Principal Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to term 3. Our school value that we are focussing on this term is PRIDE. 

This links beautifully with how we felt collectively at the end of Semester 1. We had lots of pride in the work our students have produced in class, and as the principal, pride in the quality of the planning, curriculum and assessment that our staff have been producing this year. Our efforts are always focussed on engaging students at their point of need in their learning. 

Reports

Last Semester we issued school reports and portfolios. Please take the time to read them on Compass. 

This week we hosted 3-way conferences. This is a rewarding experience for our students and allows them to take PRIDE in their work. We ask them to reflect on their amazing achievements, the parts of their school life that they enjoy, and to look ahead to Semester 2. 

Thank you to those families who have made the effort to come to school, especially on Thursday when it was cold, wet and damp. 

A reminder that student support group meetings are happening in week 4. 

NAPLAN 2023

Next week children who participated in NAPLAN in grade 3 and 5 will receive their results. The overall results for the school are amazing and will be shared next week. The students, parents, carers and staff should be extremely proud of the students' achievements. I am also confident that the level of achievement that the grade 3 and 5 students have demonstrated would be on show if all of our children participated in NAPLAN. Well done to everyone in our community. 

Attendance

This is a hot topic at the moment in all schools. We are working hard to ensure that school 'is the place to be' for our children. 

If your child is sick, then the best place is at home. If they are well enough to be at school, then we want them at school. This includes special occasions and those tired days after camps, swimming and hoop time.

Homework 

We have been working on our homework policy over the last two months. School council have shared their thoughts on behalf of parents, teachers have shared their input...and today I met with the Student Representative Council. We will collate everyone's views and share a collective approach to homework and the new poilcy after the next School Council meeting.

Awards

Schools build PRIDE by highlighting the achievements of students on a regular basis. I must admit this is something that has taken a back seat over the covid years due to the inconsistencies throughout this time. 

We are now well and truly back at school, and I would like to share the work that the Wellbeing Team at school have put together for Semester 2. 

We will have the first Shining Star awards going home today. This is a weekly award that your child's class teacher sends for one student per week. Well done to those students who received their awards today. 

Then in assemblies we will have the 'Hall of Fame' award. This is an award for a student in the level that has shown they are a worthy recipient by their teachers over the month. 

We also have the monthly Specialist Awards that will be shared with students by the specialist teachers. 

At grade 6 we will have the Aussie of the Month award that will be picked by all the staff who work with grade 6. 

Finally, we will have the awards that are not as frequent. These cover sports, math's, literacy and spotlight awards that come up as and when students participate in extra-curricular activities. 

Positive School Behaviour 

Having personal PRIDE in how we behave is also something that we work on at school. We try to focus most of our energy on positive behaviour frameworks like our Zones of Regulation and Friendology. 

From time-to-time children make decisions that are not always positive. This can be with friends, with staff, in class, outside and online. The change to three shorter 30 minute breaks has helped reduce the opportunities for issues to arise at play time. 

Our approach as a school when issues arise is to help the students 'talk out' the issue through a restorative approach. The teachers in our school have cards that help guide them to a satisfactory outcome that all affected parties are happy with. 

The first point of call is the teacher who was involved in the incident, usually the class teacher or the teacher on duty. Sometimes the issues require support from the Learning Community Leader (Prep Mrs. Harrison, Grade 1/2 Ms. Poole, Grade 3/4 Ms. Allan, Grade 5/6 Mr. Smith) and occasionally through the Leadership Team (Mrs. Warner, Mrs. Munnecke, Mr. Younes) or the Principal Team (Mr. Bradley, Mrs. Murcott).  

The majority are often resolved very quickly, with no fuss and a shared understanding of how we are going to learn and do better is agreed upon. Larger issues that have required support from someone else require an email or call home to let you know. I am pleased to share that these are very few and far between with our students. We all can take PRIDE in how they are all growing into amazing young people. 

Lunch Clubs

We have a number of new lunch clubs starting this term. Thank you to those staff members who have volunteered to run them. It is appreciated.

Around the school

We have been adding to our school grounds and taking PRIDE in how the school looks. We have added more artificial grass to the front of the school, shades to the play area on the hill and repaired the OSH care fence. I would like to thank Leigh Marriott for the time he has contributed to helping make our school look great. 

One set of residents who are NOT showing PRIDE are the local Cockatoo birds. They have been making a mess of our posts, fences and our beautiful gates. We have made a decision to take the gates down for repair....and in the hope that the bird's loose interest and move on. If anyone has a friendly, but firm suggestion on how we move the birds on....we would love to hear from you.

Toilets 

In the term 3 school holidays we will be updating the boys and girls main building toilets. A leaking pipe has been a challenge for us over the last 3 months and needs an urgent fix. While we fix this we are going to make the toilets a place that we can have PRIDE in. Watch this space. 

Working Bee

Talking about school PRIDE we will be organising a working bee for Friday 4th August. This will be a general winter clean up. Lots of gathering leaves. Moving and spreading mulch. Trimming back winter trees. If you are keen to help (and your children) please come along after school from 3:30pm. We will look to finish by 5pm before it gets too cold and dark. 

And finally, some sad news regarding a very happy former student at RHPS.

Jade Eloise Williams: 15.05.04 – 05.07.23

As a school community, we are extremely sad to share the news of Jade Eloise William’s passing. Jade was a student at Rolling Hills and an absolute delight to teach. Her mum Nicole, dad Bryan, brother Joel and sister Alayna were all a huge part of the Rolling Hills Community. Jade was a cheeky, bright, bubbly and resilient student, who loved life, fun and all things Taylor Swift! Jade was a ‘Swiftie’ before they even existed.

Jade and her family created some wonderful memories together; overseas holidays, surfing, Geelong footy games, Disneyland and a multitude of musical concerts. On school camps Jade wanted to experience everything and was not afraid to give anything a go, including canoeing, the flying fox and the giant swing!

We hope that the Williams family find comfort in the incredible memories they have of their beautiful daughter and sister.

A special thank you to Llinos Poole and Jodie Coxhill who attended the private funeral last week. We send the Williams family and their extended friends all of our love and care. 

Kind Regards, 

Craig Bradley