Principal's Message

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

There has been a large amount illness at present with a range of bugs and viruses doing the rounds. A reminder that when unwell the best place for your child is at home.  We do ask however that when absent you notify the school, either through XUNO, a phone call or email.  With the mid-year school holidays just a week away, hopefully everyone can get a well-earned break, a chance to rest up and recuperate! 

Student Reports

Reports have been made available today for parents of all students via XUNO and having reviewed all progression points and comments, I am once again very pleased with the overall progress being made in the students’ learning.  The children too should all be very proud of their efforts, as across all subject areas, all children have made growth.  No matter how big or small this growth may be, this is the fundamental goal for everyone.  I’d like to thank staff for the considerable amount of time and effort that goes into writing each report and also congratulate students on the great learning growth being made.

Accessing Reports in XUNO

This year reports are being provided to families through our school management system XUNO.  To access reports parents are required to do the following:

• Open your XUNO Family and click on the ‘’three horizontal lines’
• Scroll down and select ‘Reports’
• Click on the picture of your child, then select ‘View Report’
• This will allow you to view the report on your phone. 
• You can also click on the arrow in the top right corner and send a copy of the report to yourself via email (you can then save a digital copy of the report to access at a later stage)

If you have issues accessing the report for your child please contact the office and we will assist you where we can.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

Parent/Teacher Interviews will be taking place next Thursday 27th June between 3:50 and 7:40pm.  If you would like to request an interview to speak with the classroom teacher of your child, booking can be made through XUNO.  Families who are unable to access XUNO to select an interview times are asked to contact the office and we will assist you. We look forward to the opportunity to catch up with parents to discuss the progress being made by students.

Grade 5 Baimbridge Transition Visit

Our grade 5 students will spent the day at Baimbridge College yesterday as a part of our annual transition processes.  Students were separated into various forms and got to experience a day in the life of a secondary school student, getting an idea of the different structures and subject areas, and also getting to meet a range of different people.  I’m told the behaviour and participation of our grade 5 students was outstanding – a credit to all of the children who attended.

Hot Food Lunch

Earlier today our students enjoyed another ‘Hot Food Lunch’.  Thank you to Leesa, Lee and the grade 6 helpers for making this lunch option available for our students.

Casual Dress – Next Friday

Next Friday is the last day of term and to ‘celebrate’ students may come to school dressed in casual clothes.  We don’t currently have a fundraising activity to target for this day so there is no requests to make a gold coin donation.

Last Day of Term

Next Friday is the last day of term 2 and as per usual, the school day will conclude at the earlier time of 2:30pm.  We will have our assembly at 2:00pm in the stadium and will look forward to all students returning for term 3 on Monday 15th July.

Interpreting Student Reports

Student reports provide students, teachers and parents with a picture of a student’s achievement and progress at a point in time. Teachers make informed and consistent decisions about student progress against the Victorian Curriculum achievement standards using a variety of assessments and observations to inform their judgement. They map the student’s learning against the achievement standards, and place the student on the learning continuum, that best reflect the student’s level of performance and progress.

It is extremely important to remember that the Victorian Curriculum is structured as a single developmental learning continuum and is organised by levels, not years of schooling. The curriculum consists of Towards Foundation (Prep) Levels A to D and Levels Foundation (Prep) to 10. All curriculum areas have achievement standards, describing what students are able to understand and do.

In some instances the report for your child may show that the ‘progression point dot’ has not moved. This however does not mean that your child has not made any progress.  In nearly all cases teachers will have evidence to demonstrate that learning growth has been made against various learning outcomes.  Students may not have quite made the total overall growth to reach the next progression point, however we are still confident there will be areas where learning growth has been made.

Some further information that you may like to consider…

School reports are a great tool to help you understand how your child is going at school – and they can be used to start a conversation with your child about their learning. I am fully aware that student reports can bring mixed feelings for some parents. Pleasure and pride if the child is performing well, but considerable angst when children are not progressing as you hoped.  Children can also be anxious about reports, they don’t want to ‘disappoint’ their parents.

Here are some ideas to consider when reviewing your child’s report:

Focus on strengths. Do you look for strengths or weaknesses first? The challenge is to focus on strengths even if they are not in the traditional English, Mathematics or core subjects.

Take into account your child’s effort and attitude to learning. If the report indicates that effort is below standard, then you have something to work on. If your child is putting in the required effort, then you cannot ask any more than that, regardless of the grading.

Broaden your focus away from academic performance to form a picture of your child’s progress as a member of a social setting. How your child gets along with their peers will influence their happiness and well-being, as well as give an indicator to their future. The skills of independence and co-operation are highly valued by employers so don’t dismiss these as unimportant.

Discuss the report with your child talking about strengths first before looking at areas that need improvement. Ask for their opinion about how they performed and discuss their concerns.

Have a great weekend!

Ben Kelson

Principal