Principal's Report

Welcome to our final newsletter of Term 3. In my first full-term at the school, I have summarised a collection of highlights, as well as forecasting what lies ahead in Term 4. 

Alongside what I have highlighted below, I would also like to ask for your feedback on how we are going. We have developed a short survey (link here) for you to complete and this will help to inform us on what is going well, what we can improve on and how we can best plan for success in the future.

School Concert

Our annual school concert is a highlight of our calendar, and the performance of our students (and staff!) did not disappoint earlier this week. With support from the CSPS Drum Corps, Choir and Orchestra, our students shone in this wonderful opportunity to perform in front of a large audience and in a professional space. A huge thank you to our Music and Performing Arts teacher, Breffni Molloy, for her wonderful direction, production and choreography of the event. 

Professional Learning Focus – Inclusion, Learning Intervention and Student Support

Our Assistant Principal, Georgia Despotellis, has worked with our regional student services team to deliver a series of professional learning sessions on inclusion, learning intervention and student support to our staff. The impact of this will include (and not be limited to):

• Better differentiation of learning and well-being in the classroom.
• Deeper understanding of how to personalise learning for students with additional needs. 
• Confident implementation of individual education plans and behaviour management plans. 
• A common understanding of what inclusion looks like for all students. 

Improving teacher practice through high-quality professional development will be an ongoing focus for us and our students will reap the rewards of this focus in our classrooms. 

Parents Association Events

Our Parents Association have worked tirelessly this term to host events that build community and raise funds to improve our school. On consecutive weeks, we had groups of amazing volunteers running our Student Disco, ‘Bogan Bingo’ and the Father’s Day Breakfast. I have been impressed with the high-level of organisation displayed in running these events and delighted to see the broad engagement of our students and families in each event. The positive impact of a happy, engaged and connected community will flow-on to positive learning and wellbeing outcomes for students. 

School Improvement – Buildings and Grounds, Program Resourcing

Ongoing improvement of our school is always on the agenda. This is visible in a variety of ways, including in the quality of our teaching and learning programs, the professional development of our staff, the resourcing of our programs and the upkeep of our buildings and grounds. Recently, we have continued to focus on resourcing in the areas of Literacy (including take-home books for the recently implemented ‘Little Learners Love Literacy’ phonics program), Numeracy and STEM. We have completed rectification works to the SLC roof and a variety of electric and plumbing works, whilst having booked a variety of important maintenance jobs for the upcoming school holidays. We have also had a third group recently visit to quote for delivering additional shaded areas to the school; we expect to hear back from these groups soon. 

Term 4

Term 4 is always a busy one in schools. Our team is well underway in preparing program budgets and booklists for students, as well as identifying enrolment patterns and subsequent staffing plans. Communication will be shared in early Term 4 to build a collective understanding of the class placement process, whilst our 2024 Prep students will attend our, ‘Ready, Set, Prep!’ program in November. If you haven’t yet enrolled a Prep student for 2024, have a student joining us from another school, or are intending to leave the school for 2024, please email our friendly office team here to ensure they can support you through this process. 

Thanks for your ongoing support and keep doing your best.

Rohan Cooper

Principal