Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families,

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS IMPROVEMENTS

While we have already shared our transformation of our portable building into our amazing STEAM Creation Studio, which is the cornerstone of our STEAM specialism this year. During the holidays, the student toilets in the main building were also refurbished and the result is amazing. The project has taken over a year to put together and by the smiles and exasperation from all of the students who have been greatly impressed - it has certainly been worth it!

The refurbishment took four weeks to complete and cost over $35,000, which is a significant cost for a small community school. Continuing to improve our school buildings and grounds is one of our key priorities to ensure that our school environment strengthens our pride and connection as a community.

We have a couple of planned projects for this year too which I will be announcing soon!

THE IMPACT OF ABSENCES FROM SCHOOL – THE HARD FACTS

“Attendance is also an important contributor to a student’s academic achievement – all school days matter. The correlation between absence and achievement is consistently negative and declines in achievement are evident with any level of absence.”

“As absences accrue over several years, the effect on a student’s academic achievement is cumulative. Hancock et al. (2013) found that Year 3 students with an accumulated unauthorised absence rate of 10% in each of their first three years of schooling achieved approximately 36 points lower in Year 3 on the NAPLAN numeracy domain than students with no unauthorised absences during the same period. As students generally gain 100 points from Year 3 to Year 5 (Hancock et al. 2013), a 36 point difference is almost two thirds of a year’s growth in achievement that students with high rates of unauthorised absences fail to reach. This impact continues to be evident in further years as well.”

It is important that all students attend school every day to ensure maximum opportunities for learning growth.

It is a department requirement that all absences are recorded at school on the morning of the absence and with the reason. Staff are required to follow up on all unreported absences.

Please help staff by calling the school and advising if your child will not be attending school and the reason of their absence. If you wish to take your child from school to attend a dentist and/or other appointment during school hours, you MUST call at the office to sign them out. If the child is returned to school later that day, they MUST be accompanied to the office by an adult and approved by office staff.

We appreciate your support and assistance with ensuring your child/ren and our students are safe.

SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS

Just a reminder that if you are interested in joining our school council to submit your nomination form by Friday 26th February. If you have any queries please contact the administration office for a chat - 9796 7150.

• Nominations close Monday 1st March 2021 at 4.00pm.

• If we require an election we will inform you of the process after that time.

• New council members will be announced by the end of Term 1.

The following vacancies are advertised:

Parent Category (Non- DET employees) for School Council for 2021: 3 positions - 2 year term.

Kind regards,

Darren Wallace

Principal

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