I warmly welcome back new and old families to LPS. I trust that everyone had a safe and relaxing break. I know that staff are looking forward to a busy and productive term with students.

Strategic Improvement Plan

In the second part of 2020 and Term 1 this year, staff have spent a considerable amount of time looking at information and data about the school to complete a thorough situational analysis and then the plan for the next four years. We published our school plan at the end of last term. It can be found at this link: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/doe-nsw-schools/plan-report/2021/4058/2021-2024_Leumeah_Public_School_SIP.pdf

The Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) details how we intend to meet system targets and the directions we will take to get there. The plan also contains our new school vision:

At Leumeah Public School we are: A school community striving for excellence.

This vision overarches the three strategic directions of:

Strategic Direction 1: Student growth and attainment

Strategic Direction 2: Effective feedback

Strategic Direction 3: Reflection and resilience

Our strategic directions link together; for students to improve with their learning (growth and attainment), they need effective feedback and to take on the feedback to progress their learning, they require resilience and to be able to reflect. We also need teachers to use feedback to improve their practice and that requires resilience and reflection as professionals. The school needs to share with the community what excellence, feedback, resilience and reflection looks like as learners at LPS.

Staff are looking forward to new learning and engaging with the plan and then sharing our success with the community.

Works around the school

The work along the boundary fence with residents in Burrinjuck Street is continuing this term. This work is to rectify damage to the storm water drainage that runs through the school.

The department will also be replacing the roofs to Block L (library, 5/6T, 5/6S, 5/6C, 5/6M), Block F (KC, 1/2E and 1/2C) and Block G (3/4B, 3/4H, 5/6G, 5/6K). This is fantastic news for the school as there have been leaks with the guttering in these roofs for some time.

Unfortunately, this will result in a significant amount of scaffolding and temporary fencing around the school while this happens. All parties involved are mindful of the potential impact of the work on student learning, and most of the roof work will occur, where possible, on the weekends. It is endeavoured that this work will be completed by the end of May.

If you are coming on school grounds, please be mindful of the scaffolding and stay out of the areas that have the temporary fencing around them.

We have also just found out that the school will also be receiving an upgrade to the ramp to the bottom oval and the access to this. The ramp will be taken out and replaced by stairs that comply with regulations. This may impact on students being able to use bottom oval for a period.

As a result of a successful State government grant and additional funding from the P&C, the school will also be getting shade sails over the playground equipment. Thank you to Mrs Melissa Plummer for writing the successful grant, on behalf of the P&C. Thank you also to the P&C for their extra funds, to ensure that both playgrounds would receive the shade sails. This work will also begin this term. We hope that the impact on playgrounds is minimal during this time.

I look forward to sharing the photographs of the new roofs, the new stairs and the shade sails with you once they are completed.

P&C News

Our P&C held a zoom Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Week 8 of Term 1. All the positions that were voted in late last year were declared vacant and new delegates to positions were nominated and elected. I would like to congratulate the following P&C members who were elected to executive positions for 2021:

Mrs Melissa Plummer, President
Mrs Tracey Oates, Treasurer
Mrs Sharon Brown, Secretary

Mrs Plummer was also successful in obtaining a grant to upgrade the space outside of breakfast club. We still start by getting flexible seating for this area so students can sit in this space to eat their breakfast in the morning. As the seating is flexible, it will be able to be used for other purposes by classes around the school.

I thank the P&C for their continued support and look forward to working with new executive team to move forward many projects for students at LPS.

Check-in

Last year, the Department trialed Check-in assessments with Year 3 and 5 students due to NAPLAN not being implemented. The assessment was like NAPLAN, but only assessed reading and numeracy. These assessments were helpful for staff to support our own internal data and knowledge of student capabilities. The school was able to receive the results approximately 48 hours after students completed the assessment.

This year, Year 4 and Year 6 students will participate in the Check-in assessment. This will take place over the next two weeks (Weeks 2-3). These results are not shared with families, however the data is used by the school to determine if students are on track with their learning and ensure that we put support in place for those who need it. The information gained from the assessments will support future school and stage programming so that it is at point of need.

NAPLAN Online

NAPLAN will go ahead in 2021 for Year 3 and Year 5 students. This will be in Week 4 and 5 this term. This year the school will be doing the online version of NAPLAN. NAPLAN Online will allow us to get a better understanding of student achievement as questions are selected based on student answers, rather than the constrained set of questions in the paper test. NAPLAN Online results are also available to the school in quicker timeframe than the paper test.

Please contact the school if you have any questions about the Check-in or NAPLAN assessments.

#proudprincipal

This newsletter’s first #proudprincipal moment goes to all our students who created an Easter hat and paraded, Miss Everingham and Mrs Stephens on Friday April 1. The Easter hat creations were fantastic along with the organisation to make the event successful by Miss Everingham and Mrs Stephens.
The second #proudprincipal moment is for Paarth (5/6G), Mia J (5/6C) and Amber-Rose (5/6G) for their hosting of the ANZAC day assembly on Friday 23 April. They did a wonderful job outside in the carpark for our first whole school assembly in over a year. I would also like to thank Mrs Hambley and Mr Kirkpatrick for their organisation of this wonderful event. Paarth and Mia J also represented LPS at the Ingleburn RSL dawn service, laying a wreath on behalf of the school.
The third #proudprincipal moment is for all the students at LPS who were so respectful during the first whole school assembly in a year. The representatives from Guardian Funerals and the RSL were very impressed with the behaviour of our students.
My next #proudprincipal moment is the establishment of our commemorative plaque under our flag poles. We were only able to do this as a result of the grant obtained by Mrs Stephens from the local RSL sub-branch and a donation from Guardian Funerals. Thank you to Mrs Stephens for organising this new addition to our school.

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