this has involved welcoming our new Prep students at our most recent assembly and a group of year 5 & 6 students heading to the Victorian Golf Championships. We look forward to many exciting opportunities throughout the year in and out of the classroom and community based events.

Here are some highlights from our Vic Open Golf visit

Jack spent some time meeting the kids and popping into classes throughout the week

Not all heroes wear capes but these guys saved the day by helping out in the canteen to get icy poles to the masses on a 39 degree day!!

Parent Payments and School Fees

On behalf of school council and our students at Surfside we want to send a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the 76% of families who have contributed to their school fees for the 2023 school year. Our entire kitchen and garden program is completely funded through school based fundraising and the opportunities to engage our students further is funded through our parent payment system. The provision of our wellbeing team and school programs is also funded through these supports. We look forward to another year where we can once again provide these opportunties for our students and increase our community connection and fundraising opportunities. In the meantime we are EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for the 76% of families who have contributed to supporting our school and the most important part of our school THE STUDENTS. Please feel free to contact the administration staff if you have any questions on 5256 1411 or would like to follow up your payments for the 2023 school year.

School Council 2023

Our final official 2023 school council meeting was conducted on Tuesday 14th February. This was a great opportunity to thank all of our school council members for their continued support throughout the last 12 months and to farewell our outging members - Eloise Cann, Allason Lynch, Erik Wirtz, Janelle Browning, Alex Werner and Rose Roberts. We appreciate the professional approach and supportive nature of all school council members and their passion for our school community. We look forward to welcoming our new school council composition following our upcoming AGM. Nominations and elections (if required) will take place over the coming weeks and will be communicated via the newsletter.

Highlights from our most recent school council meeting included:

Welcome to 2023 overview
Letter from Alison Marchant - member for Bellarine
2023 professional learning opportunities
2023 draft budget overview
2022 Reflection
Upcoming visit from the Minister of Education