Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term Four. One week in and what a week it has been. We've had excursions, Sports Days, a Review Dialogue and Engagement day as well as bucket loads of rain. I think we are all done with this La Niña weather pattern. Unfortunately, this meant that we weren't able to make it to Tarawarra today. This is the second time this excursion has been cancelled due to rain. Jacqui Tarquinio let us know that it has been rescheduled to Friday 4 November. Fingers crossed for some finer weather and thanks to Jacqui for her persistance.

Review Report

On Wednesday, our reviewer, Dr Judi Gurvich, presented the leadership team with the draft copy of our review report. In the report she identified the following strengths of the school:

Leadership is committed to instructional practice as lead learners.
Staff are enthusiastic, committed, connected and adaptable. Because of the small size of the school, they often take on a number of roles but do so willingly in the interests of providing the best possible learning environment for students.
St Joseph’s School caters for and constantly monitors the diverse learning needs of students, making necessary adjustments in collaboration with families.
The PE and sports program is varied, takes advantage of the local environment and provides a comprehensive range of options for students
Families trust the school, are involved and promote a sense of community.

She also identified a number of opportunities for improvement

Re-visiting the school vision and analysing its elements to more directly connect the school’s Catholic identity and values with daily practice in learning, teaching and wellbeing.
Making more consistent use of visual representations of learning progression through the display of Bump it Up Walls that include annotated work samples.
Facilitating Learning Walks and Talks for teams of teachers in order to enable them to observe the practice of peers, to build their own skills and to provide them with opportunities for feedback.
Continuing to monitor and refine communication to families and the community.
Working with stakeholders to develop a strategy to maximise enrolments and promote the profile of the school in the wider community.

Once the report moves beyond the draft stage, we will be sharing more of its contents, particularly the recommendations for school improvement. On the basis of these recommendations, we will be formulating a Four Year School Improvement Plan. We will be working on this with our Regional Leadership Consultant and support team from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools on Wednesday 23 November. This will also be shared with the community.

We look forward to engaging parents and students further in our school improvement processes and thank those parents and children who met with Judi and shared their thoughts on the strengths of the school and the opportunities for improvement.

Parent Helper Training Session

As mentioned last term, we have had a fantastic response to our Parent Helper Sessions. Since then we have had parents helping out in classrooms and on excursions. I asked for feedback from parents as to whether they felt we needed another session. I have been approached by two parents who have said they would be interested in attending. If you feel you would like to participate in the Parent Helpers Course, please send an email to me with the subject Parent Helper Course and let me know the day that best suits you.

Home/School Communication

Improving our communication with families remains a very high priority for us. This was something that has been identified by parents, via our school improvement surveys, as having improved in recent times . That being said, we are aware that not all communication happens in a timely manner, especially during busy times when we are juggling many balls. I have greatly appreciated helpful input from parents who have let me know when something needs to be communicated to the community. This allows us to address the matter in the quickest possible time.

Upcoming Events

We have lots of exciting events happening between now and the end of the year. Please keep your eye on the school calendar in the Upcoming Dates link. We are particularly looking forward to the Bush Dance. Read about this on the Performing Arts Link of the newsletter.

Best wishes for a restful weekend.

Nick

Nicholas Boyhan

Principal