Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Welcome back to Term 4, as we enter the home stretch of 2021. I hope that you were all able to find some rest and relaxation over the holidays and that students were able to spend some time away from school work and screens.

It goes without saying that, once again, we have faced some unforeseen challenges this year which has meant a reconfiguring of our normal processes and routines. Throughout the periods of remote learning our teachers have incorporated new ways to engage students with their literacy skills and adapted to embed these in the online curriculum. Literacy remains a vital part of all subjects and Mordiallloc’s whole-school approach to providing our students with the necessary tools and skills continues to be a priority.

NAPLAN

We have recently received our NAPLAN results, which gave us an insight into the progress our students have made in their Literacy, as well as in their Numeracy. This year’s results were of particular interest as the NAPLAN exams were unable to take place in 2020. All parents of students who participated in NAPLAN should now have received their child’s individual results. If any concerns have arisen, please speak to your child’s teachers to clarify how these results relate at a classroom level. As a school, this data is invaluable in helping us to understand the specific needs of our students. Our results reflected that many of our higher band students are maintaining these high level skills and that overall our students are performing above similar schools and the state. This data will continue to be a valuable tool in our whole-school Literacy planning moving forward.

Tutoring Program

As a school, we recognise that students may have gaps in their learning due to the interruptions of the past few years and will be taking this into consideration as we plan for 2022. We have been running a successful tutoring program this year to support targeted students to review and strengthen their skills after the remote learning periods from last year and we are delighted that this program has received continued funding for 2022.

As announced on Monday 4 October, the Victorian Government is investing an additional $230 million to extend the Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) for the 2022 school year, which will allow Mordialloc to continue and extend our support of students as they re-enter the on-site learning environment in Term 4 and into next year. We have seen measurable growth in students who participated in the program this year and this funding will allow us to further address both the Literacy and Numeracy needs of our students so they can achieve continued success.

2022 and Headstart

As we transition back to face-to-face learning for all year levels in the coming weeks, many students will be wrapping up their final assessment and units for the year. This transition may be challenging for some students, as they readjust to the routines of being on site with their classmates and teacher. As we wrap up the year, we will be re-engaging with students and ascertaining where the opportunities are to readdress curriculum knowledge or skills covered during periods of remote learning so that students are best prepared for their transition into next year. We will be revisiting many of the foundational Literacy skills which are the building blocks of academic success, and working with students to reinforce these skills into their daily work. Looking ahead to 2022, our students in Years 8-11 will be entering the Headstart program toward the end of the term and will be adapting these skills to their new coursework.

We are hoping that students will feel invigorated and positive about their return to school and look forward to reconnecting with them all.

Jamie Towsey

Director of Literacy

Mental Health Month

All of October

October is Mental Health Month