Principal's Report

What a fantastic week!

Last week was a great week at Camelot Rise Primary School.

We had our Year 5 students and staff attending their camp to Sovereign Hill. Our 1/ 2 students went on an excursion to Rickett’s Point. Our Year 4 students completed their Bike Education Program culminating in a bike ride to Jells Park. We had 12 students participate in Division swimming and we actually had 3 students make it through to compete in the Regional Swimming carnival!

What a massive week!

It is great to hear the feedback about how well behaved and respectful our students were in all of these activities. Thanks to all the staff that worked so hard to ensure the children had the opportunity to participate in these activities.

Communicating with Camelot Rise Primary School

Camelot Rise Primary School is committed to good communication and treating everyone according to our school values of optimism, respect, resilience and responsibility.

It is important to remember that everyone in the school community should work together in the spirit of cooperation and understanding and should conduct themselves in a respectful, calm and courteous manner. All members of the school community are bound by the requirements of this policy.

If you have a concern then here’s what you can do:

Matters that are best addressed by the classroom teacher or specialist teacher may include: individual student needs, academic progress, assessment, behaviour and discipline issues, non-attendance at school and challenging or changing family circumstances.
Matters that are best addressed by the principal or team leaders may include: school facilities, school fees and charges, student reporting, school policy, dress codes and/or serious discipline issues. The principal will also be available, by appointment, to speak to parents about any other concerns they may have and wish to raise with a more senior member of staff.

Who should I make contact with?

Normally your child’s classroom teacher is the best person to get in contact with; however there may be times when it’s appropriate to seek a staff member in a leadership role such as the following staff:

Principal Team

Mr Matthew Coney – Principal

Mr Ben Heys – Acting Assistant Principal

Team Leaders

Miss Ashleigh Jacobs (Prep)

Miss Amanda Curtain & Mrs Sarah Martin (Grade 1&2)

Mrs Linda Bett & Mrs Adrienne Meer (Grade 3&4)

Mr Chris Young (Grade 5&6)

Mr Cam Stillman (Specialist Leader)

Do I need to make an appointment to speak to a teacher?

Normally you need to make an appointment to speak with one of the staff if the matter requires a discussion like a parent-teacher interview. Teaching staff are generally available after school most nights expect for Monday and Wednesday, which are routine meeting nights for all teachers. Making an appointment also puts the teacher in the best position to give you their full attention without compromising their duty of care to students.

What if it’s just a quick message?

Passing on a quick message is normally OK, but it should happen outside of teaching time, as the teacher must always maintain their duty of care to students.

What if the matter is urgent?

If the matter is more urgent and concerns student wellbeing or safety in particular, then teachers are usually contactable for a brief chat/phone call before 8.45am. If the classroom teacher is not available then the Assistant Principal should be contacted. The Principal can also help to address urgent matters if other staff are not available.

Do I need an appointment to see a teacher leader?

Yes, if the matter requires more than a ‘quick message’ and is not urgent then you should contact the office to make an appointment to speak with the Principal, Assistant Principal or Team Leaders. We will always do our best to undertake this appointment in a timely manner.

Does the school have an ‘open door’ to parent concerns?

Yes, most definitely, and the purpose of this newsletter article is to provide a clear idea about how a parent might go about this, and who to contact.

We hope you find this a useful guide in communicating with the school

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence – Friday March 19th

Nobody wants bullying to occur and this is where we are working on improving ‘student voice’ to better understand the student perspective. In terms of the research, there is a significant body of work now, but still very little from the students’ perspective. Camelot Rise Primary School employs a variety of strategies to address bullying and we acknowledge that there is rarely an easy fix. That said, some key areas of the research that resonate with me show that:

A strong correlation has been found between positive teacher–student relationships and both lower levels of bullying and increased feelings of safety for students.
Specific training about bullying is a significant factor in teachers’ ability to effectively respond to bullying. Calls for urgent attention to in-service teacher education are very common in contemporary studies about countering bullying in schools.
The explicit teaching of positive school values to students has been shown to promote a positive school climate, which in turn is related to lower levels of bullying.

With the above in mind, this is why all classes are expected to display the school values and rules in their learning spaces, with follow up discussions and circle time to bring issues into the open. We strongly believe that every child needs to have an adult at school who can be their “go to” person at any time and in most cases this is the classroom teacher, but it can also be a specialist, an Integration Aide, Ben or myself.

In 2021, staff will continue our work to develop opportunities for greater student agency, whereby we can break down some of the stigmas associated with bullying and have open and honest conversations to address the issue. We have begun to introduce (this was planned to launch in 2020, however, due to COVID – 19 this did not occur) the School Wide Positive Behaviour (SWPB) programs and students will learn to improve their self-regulation.

We take bullying very seriously and will always seek to work through issues. As always, my door is open to support families and students experiencing bullying or any other personal challenges, so please feel free to speak with us, as the only way to get on top of bullying is by being aware of it.

Our Student Attitudes to Schooling Survey results are consistently very high and this demonstrates how connected and safe our students feel at Camelot Rise Primary School.

What to do if you're being bullied? Hare are some ideas suggested as outlined by the Kid's Help Line.

Keep your distance from bullying
Don’t bully them back
Tell them what they are doing is not ok
Talk to an adult you trust
Take time to do something nice for yourself
Have someone help you report cyberbullying

For further information around the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence, please go to the web site: https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/NationalDay

Matthew Coney

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