From Bluff Road

Metamorphosis

Its hard to believe that the end of term is almost upon us and it has been fantastic to see the College come alive again with the re-emergence of incursions, excursions, performances and some sporting activities after such a difficult and prolonged period of absence during the pandemic. This in turn has certainly had a positive impact on the wellbeing and mindset of both staff and students across the College. We have all been pining for ‘a sense of normality” and to be able to keep moving forward in life despite the need for some short-term isolations in some instances, certainly comes with hope and positivity for the future.

Having been on leave for the last 4 weeks, it was wonderful to get back to school and have the privilege of wandering the corridors once again and watching our great school in action. My first task on Monday morning is always to a run school tour of prospective parents and it never ceases to amaze me the wonderful work that goes on in our classrooms. Being my first day back it was great again to see discussions developing in different classrooms regarding topics including role models such as Ash Barty and Grace Tame, defying adversity with Buddy’s amazing 1000 goal achievement, students wanting to support Ukrainian refugee charities, goal setting activities and entrepreneurship. This is additional to the other exciting regular classes of core curriculum including Maths challenges, Science experiments, essay writing practices and Sports games. Despite the restrictions that Covid19 has brought to our lives, we can see the metamorphosis of our young people, showing resilience and emerging from those cocoons to again soar forward with their learning. 

A big thank you to all the wonderful staff who have stepped in to cover for me during my absence and especially Amy Porter, Michael McGowan and Cody Gunn who took on the majority of my load whilst continuing with their already busy roles. 

Parent Teacher Student Conferences 

Just a reminder to get your bookings in for our online Parent Student Teacher conferences, to be held this Thursday and Friday to finish off the term. This is a great opportunity for families to speak with their teachers and gain valuable feedback as to areas for future improvement and achievement. Please ensure that your young person attends these meeting with you, as it is imperative that have buy-in during these conversations and can share in the information. Bookings can be made online via Compass and more details are available in this newsletter. 

Year 7 Camp

Congratulations to all of the Year 7 Team for a highly successful camp at Forest Edge We were thrilled that this camp was able to go ahead, and it didn’t disappoint. Our wonderful Year 7 cohort appeared to have a fabulous time, create new friends and strengthen current friendships, as well as get to know their teachers even better. Thanks to Ned Vasey, Prue Slingsby and all of the staff who assisted with making this camp such a success. Please see further below on this page for a report from the team. 

NAPLAN

As mentioned in our previous email, we have been participating in practice sessions to prepare for NAPLAN online which will run throughout Victoria in 2022, The students have participated in a Schools Readiness test to ensure the systems at our school can cope with the demands of NAPLAN when the actual testing occurs in May. Whilst the practice sessions had its challenges, this was a fantastic opportunity for us to problem solve some of the issues that we may encounter during the real testing and ensure that this process is as seamless as possible. If you believe that your young person may require special provisions for NAPLAN testing and this hasn’t yet been discussed with us, please don’t hesitate to call the year level leaders, Suzanne Trease or Simone Garraway.

Please see the Naplan page in this newsletter for more information.

Homework

Homework Centre is now up and running on a Monday and Wednesday after school in the Library from 3pm to 4.30pm. Teachers and tutors are available to assist students with their homework, preparation for ALTs as well as give extra support in areas of the curriculum where the student may be needing extra support. This is open to all students and we encourage everyone to maximise the opportunity to seek assistance in this safe and happy environment.

The College will soon be releasing our revised Homework policy. Whilst during our periods of Online Learning we encouraged teachers NOT to give extra homework due to students already spending most of the day on screens, we need to commence re-establishing this important extension of student learning to ensure study habits are optimised by the time students reach that imperative year 12 year and the ability to concentrate independently at home becomes essential. 

School Wide Positive Behaviour (SWPB) 

Sandringham College is currently undergoing the next implementation phase of the School Wide Positive Behaviour Framework. SWPB is a framework that brings together school communities to develop positive, safe, supportive learning cultures. It assists schools to improve social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for all of our young people.

When SWPBS is implemented well, teachers and students have more time to focus on relationships and important classroom instruction, allowing us to maximise student outcomes. The framework is designed to support teaching and learning in the classroom and sets clear boundaries and expectations around what is expected of both staff and students on a daily basis.

It follows the philosophy that everyone should always demonstrate the college values at all times, coupled with the need to be:

• Prepared – ready to learn. This includes having devices charged for the school day, uniform ready, homework completed, arriving on time to classes and bringing all resources to all classes as required
• Polite – showing respect for self, others and the environment
• Productive – maximising the use of class time to allow oneself and others to be able to learn effectively

Students from year 7 to 12 participated in a pastoral session last week where we worked on identifying what being “ready to learn” really means and looks like from both a student and teacher perspective. Students were also asked to watch a video taken of our own students whilst at school and identify elements of our SWPB matrix. The aim of this work is to ensure that all students are united in their understanding of the need to work together achieve our two College goals:

• Maximise student outcomes
• Create people off great character.

A new 2022 reward and acknowledgement system has also been implemented as part of the SWPB process. 

Positive acknowledgement includes positive green posts on compass, termly postcards to students who have best modelled the college values, recognition in newsletters and assemblies.

Positive rewards include brownie vouchers, zooper doopers, pizza lunches for individual, class lunches to classes who have achieved the most points for positive behaviour, Sandringham Star badge award. 

Please encourage your young person by celebrating any positive posts or rewards that they might achieve.

Mobile Phone Calls

Can we please remind all parents and carers the importance of only communicating with your young person through the Office staff, Year Level Leaders or Sub School Leader during the school day. Please do not text, call or respond to text messages or calls from your child. If you need to contact your young person or they need to contact you please do so through the above channels only. If you receive a text or call from your child from their phone during the school day, please do not respond but call the office immediately and we will find the student and either a staff member or the student will make contact with you. Ministerial Order prohibits students from having their phone on them during the school day and it makes it particularly hard to enforce the rules when students know they can easily communicate with home from their own phone, rather than through school channels. It is also important for us to know if the student feels unwell, is upset or needs resources delivered to school. Having us manage this communication keeps us informed of the students needs. Thank you for your help and support with enforcing this requirement. 

I hope you all have a wonderful and restful Easter break and look forward to our return in Term 2. 

Vivienne McElwee