Assistant Principals' Report

Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter article,

Pat Cronin Foundation, Monday 8th September, Assembly @9:10

We are pleased to announce that Ayden, an educator from the Pat Cronin Foundation will attend our school on Monday, 8th September. We will be introducing Ayden to our community at assembly on this day. He will speak about the values of the Pat Cronin Foundation; Be Wise, Think Carefully & Act Kindly which strongly align with our school values and our message; that violence is never the answer. We are inviting all community members to attend assembly to welcome him to Heidelberg Primary School.

Please note: Year 5 and 6 families would will receive communication this afternoon regarding the classroom presentations.

Please see the below family information sheet for more information about the Pat Cronin Foundation education programs. 

School values

RESPECT | RESPONSIBILITY | COMPASSION | RESILIENCE

Year 6 students, Audrey, Lyla, Hunter, Cooper and Oliver from Room 4 shared their thoughts on the school value of respect.

Please see their ideas below:

What does respect mean to students and staff at Heidelberg Primary School?

Respect is celebrating and appreciating yourself and others, being considerate and aware of the needs, perspectives and viewpoints of others, treating others and yourself with kindness and care, considering and responding to how others wish to be treated. We respect others, ourselves and our environment. 

Why do we value respect at Heidelberg Primary School?

We value respect at HPS because everyone has the right to come to school and feel safe, happy, acknowledged, celebrated and a sense of belonging. Respect helps us to make and maintain positive, trusting relationships. It creates the best possible learning environment where everyone's learning and wellbeing needs are considered and catered for. Respect leads to more opportunities, independence and helps us reach our potential. We want to be viewed as trustworthy, reliable, caring individuals. It puts us in a good mood, can make someone's day and makes us feel satisfied and proud of ourselves.

 How do students and staff demonstrate respect at Heidelberg Primary School?

• Treat others, yourself and the environment with kindness and care
• Acknowledge, accept and celebrate diversity, backgrounds, cultures, strengths, passions, disabilities and interests
• Listen to others and follow directions 
• Follow the boundaries others set such as following expectations set by adults or when others ask for some space or time 
• Be polite; use manners, take turns, include others and use positive body language
• Think about what you say or do before you say or do it; consider the impact of your actions and words 
• Respect people, the environment and objects
• Prioritise building and maintaining trusting and positive relationships with others 
• Listen to your mind and body
• Know when you need to implement positive calming strategies or brain breaks 
• Ask for help when you or others need it

Thank you to Audrey, Lyla, Hunter, Cooper and Oliver for their contributions. It was their idea we focussed on respect this week. They all agreed 'respect is a big one, it affects everyone and everything, across the whole school'. Audrey, Lyla, Hunter, Cooper and Oliver will be looking out for students demonstrating respect in the next couple of weeks and will be handing out value cards to those who are demonstrating respect so we can celebrate and highlight it across our school.

Curriculum Day, Wednesday 20th August

The focus for our recent curriculum day was the revised Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0). We had a specific focus on how the elements of learning and teaching impact our mathematics and numeracy planning, lessons, strategies and programs along with continued learning around the teaching element of explicit teaching.

The revised VTLM 2.0 is informed by contemporary evidence about the way students learn and the most effective teaching practices and approaches to achieve strong learning outcomes for students, including priority cohorts. It has explicit teaching at its core.

The elements of learning include: 

• Attention, focus and regulation
• Knowledge and memory
• Retention and recall
• Mastery and application

The elements of teaching include: 

• Planning
• Enabling learning 
• Explicit teaching 
• Supported application

As shared in previous newsletters, this year as a staff we have been engaging in professional learning and development regarding evidence based approaches and strategies and the elements of learning and teaching that inform the VTLM 2.0. 

As a school our focus, learning and development has included:

• Building our collective knowledge and skills in the elements of learning and the elements of teaching, including learning more about the evidence and science informing these elements
• Reflecting on our current practice and approaches
• Identifying our strengths and areas we can improve for continued growth
• Collaborating within teams and as a whole school to share best practice and provide feedback

It was a great opportunity on Wednesday to come together, reflect on our learning so far, continue the learning, collaborate and set future direction and goals as a team. 

Thank you to the teaching staff who were collaborative, open to learning, reflective and engaged. It was evident in our discussions that we all working together to optimise learning and wellbeing growth for all of our students. 

Thank you also to our learning specialist team, Nicola Colgate-Jones, Tegan Griffiths and Stef Galvin for creating the presentation for the day and an extra special shout out to Nicola for facilitating the learning, thank you!

Please see below for more information and how you can support your child from home. 

We would also like to acknowledge the work of our education support staff on this day who met to discuss student learning and wellbeing needs, created classroom resources, completed professional learning modules and assisted in preparing for continued building works, thank you for all your hard work on the day, it was a very productive day!

Helen Thomas & Monique Rankin

Assistant Principals

Heidelberg Primary School