Important Notices
School starts at 9
As we shared recently, we are currently introducing some changes to our classroom teaching across the school. Underpinned by evidence of how students learn best and the new Victorian Teaching and Learning Model, our teaching in Literacy and Numeracy is evolving to feature a greater role for;
- explicit instruction - having key ideas and knowledge broken down into small chunks and clearly explained, modelled and taught by the teacher.
- regular review of prior learning to allow students to recall previously taught content and so increase the chance of this becoming a part of long-term memory.
- interactive guided practice to allow students to demonstrate their understanding during a lesson and for teachers to understand the effectiveness of their teaching and to respond.
A key way that we structure this review of prior learning is a short Daily Review at the start of the day in both Maths and English. This is a pacey, fun way for students to retrieve content that they may have learned last week, last month or even last term. Evidence shows that reviewing content in this way strengthens connections and long term memory and that, if we don't revisit and retrieve learning in this way, it is almost always quickly forgotten.
As this Daily Review is so important to your child's learning, it is really important that they are at school ready to learn at 9am each day. Teachers are making every effort to ensure that students are engaged in Daily Review as soon after 9am as possible and students arriving late (even if it is just 5 or 10 minutes) not only means that they have missed this important part of the day but also is very disruptive to the routine of the whole class.
We appreciate your support in this.
Transition for 2025
We are now into the second half of Term 4 and are well into our planning and preparation for 2025.
During the next few weeks students at all year levels F-5 (and our new 2025 Foundation students) will be taking part in three transition sessions.
These sessions are a chance for students to work in their 2025 year levels and for us to try different dynamics and groupings to ensure our classes for next year are a good balance of many different factors.
These sessions will be taking place from 9:30 - 10:40am on;
- Wednesday 20th November
- Wednesday 27th November
- Wednesday 4th December
Following these sessions we will finalise class groupings for 2025 and we will hold a final 'step-up' day on Friday 13th December. On this day all students in years 1-6 next year will find out their 2025 class group and their teacher. We will also welcome all new enrolments into the school on this day to connect with their new classmates and understand our routines a little better.
As we are moving to single year level classes next year (from our current composite structure), there are obviously fewer ways that students will be split up as there are only two groups (and so two options) at each year level. We have therefore made the decision not to collect a 'friendship list' from each student as a part of our work to create these groups. Instead teachers will use their own detailed knowledge of friendships and positive dynamics to ensure that we create groups with the best chance of success, both academically and socially next year.
If parents have any requests or wish to have any input about their child's class for next year - specific friends or dynamics that you would like us to bear in mind then feel free to email Neil on neil.scott@education.vic.gov.au. Please note we can't accept any requests for specific teachers.
Fountain in search of friends
A community petition is underway to restore one of St Kilda’s iconic public assets. The memorial fountain at O'Donnell Gardens in St Kilda (next to Luna Park) is frequently filthy and neglected but it’s in one of St Kilda’s most used public parks.
Petition seeks action
Fed up, a local has launched a petition to restore some civic pride to the historic landmark first unveiled in 1935, and hopes to prompt action by the incoming council.
If you’d like to support the campaign see the link below.
Petition to restore the fountain at O'Donnell Gardens in St Kilda (next to Luna Park).
Petition · Repair of the Edward O’Donnell Drinking Fountain - St Kilda, Australia · Change.org
Dads Camp 2025
