Principals Message

It is hard to believe that we are already beginning Week 5 of the term. It has been a great start to the year with our learning conversations and teachers conducting assessments. These important elements of our assessment and reporting procedures provide our educators with valuable insights regarding student strengths, areas of challenge and future learning needs.

Learning Conversations

Thank you to those families who have attended the Term 1 Learning Conversations so far. These were made all the more meaningful through attendance of the students to input their own thoughts and voice. The three way conversations between student, school and home ensure that goals are developed mutually with family insight and shared vision. 

Please if you have yet to make an appointment, reach out to your child/s teacher to make a time.

Weather-related school closures 

As some families may be aware, we have had one instance whereby the P-12 have been instructed to close on a day of extreme weather and our school has remained open. Both of our schools are on the Bushfire At Risk Register (BARR). This means that we are to be more vigilant and prepared for the event of bushfire to ensure everyone's safety. Our school is on Category 3 of the register while the P-12, being surrounded by dense bushland, is on Category 2. This lowers the threshold for which the P-12 is forced to close for the day. Our school will close, under the instruction of the Victorian Catholic Education Authority on days of ‘Catastrophic’ weather events. 

Both schools have worked closely with the Department of Education, Catholic Education Sandhurst and bus lines to ensure that, moving forward, buses will continue to service our school if the P-12 has to close. 

Visit from Vic Police

Last week, we had Shane and Robert from Victoria Police in to chat with our students. This was a great opportunity for the students to make connections with our emergency services members and help them to feel more comfortable with the Police. We had some very interesting questions and it has been amazing to see the students wearing their ‘Junior Constable’ badges around the school.

SIMON Everywhere 

Don’t forget to sign up for/log into SIMON Everywhere to be up to date with all of the happenings of our school. We also have our Facebook page which is very active. 

NAPLAN

NAPLAN will run this term for Years 3 and 5. The testing window is Wednesday 13 - Monday 21 March. Please see the attached NAPLAN information sheet for more information. If you have a child in Year 3 or 5 and would like to discuss NAPLAN further with me, please make contact sooner rather than later.

For more information, please visit https://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-information-brochure-for-parents-and-carers.pdf 

Thank you and please do not hesitate to book a time to come and see me if you have any queries or concerns. 

Vin Ryan

Principal