Principal's Report

Newsletter Report – Acting Principal, March 18, 2025

Hi everyone,

What a busy and productive term we’ve had. I can’t believe we are so close to the end. Our focus on Professional Learning Communities (where the teachers review data and plan together) has ensured consistency of our curriculum delivery. NAPLAN is complete and further assessments will happen next term as we cross reference our student goals. Thanks to Mrs Gilchrist and the Year 3 and 5 teams for exemplarily organisation for NAPLAN. Our school had an independent reviewer for NAPLAN, and he commended the organisation completed.

We also welcomed our new School Council committee after our AGM. I will be working very closely with our Executive team: Hailey Ruhland-Phelps, Claire Brentall and Mel Schmidt. You will have seen a notice go out on COMPASS identifying potential for more of our community to join us and our working parties. 

Our contract for After School Care is up for renewal. Camp Australia has collected data to review their performance and will share it with Schol Council. School Council decided to do due diligence and consider Expressions of Interest for the management of it. Other potential operators will be invited to share their plans as well so School Council can ensure we have the best service for our students and families.

We had our OHS audit this week. It was a very intense process and thanks to Mr Skidmore’s work we received a very high rating with only a few minor adjustments to happen. As part of this process, we also discussed our concern about the school/pool carpark gates and concerns students exit through them to the road. We are working with the department to see if we can receive some funding to adjust the fencing/gates to separate the sections so that students cannot get out to the street through the carpark gates. You will have noticed that we have been trying to close the gates when there are no public swimming lessons. The safety of our students is paramount, so we’ll see what actions are possible. Parents could you please ensure you are not entering the school carpark parking in staff carparks.

Ms Hopper has been busy in the gardens and has started some Garden Clubs at lunch break with Years 2/3/4. We want to instil a sense of pride in our students about their physical environment. When we include them in the maintenance of it, we are less likely to have litter and more likely to have lovely gardens, and possibly budding gardeners.

Mrs Hopper told me about one of the trees in the Reflection Garden. One year, a class won a prize of $50 and were able to choose what they wanted to use the money for. It could be a class party, a class lunch, books or whatever they thought of. Our Reflection Garden was relatively new. They voted to buy a tree (a pillar oak) for Mrs Hopper and the garden. It’s now 8 years old. What a lovely story!

Mrs Hopper also completed her OHS training about the red tractor she uses to transport materials around our very large school yard. Training included what the tractor was used for and a reminder to students that when they see the tractor they are to stay still—they may wave, but they need to stay still. Mrs Hopper tries her best to keep tractor movement to an absolute minimum when students are in the yard.

Students have made great progress with following our explicit expectations about moving to class quickly when the bell goes, lining up respectfully, and entering class respectfully. We are a SunSmart school and are very protective our students avoid the damages sun can cause. Thus, we reinforce our rule of wearing a hat. From September until May, no hat means no play.  This means they can play in the shade but not in open play areas. We are pleased to report that we have 98% of students understanding the importance of this and following the rule. 

We have reviewed our designated play areas as there was some confusion about out of zone areas. Each Year level has a designated area for ball games and for playgrounds. They are expected to stay in their zones which are built for their size. We have 5 yard duty zones and have 5 teachers and 5 Education Support aides out in the yard at any time. Staff are well aware they need to be completing active supervision, which means they need to be roving around areas to support any potential issues.

We totally understand how exciting it is to get a new pet and want to share it with classmates. However, pets are not permitted on the school grounds for a number of reasons including fears and allergies. On our school website you will see the policies we have worked through with the department to allow Bella on site. We also have an extensive risk register which is completed to eliminate any potential risks. We have signs on the gates referring to animals, so we ask you to consider sending a photo instead of the pet please.

Vandalism continues to be a concern. We like having our school grounds open for our community to use as it gives so much joy to so many. However, we continue to have vandals climbing up on the roof smashing vents or roofing, then on our shade sails slashing them. You will notice that some of the shade sails have had to be removed for safety reason after the vandalism. Even our oval has been vandalised. All of these instances have been reported to the police. We call on you as a community to help our school maintain it’s wonderful facilities. If you see or hear any potentially dangerous behaviour or vandalism, please call 000 and report it.

We continue to work with the Real Schools team. We had a Curriculum day devoted to working with affective language-using our emotions to express ourselves. This is part of the processes for helping students identify their emotions and learn to express them. An example might be, I feel so excited that you are showing courage trying a task you haven’t done before. Or, I feel frustrated that you continue to talk over me even though it’s my turn to talk.  We are also working on developing the Restorative Process further. When students have an issue with working in class, we look for opportunities to remind or support the, if that doesn’t work, the teacher calls the office and a principal will take the class whilst the student and teacher have a chat. If the harm is going to be great or safety is at risk, the student is removed from class and parents are contacted. We have a restorative chat between the student and teacher later that day and try again for a positive situation.

2026---yes can you believe I would even mention that! It’s time to capture or 2026 potential Foundation enrolments. We are putting information on our website about our school tours and information will b sent to our school families to capture the sibling enrolments. If you need any further information, please contact the office. As part of this we are updating our promotional video (which needed to be taken down form the website). We should have an updated one loaded up by the start of term 2.

Events. You would have noticed what a great job the teachers and front office have done of getting events organised on COMPASS and trying to get them to you in a timely manner. Our process is now that they really should be approved by School Council a term before so they can be processes onto COMPASS. We are working towards increased efficiency with this so it will help with your budget planning.

Next week we have a lot of fun planned for students. The ICan challenge is on Tuesday so we wish our team all the best for that. I’m sure a few foot massages will be needed at the end. Be proud of your resilience, courage and persistence—it’s an amazing effort. Thank you to staff and parents who have support the students through the training and will be there for the event.

PFC continue to play for fun events for our students. We had the Casual Dress Day for St Patrick’s day. Everyone seemed to have their sense of humour that day which was lovely to see. I know the Choc Tops are coming on the last day of term which are always a big favourite. Stay tuned for more events in term 2.

We have Athletics Day on Wednesday for Years 3 -6. It’s a huge event to organise and co-ordinate and we thank the PE team for getting this up and running for our school. We’ve had additional support from the front office and teachers and even some Year 11’s from EMC will be coming out to help on the day. It’s another favourite day for the students.

In term 2 we will continue to have a focus on consistency across the school with curriculum delivery, and engagement, including wellbeing. Our leadership team meet regularly to discuss their management plans as we step them out over our staff meetings to build learnings and processes. First aid training and Real Schools Behaviour Management courses will be a focus for our meetings next term.

The last day of term 1 will have an Easter Parade for our Foundation students and neighbouring pre-schools. It’s Choc Top day and we have an assembly scheduled for12.15, with an early dismissal of 2.30 pm. Choc Tops will be delivered after assembly. If your child is absent, we will name them and pop them in the freezer for term 2. Could I please ask that if you are collecting your child early on the day, please do it before assembly. It makes it more efficient for the front office and less distracting for students in assembly.

I would just like to extend my personal thanks to you all. It has been a tough gig stepping into this role this term. Fortunately, I am solution-focussed and have a strong sense of responsibility to help our school. I am so proud of our students, our staff and our community who supported each other through the tricky times and we got on with the business at hand to ensure the students had a fabulous term. Our road will have some hurdles in it, but please be reassured we are proactively planning for the one we know about. Our school is amazing, please remember that we are all in this together as one community and it’s been a delight to help our school get back on track. The Principal position will be advertised next term, and I am appointed Acting Principal until the end of term 2. I am completing the necessary courses and tasks to be eligible to apply for the position, but I will not be part of the process. You will continue to see me at the helm of our school for term 2, and the right person will get the job for our school.

It's time to think about holidays. Be safe! Have fun! Rest and reset if you can. We can’t wait to hear about them next term. On that, the first week is only 3 days long. We come back on Tuesday April 22nd and the Anzac Day holiday is on the Friday. Keep smiling and look for the positives all around us. Our school is doing well.

Kind regards

Deb Haddow

Acting Principal