From the School Leadership Team

Thank you to our families and students for the wonderful term that it has been. 

We also welcomed Jade Fielke, Chelsie Riches, Liesel 'Goose' Smallfield and Emily Gower to the school in their teaching roles and wish them every joy and success in their vocation. We also wish Goose the very best as she moves back to NSW to be with family there. 

We have enjoyed inducting our School Captains, Vice Captains, House Captains, Year 6 leaders and Student Representative Councillors into their roles and have enjoyed the wonderful leadership they are providing the student body. The SRC have come up with some great ideas for the school that we've been able to put into practice already, including the installation of a water fountain at the back of the new Foundation classrooms, so that students can more access drinking water when doing activities on the oval. 

It was great to see our school community  together at Parent Information Night (we were blessed with such a sunny evening in the courtyard for P & F Drinks and Nibblies!),  Foundation Families Welcome Evening and Middle of Term Breakfast. 

Our Junior Youth and Youth groups have again enjoyed  wonderful activities and great momentum, our thanks go to Joel and Lauren and our volunteers for their efforts with these. 

Harmony Day was  a special day, celebrating each of the 45 different nationalities and cultural backgrounds that students have across our school. Well done to Mrs Zadow and Sedani, our student 'Cultural Co-ordinator' who arranged amazing drinks from many of our countries to share on the day. The students looked amazing in their traditional cultural costumes! 

We were also blessed with amazing weather for  Sports Day, which is always a brilliant day on our school calendar. Well done to all of the students who competed in a great spirit and enjoyed each of the activities on the day. The students looked great in their house colours, and we loved being able to share the day with so many of our parents, grandparents and families. It was lovely to see the joy on the children's faces as they were running, hurdling, throwing discuses, jumping and all of the rest! Thanks to Mrs McCusker and our staff team for their efforts with the day as well as to our P & F and Church community for the BBQ and cake stall, and Carla Doecke and the team at LJ Hooker for the great coffee van! 

Progress with our building works for the new Foundation classrooms is coming along at a rapid rate. Many of our school families would have seen the big crane putting the steelwork into place for the roof earlier this week and it is hard to believe that we will have walls and a roof when we return to school after the holiday break! The retaining wall near the ramp will also be rebuilt over the holidays and we will be able to re-open the middle playground for the start of Term 2 and the ramp to the oval shortly thereafter.

We do still have a limited number places available in our mid year 2024 and our 2025 Foundation intakes, so please feel free to share the great news with your friends who may love to join our school community as these are filling very quickly! Families enrolling for mid year Foundation this year will be offered a 25% reduction in their tuition fee for the first year of enrolment at the school.

A reminder that in the first week back, Year 3 - 6 will attend our School Anzac Day Service on Monday 29 April at 10.00am in the Worship Centre. Parents and families are most welcome to attend this occasion. There will be no assembly on that day in lieu of the Anzac Day Service. 

Our full assembly roster for Term 2 is below for your convenience. 

Our Opening Chapel Service for Term 2 will be held on Friday 3 May, commencing at 8.50am in the Worship Centre. 

It was wonderful to catch up with many of our school families at parent-teacher interviews last week, and of course very much looking forward to seeing you all around next term as well. We wish you every blessing if you are travelling over the holiday break. 

 Vicki and her team at GGOSH have a brilliant Vacation Care programme planned for the many students who will join us there. 

Will Wallace

Principal

Reflecting on learning 

As Term 1 ends, it is important to think about the learning that has taken place. Reflection is an important part of the PYP and inquiry process. The inquiry process combines and values the connection between asking (inquiry), thinking (reflection) and doing (action). Reflection allows the opportunity for students to take part in learning experiences and to draw meaning from experiences. As they draw meaning, students connect to what they already know, combine this with their learning and create new understanding. Reflection is the vehicle that drives this new understanding creation. Without reflection, learning experiences can become a series of activities that are unrelated and don’t have the building of understanding as an outcome. 

So, where was your child at the beginning of term, and where are they now? To gain an understanding of this, you can look at the evidence of learning as provided on Toddle. At GGLPS, we provide evidence on Toddle so that parents can see the growth in students. Rubrics are sometimes used to show where a student sits in their learning as compared to the ‘Achievement Standards’ of the Australian Curriculum. If a child receives a mark of ‘competent’, it means that they are achieving at their year level and are doing exactly what is expected of their year level. If students are ‘developing’, it means that they are working toward the achievement standard for their year level. 

Of course, not all the learning your child has done, can be measured against the Australian Curriculum. As the school year begins, students are becoming a part of a class and a new learning environment with new teachers. Reflecting on how they can make new friends, adapt to new expectations, work alongside and with others, communicate effectively, think in developing levels of depth, asking questions etc. This is the development of their learning disposition. Where does your child sit? What growth have you seen? This may have been part of your conversations with teachers during Teacher/Parent interviews.  

Please keep looking for evidence of how your child is reflecting on themselves as learners and friends. Reflect on where they are now, and where they may aim to be by the end of next term. Please keep in touch with your child’s teacher if you have concerns or wish to know more. Meanwhile, have a great holiday!  

Jayne Zadow 

Director of PYP, Teaching and Learning