From the Leadership Team

Campers Unite! 

Our Year 5 students and staff have been braving the elements in Ballarat this week. It's a chilly time of the year to visit a town that manages to be cold most days of the year anyway, but by all reports they have been having great fun and learning plenty. 

We are always so proud of how our students comport themselves in public and support each other on camp. It is always a big thing to be away from family and in a new environment, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives and our students do a wonderful job of overcoming their challenges to make the most of the experience. 

We always describe our camping program as having three primary goals: to build students' self-esteem, independence and resilience. These three components work interdependently; as students push themselves to take on more responsibility, they start to see just how much they are capable of independently and their sense of self increases. We know that when people are able to see and understand what they do and don't have control over, their optimism is positively impacted, which creates resilience, too. 

For children, often it is events like school camps that force them to take control over small matters they would normally leave for an adult to complete, which in turn helps them to identify that they have that control. It can be difficult as parents to be able to step back and let things play out; sometimes our children are stubborn enough (or slow enough) that they make it impossible but in a group, motivated by friends and focused on getting to the next activity, they can really surprise us. 

We look forward to the return of our Year 5s, probably a little cold and needing to thaw out but a little bit bigger and stronger than they were on Monday. 

School Review and Parent Survey 

Every 4 years, government schools undertake external reviews by independent reviewers to look at our practices and performance and to set the direction for the next 4 years. 

We have recently been completing the first part of this and will undertake additional components next term. 

As part of this, consultation with families about a range of issues will be undertaken to get the best understanding of what parents want and expect for their child's schooling. 

This week, we invite parents to provide us with feedback on technology use in our school. We would love to have as many responses from as many different perspectives as possible. It is important that we try to capture a true sample of how the community feels, so even if you don't have strong feelings about the topic, it would be awesome to still have your input. 

To participate, either go to the link here or complete the survey below. 

https://forms.office.com/r/R8PxfmkDwd