Dear families,

We look forward to sharing our 2nd edition of the newsletter with you. We have had some fabulous feedback about the format of the newsletter and the ease of reading through it. One of the main feedback pieces has been how you can go straight to the section you want to read. Thanks for sharing this feedback with us - we are thrilled you find the new format makes it easy to learn about the great things happening at Modbury School P-6.

A fantastic 3 weeks!

We have had a fantastic start to the new school year. Students have returned and settled in extremely well into their new learning environment. The biggest standout to us has been the respect in caring for our new learning spaces and following our school values of connect, challenge, create and be safe, be kind and be resilient. We are hearing students enacting these values as part of their daily routine and the overall tidiness and care being shown in keeping our school safe and clean has been evident right across the school.

Vote for the newsletter name

The ideas are in. Thanks for providing us with your thoughts. Cast your vote for the new newsletter name by completing the survey form below:

https://forms.gle/1et5pJc8YTBEdT6R9

Site Improvement Plan

Our Site Improvement Plan is focused on the following goals in Literacy and Numeracy that we will be working on in 2024.

Goal 1 - Literacy

Increase in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding reading benchmarks, fostering a culture of literacy excellence.

Goal 2 - Numeracy

Increase in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding reading benchmarks, fostering a culture of numeracy excellence.

We look forward to sharing our progress with our goals over 2024 with you.

AGM and Open Afternoon

We held our Open Afternoon and AGM earlier this week. It was fantastic to see our families visiting their child's classroom and then visiting other areas of the school. There certainly was a positive buzz throughout the school. We loved seeing you and our students showed great leadership in being able to show you around. It was delightful to see how proud our students were of our school.

Amazing artwork

Our students in Room 12 and Room 14 have been fortunate to be working with Farah, who has been supporting their understanding of Visual Arts alongside the classroom teacher. Each class will have the opportunity to work with Farah this term to create some beautiful mixed-media artwork. We hope to showcase this artwork with our community at the end of this term. Watch this space.

Please check out some of the talented artists we have here at Modbury School.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Our School Values underpin everything we do at Modbury School P-6 and staff have been very busy in supporting and building student understanding about how our School Values are in all parts of our school day. One example of building a collective understanding and student learning is the 'Class of Kindness' that Room 11 has been working on. It is fantastic to see the School Values in action in our classrooms. Here is the picture of Room 11's 'Class of Kindness' actions to support their learning:

Parent Connections

Parent Connections are in Week 6 and will be a great way for our families to connect with their child's classroom teacher. Please read through the information below as teachers will be asking parents/caregivers the following information to build the successful foundations for each of our students. Our goal is to meet with every family - please look out for the Booking Information via Class Dojo in the coming weeks.

Our Specialist teachers will also be available for Parent Connection meetings and we would strongly encourage you to make a time to discuss your child's learning with them.

Staffing News Update

Congratulations to Julie Benham - who has accepted a position in Literacy intervention within the private sector.

Julie has been with the Department for Education for 17 years and has made many community and student connections over this time, working in a variety of roles supporting students. This is a loss to our Modbury community and we will miss Julie, however, this is a wonderful opportunity for Julie to further build her skills and knowledge in Literacy Intervention.

We want to take this opportunity to wish Julie the very best in her next adventure, thank you Julie for your work at Modbury School P-6.

Communication at Modbury School P-6

We are highly committed to maintaining effective communication with parents and carers. Email and Class Dojo can be a great way to get in touch with your child’s class teacher. To help us improve the school-home partnership, we ask that you consider the following points:

Modbury staff prioritise time spent teaching and building a positive learning environment, and they will often not get the chance to check messages or emails during the school day. If you have an urgent message for your child’s teacher, e.g. after school arrangements such as OSHC, please phone our front office staff, who will pass on the message.
Teachers are encouraged to only check or respond to emails and Class Dojo messages during working hours and not at night or on the weekends. For urgent matters, please phone the front office as this will ensure your message is received. For non-urgent matters, teachers will respond to your email/message when practicable.
Please remember to phone the front office to notify us if your child is absent or late.
If you would like to raise a sensitive or complex issue with your child’s teacher, you are welcome to send a brief email outlining your concerns. Teachers will make a time to talk about the matter in person or over the phone so that the issue can be given the depth of discussion it deserves.

Free Home Internet Access

Students and families with inadequate or no internet access at home are eligible to apply for a free internet connection to support learning.

There are 2 options available to eligible families:

wireless internet access from the Department for Education through the student home internet program
NBN broadband internet access until December 2025 from the Australian Government through the School Student Broadband Initiative

You might be eligible if you have:

a school-aged child
don’t have reliable home internet access or have no active NBN broadband connection.

Find out more about what options are available and how parents and carers can apply by visiting the department’s website.

COVID-19 Update

As COVID-19 cases are still active in SA, current departmental advice states that if a student tests positive for COVID-19, they must not attend for 5 days and must not attend if symptomatic. Please contact the front office if your child does test positive.

If you have any questions regarding your child, please feel free to come and see us. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you.

Warm regards,

Sara, Ali and Sheila.

Leadership Team

Wakwakurna Kids 2024

which means 'children' in Kaurna