Principal's Report

Thank you for your kind responses – Vale – Ms Olivia Guinane

I am writing to express our appreciation for the overwhelming response I have received in relation to the passing of Ms Olivia Guinane. Please understand that your emails are noted and appreciated, but I will not be responding to individuals at this time. This act of kindness is appreciated by us all.

Please be advised that I am in regular contact with the family and will continue to be over the days and weeks to follow. I will be guided by their wishes entirely. I expect that within the next week or so, funeral arrangements will be confirmed and communicated.

As matters progress I will keep you informed as appropriate. Please be assured that we are working closely with a Department of Education psychologist who together with our teachers, spoke with the class this morning. This was experienced with appropriate messaging and sensitivity, and was valuable for all involved.

Last night and this morning our Department of Education psychologist met with staff. This was of enormous benefit for us all. This will be continuing through the course of today.

We will continue to support Molly and her family in the coming days and weeks.

Curriculum Provision Preparatory to Year 6

We continue to progress our curriculum plans at each level with close alignment to the Victorian Curriculum. Currently we are in the process of realigning our focus upon phonic programming and teaching consistent with the recent directions of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Ms Briggs our Literacy Leader is progressing the resources and support material of the program Little Learners Love Literacy for implementation at Preparatory and Year 1 in 2024. Similarly, on Thursday 19th October our Numeracy Leader, Mr Zac Barry, together with myself, reviewed the new Mathematics guidelines from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority with planned and phased implementation during 2024 and 2025. We look forward to the opportunities provided here and the work we will be conducting with Education Improvement Leaders and the concepts provided by Professors Sullivan and Siemon as we continue to progress the Mathematics provision of our school. Again we are highly focussed upon student achievement in these areas.

At another level we continue to witness the extracurricular and support provisions that bring richness, diversity and extension to our curriculum at Chatham. The Year 5 ‘Day of the Notables’; the Year 6 Racers Day; the visits by the Fire Brigade; the incursions relating to Parliament and the Parliamentary process at Year 6; the Junior School Council initiatives; the Circus Skills incursions from Preparatory to Year 5 and amongst other experiences, the looming Year 5 program, ‘Speaking with Confidence’ all add to the Chatham Educational experience. Additionally, we also plan to engage with our Kitchen Garden with cooking experiences to be confirmed and planned for the week beginning 13th November 2023.

On Tuesday 10th October I was delighted that we were able to provide parents at all levels with their child’s Year Level Newsletter. This provided parents with valuable information about events and expectations for Term 4 and reflected a common format and approach for all Year Levels.

Preparatory Transition Program

We were delighted that last Wednesday 11th October, we were able to conduct our Preparatory Information Evening. This was designed only for those parents who have enrolled their child for 2024. Currently, we have a class of twenty students for Preparatory in 2024. I expect to announce the teacher of this class in November. The evening was a wonderful opportunity for the parents who chose to attend to hear presentations from our current Preparatory Teachers, Mr Barry in relation to Mathematics, Ms Briggs in regards to English, and from Ms Kirwan, Mr Fernandez, Mr Rampant, and myself in relation to IT, Wellbeing, Art, Japanese, Physical Education and Music. The next day we were able to conduct our first Preparatory Transition session with students in the Preparatory classroom. Children were involved in a range of numeracy and literacy activities. This Thursday 19th October our students will have their second session and will be involved in further literacy and numeracy activities, and meeting their Year 4 'Buddies'. Following this, there will be a further Preparatory session on Thursday 26th October. During this session students will be involved in a rotation with Specialists in the areas of Art, Music, Japanese and Physical Education. The final ‘Meet the Teacher Day’ will be on Thursday 7th December 2023.

Increasingly we will have a renewed focus upon our Preparatory enrolments for 2025. At this stage we are in discussions with the Department of Education regarding increasing the enrolment zone for our school. Regardless, we have the support of the Department of Education to accept more enrolments from outside this very small zone. Interestingly, we are very aware that for a range of reasons students are coming from an increasing number of childcare centres across a number of immediate and wider areas.

World Teachers’ Day – Friday 27th October 2023

We look forward to celebrating this day next Friday and the importance of this profession in the lives of young people and communities. At a time when there is a considerable shortage of teachers in Victoria and elsewhere it is a wonderful time to reflect upon the contribution these people make in the lives of each of us. Most of us would be able to identify a special teacher in our lives, one who made an indelible mark of our perspective; how they made us feel and what they did to engender resilience, confidence and a belief for their marvellous future. I had the good fortune to have a number of such people, all of whom were less than orthodox in many ways, but honest, capable and inspiring. Let us hope that this will continue to be the lasting legacy of the profession as it grows and remerges into the future of peoples’ lives.

State of Trees and Arborist Assessment

Please be assured that every two years we undertake the costly process of establishing the health of all trees in the school precinct. This is done by professionals in this area and we receive a comprehensive report on the state of our trees. Nevertheless, matters can change relatively quickly and we continue to monitor matters carefully, particularly where trees are placed in the vicinity of pedestrian walkways. Currently we are very aware that we have a tree near our Out of School Hours Care entry that needs to be removed. We are currently seeking quotations for its removal and hope to act on this in the coming weeks. Additionally, the City of Boroondara will draw attention to the state of our trees from time to time that join the boundary fence or over hang from the fence.

School Grand Fair – Saturday 25th November 2023

As we finish off all building works our school will be in a great position to conduct the Chatham Grand Fair. We continue to meet regularly with the Grand Fair organisers and in the coming eight weeks we will have continuing and timely communications about what is planned for this exceptional event. Some detailed information in this regard will be distributed on Monday 23rd October.

Annual Chatham Colour Run – Friday 13th October

Our Assistant Principal, Ms Kirwan has been in close liaison with our organisers here from the Chatham Fundraising Committee and this proved to be a wonderful experience. Despite having to postpone the event in the first instance, the sunny day that followed certainly enabled a high level of excitement and energy to prevail, along with the kaleidoscope of colour involved. Again we convey our appreciation for the efforts and organisation of Mr Aimee McFarlane, Ms Jo Haddock, Ms Belinda Dalton, Ms Kirwan and the many parents who assisted on the day. The provision of icy poles for the participants were well appreciated in the warmer conditions that developed over the course of the afternoon.

Whilst the allocation of funds raised is the province of the School Council, there is a real expectation that the funds raised will be to support the replacement of playground equipment and perhaps that a focus will be on replacing the tired equipment at the front of the school.

School Structures and Classes for 2024

Typically, at this time we immerse ourselves not only in the immediacy of the current Term ahead, but also the plans and considerations for 2024. During the last week of Term 3, Schools generally receive their Indicative Student Resource Package for the coming year. On this basis, Principals consult with their staff in the formation of class structures and the specialist teacher provision. The structure and staffing arrangements are then usually announced in early December. The exception to these arrangements is that we usually announce the Preparatory teacher (s) ahead of that time and by the end of the transition period.

The reasons for these arrangements are both practical and real. Teachers in the Victorian Teaching Service have the opportunity to apply for teaching positions at any time, and some will use the opportunity to do so close to the end of any given calendar year. At Chatham, we have been fortunate to be able to keep our valued staff however, we are aware that given the significant shortage of teachers, Assistant Principals and Principals, there are now considerable opportunities for change. 

Recently, I advised parents of Year 4ME that Ms Sarah Medland would be commencing family leave from Wednesday 4th October 2023. This of course is no surprise given Sarah’s circumstances and we wish her well for the birth of her first child. We are delighted to advise that Ms Hannah Spivak has assumed responsibility for Year 4ME for the remainder of the school year. Ms Spivak is well known to our staff and many students, and we look forward to her role as class teacher of Year 4ME and her contribution to the life of our school. Last Friday, we were delighted to welcome back Ms Madeline Barry in a casual teacher capacity who as a generalist teacher has assumed class roles across the school. We expect that along with Ms Owens, Ms Barry will continue to undertake Casual Relief Teaching into 2024.

Handwriting – Victorian Cursive Script – Years 1 & 2

Whilst there are many curriculum demands for us to focus upon, the need for explicit teaching and revision of handwriting is an important skill. Over the course of the COVID pandemic we are very aware that some students across all schools have missed out on some important and timely matters in this regard. In recent times we have done a forensic analysis of our students in Years 1 & 2 in particular, and have established some extra support and direct tuition to assist these students with aspects of the Victoria script such as formation, size, shape and orientation of letters. Also important in this process is the correct pencil grip and posture. These are significant life skills despite our digital age and impact greatly on the visual cue system in spelling and confidence in relation to other learning tasks. In some cases an Occupational Therapist is involved to assist in important sequencing and fine motor support. We look forward to these students progressing with capacity and confidence.

Again we look forward to progressing the achievements of our students as we move with excitement and engagement in Term 4.

Christopher Cotching

Principal