Principal's Report 

It has been an action packed fortnight at Rangeview Primary School. Our Teachers spent some time on Tuesday 11th writing student progress reports while the Education Support Staff participated in professional learning here at school, Level 6 participated in a Pat Cronin Foundation incursion, students from the Senior School participated in Regional Cross Country, all of Level 5 and 6 participated in two days if Winter Interschool Sports, our keyboard students held a Keyboard concert for parents and family members, our School Council held the June meeting, Foundation students celebrated Milo Monkey's Birthday Surprise, Level 4 had an open viewing of their Dream Community STEM projects, Ms Balderston and Ms Horvath ran a parent information session for parents on the Foundation and Level 1 Phonics model, our whole school reports were published, and the Junior School Council ran a hugely successful Pyjama and Hot Chocolate Day.   

Phonics at Rangeview

There have been recent announcements in the media around the teaching of Phonics in Victorian Government Schools, with the Department of Education stating that all Government schools will be teaching Synthetic Phonics Prep - Level 2 from 2025. Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll said the move followed research by the Australian Education Research Organisation and the Grattan Institute which showed explicit teaching works best for the largest number of students. 

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken words.​ It is critical for successful reading and spelling. ​Good readers are remarkable at manipulating the sounds in words with automaticity. Phonics is the study of the systematic relationship between the sounds we hear in words and the letters that spell them.​ Understanding phonics allows students to decode and encode words. ​Did you know, that the sound /k/ can be spelled as c, k, ck, or ch? That’s phonics.

At Rangeview we introduced a structured synthetic phonics model - the Little Learners Love Literacy - for our Foundation students in 2023, and have this year moved this model up to include Level 1. We have heavily resourced this model with class sets of decodable readers and extensive training for all of the classroom teachers. In addition to this we introduced structured phonics sessions into all classes Level 2 - Level 6 to develop and further embed our students phonological awareness, and their understanding of morphology, etymology and orthography. Teachers in these upper levels have also participated in additional training and professional learning and we have developed a whole school scope and sequence for the teaching of Phonics. The study of Phonics is explicitly taught in all of our levels. 

On Tuesday this week, Marita Horvath and Tania Balderston presented a literacy session to parents of our Foundation and Level 1 students to assist them to understand our Phonics model, and to better skill them in assisting their children at home with this style of literacy learning. We were delighted with the turnout on such a chilly morning and the presentation is being sent to all families today. 

Student Reports & Student Led Conferences

The student progress reports are now available for parents to access on COMPASS. Learning at Rangeview follows the Victorian Curriculum and we assess against the Standards. This provides our school with a framework and a curriculum content for both knowledge and skills. Your child's student report contains information about discipline based learning in English, Mathematics, Inquiry Topics, German, Art, Music and Physical Education. In 2024, all students also have a specialist session in STEM and Mathematics. Students are learning the General Capabilities of Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethics, Intercultural Learning, and Personal and Social Capabilities. These are developed across the learning areas. We hope these reports provide an outline of the progress your child has made this semester and we encourage you to discuss this report with your child in a way that is meaningful to them to encourage and motivate their continued academic, social and emotional development.

Progress for your child will be reported as progression points with previous assessment points shown and current assessment indicating progress.  It's worth noting that all students have made growth over the past six months, however if students have not achieved all of the outcomes at the standard or not achieved all the required learning as set by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, we are unable to move their dot to show six months growth since the last report. Most students in this scenario have indeed grown by 4 or 5 months but not quite the full six months since the last report. 

On Monday and Wednesday of next week, we will be holding our Foundation Parent / Teacher interviews and our Level 1 - 6 Student Led Conferences. We encourage you to book a time - through COMPASS - to meet with your child's teacher(s) on one of these days. Please see the Teaching and Learning page of this newsletter for more details.

Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)

Next Term our school, along with thousands of others across the country, will participate in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). The AEDC is a teacher-completed census (similar to a questionnaire) which provides a comprehensive picture of how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school. The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative and is completed nationally every three years. Children don’t miss any class time while the AEDC is completed, and parents/carers don’t need to supply schools with any new information. The data collected through the AEDC is used by schools, communities and governments to better understand children and families’ needs, and identify the services, resources and support they need.

AEDC data is reported at a school, community, state/territory and national level. AEDC results for individual children are not reported and the AEDC is not used as an individual diagnostic tool. Some teachers have found that completing the AEDC made them more aware of the needs of individual children and their class, and that the data was useful for planning for transitions to Year 1 and developing programs. Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, however the AEDC relies on all schools with children in their first year of full-time school participating in the collection. Parents/carers don’t need to take any action unless they choose not to include their children in the census.

To find out more about the AEDC and how it is being used to help children and families visit: www.aedc.gov.au.

JSC Pyjama and Hot Chocolate Day

On Thursday this week the Junior School Council supported by David Torr and Nathalia Amato, ran a hugely successful Hot Chocolate and Pyjama Day for the whole school. This idea was completely generated by the JSC students themselves, and was to raise money for some new Totem Poles to showcase the school Values. The air of cosy excitement was palpable around the school and the hot chocolate was deemed 'delicious' by the students we surveyed. The Principal ran her scheduled School Tour for prospective parents in her pyjamas - to the delight of the Rangeview students. 

Rangeview Podcast

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Rangeview Primary School Podcast! This exciting new initiative will be run by our talented Music Captains and will prominently feature students from Level 6. Occasionally, we will also have special interviews with students from other year levels, providing a platform for a diverse range of voices within our school community. 

When the first episode is ready to air next term, we encourage all parents and families to follow 'Rangeview Radio' on Spotify. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop their communication skills, share their experiences, and engage with the broader community. 

Thank you for your support and enthusiasm as we embark on this exciting new venture. We look forward to sharing the voices and stories of our wonderful students with you all.

Civics and Citizenship Survey

The Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is conducting a survey about civics and citizenship education in Australian schools. If you are a school student, an educator, or a recent school leaver, the Committee wants to hear from you! The survey will be open until the end of August.

Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters - Civics education survey (surveymonkey.com)

End of Term

The last day of school will be Friday 28th June and we have a 2.30pm finish time. This day is our Resilience and eSmart Superhero Day and we encourage students to come in a Superhero costume - Marvel, DC or their own design. Please see the Wellbeing and Engagement page of this Newsletter for more information. 

We wish all of our families a safe and happy school holiday period and we look forward to more adventures and learning in Term 3. 

Marika Ferguson

Principal