Toolamba Primary School

Principal's Report

Dear families,

 

Welcome to the 2023 school year. Currently we have 144 students enrolled at Toolamba P.S.  Staff and students have returned to school full of enthusiasm and well rested from their break. It has been lovely catching up with the students this week and hearing about their holidays. I hope that everyone enjoyed the break and are ready for the exciting year ahead. 

 

FOUNDATION 2023

We would like to welcome our 23 foundation students they include Zoe Argaet, Kaitlyn Brisbane, Evelyn Creaney, Lennox Davies, Ned Durward, Sloane Durward, Lola Ewart, Edie Ewart, Joshua Gaffy, Ivy Giles, Sophie Good, Harry Hicks, Nixon Hilton, Lydia Knee, Paddy Livesay, Oliver Monk, Eloise Rice, Hunter Roberts, Louis Ryan, Kash Sammut, Willow Stewart, Jordy Trevaskis and Buster Walker.

 

WELCOME

A warm welcome to the McCloskey and West families who have joined us this year. Zack is in Grade 3, Liam is in Grade 1 and Macey Grade 3.

We are very pleased to welcome Carly Tuhan to our staff. Carly is with us for 2 days per week and will be taking art and doing some tutoring. 

ASSEMBLY

Assemblies will be held on a Friday morning at 9am in the Central Learning Street. Our assemblies are student lead and commence with an Acknowledgment to Country and our National Anthem. At our first assembly for the year, we will be presenting badges to our school leaders for 2023.

 

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS

We like to hold our Parent Information Sessions early in the year so that parents are informed about classroom routines and procedures. These will be held on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th February.

 

Monday 13th February

Foundation                  5:00pm          Classroom

Grades 1 & 2               5:30pm          Classroom

 

Tuesday 14th February

Grades 3 & 4               5:30pm          Classroom

Grades 5 & 6               5:00pm          Classroom

 

WELCOME BBQ

On Thursday 9th February, we will be holding our welcome BBQ commencing at 5.30pm. It is a great opportunity for families and teachers to catch up after the summer break. Meat and bread will be provided. Families are asked to bring along a salad or sweet to share. BYO drinks and chairs.

To assist with catering please complete the form attached to the newsletter and return to school by Tuesday 7th.

BBQ Form.pdf

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Amee and Alex Thorn who are expecting twins in June. It certainly is wonderful news. We will be advertising a family leave position this week.

 

ATTENDANCE FOUNDATION STUDENTS

Foundation students do not attend school on a Wednesday until after the Labour Day Holiday in March. On these days students will be timetabled to come into school and complete Literacy and Numeracy assessments with Miss Larcombe. 

 

IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day. Attending and participating in school will help your child develop:

  • important skills and knowledge to help them learn.
  • social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience and teamwork.
  • Children who attend school every day and complete year 12 have:
    • better health
    • better job opportunities
    • higher income across their lives.
  • There is no safe number of days for missing school. Each day a student misses, puts them behind.

Another important factor is for students to be at school by 9am. Coming in late is disorientating for students and they miss important whole class discussions around the learning focus. 

 

KEEPING IN TOUCH – Our communication with you

Throughout the year, there will be times when you need to contact your child’s teacher to discuss a concern. This is best dealt with sooner rather than later. If there is something, you are concerned about, unsure of or puzzled by regarding your child, we would encourage you to touch base with us. While it may be convenient to try to catch a teacher before or after the school day, this may not be the most appropriate time to have an in-depth discussion about your child. So, how do you do this? Phone or email to the school, directed to the class teacher asking them to call you.

We strongly encourage all families read our weekly newsletter, which is emailed every Thursday. Newsletters are our main method of communication. 

At times, you will also receive SMS messages; these provide a timely method of communication.

Our Facebook page is a handy quick reference if you want to check details about upcoming events as these are always promoted on this platform.

SkoolLoop is a new form of communication we welcome this year to include newsletters, notifications, record absences and reminders. See the SkoolLoop page in this newsletter, we encourage you to download this app.

 

UNIFORMS

Just a reminder that students may wear any coloured shoes however, we expect them to wear plain white, black or blue socks with no logos.

 

SCHOOL COUNCIL

Our first meeting for the year is Monday 20th February at 6.30pm. The Finance Meeting will be 6.00pm.

School Council elections are upon us again. This year we have 3 parents and 1 staff member who have completed their term of office and are up for re-election. They are Jo Jeffers, Mel Hall, Kristy Thomas and Craig Thompson.  Below is a timeline for School Council Elections for Toolamba Primary School, 2023. Parents are encouraged to consider standing for school council.

 

TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS 2023

Thurs 23rd Feb                   Call for nominations for                                                 

Thurs 10th Mar                   Closing Date for Nominations

Thurs 17th  Mar                  Ballot Papers Distributed (If necessary)

Tue 21st  Mar                      Close of Ballot for School Council

Mon 27th Mar                     New Council is able to meet

 

The first meeting of the new Council will be held on Monday 27th March to elect the office bearers. This meeting is chaired by the Principal. Thereafter, the fully constituted new School Council will meet, chaired by the duly elected president.

 

What is a School Council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally formed bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within centrally provided guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

 

Who is on the School Council?

There are three possible categories of membership:

  • A mandated elected Parent category. More than one third of the total members must be from this category. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DET) employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not employed at the school.
  • A mandated elected DET employee category. Members of this category may make up no more than one third of the total membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of these members.
  • An optional Community member category. Its members are appointed by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

The term of office for all members is two years. Half the members must retire each year, creating vacancies for the annual school council elections.

 

Why is Parent membership so important?

Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school.

Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying in itself and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

 

How can you become involved?

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections, which are held in Term 1 each year. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant.

In view of this, you might seriously consider standing for election as a member of the school council

  • encouraging another person to stand for election.

Do I need special experience to be on School Council?

 

No. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future.

 

What do you need to do to stand for election?

The principal will issue a Notice of Election and Call for Nominations following the commencement of Term 1 each year. All school council elections must be completed by the end of March unless the usual time line has been varied by the Minister.

If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent category.

DET employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not engaged in work are eligible to nominate for parent membership of the school council at that school.

Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the principal within the time stated on the Notice of Election. 

Generally, if there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

 

What is the workload?

School council must meet at least twice each term

Meetings should be restricted to approximately 2.5 – 3 hours duration at most

All school councilors are expected to sit on at least one sub-committee. Sub-committees also meet at least twice each term

 

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF SCHOOL COUNCIL

  • Establish the broad direction and vision of the school within the school's community
  • Develop and monitor the school strategic plan
  • Develop, review and update school policies
  • Develop, review and monitor the Student Code of Conduct and the School Dress Code
  • Raise funds for school related purposes
  • Approve the annual budget and monitor expenditure
  • Maintain the school’s grounds and facilities
  • Enter into contracts (e.g. cleaning,    construction work)
  • Report annually to the school community and to DET.
  • Stimulate interest in the school generally

THE COUNCIL DOES NOT:

  • Manage the school
  • Employ teaching staff 
  • Represent sectional interests
  • Renew the principal's contract or hire and fire the school principal
  • Determine class allocations
  • Discuss individual issues between teachers and students and/or parents
  • Purchase land, buildings or motor vehicles
  • Enter into hire purchase agreements or obtain credit or loan facilities, unless authorized by the Minister

Remember

  • Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do
  • Consider standing for election to council this year   Contact the school for further information.

CONVERSATION STARTERS 

Here are some great questions and conversation starters to get your children talking about school. Remember it is also the perfect opportunity for you to share your own answers too and as a family.

  • What is something that went well today?
  • What made you smile today?
  • Can you tell me an example of kindness you saw/showed?
  • Tell me something that made your teacher laugh today.
  • Tell me something you know today that you didn't know yesterday.
  • What did you do that was creative?
  • If you could choose, who would you like to sit next to in class?
  • Where is the coolest place at the school?
  • How did you help somebody today? Did anyone help you?
  • Who would you give student of the day to today? Why?
  • Which playground is your favourite and why?
  • If you got to be the teacher tomorrow what would you do?
  • What are you looking forward to this week/term/year at school?

TUTOR LEARNING INITIATIVE

The Department has continued to support the Tutor Learning Initiative this year. The Tutor Learning Initiative is designed to support students whose learning has been disrupted over the past couple of years. Schools must only use their funding to engage tutors to provide targeted teaching to students identified as needing support. Tutors are to be qualified teachers. This commences in Term 1. 

Schools are able to determine the most appropriate model of tutoring for their school and students, with support from regional staff and guided by the evidence, resources and professional learning developed by the Department. We will be proving this support to students in the form of small group work.  Current research suggests that small-group learning offered through focused, regular sessions with a trained teacher is a clear evidence-based approach for improving student-learning outcomes in a timely manner (Grattan Institute, 2020).

Our school has used our data sets to identify students who we feel will benefit from participation in this initiative. The sessions will take the place 3 times per week. These will take the form on small group work both in and outside the classroom. Tutors will work closely with classroom teachers with the aim of supporting students with their learning. Currently we are working on timetabling. Over the next three weeks, parents of the students who are participating in this initiative will be contacted. Our School Improvement Team closely monitors the initiative and makes adaptions as required. 

 

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the cooler weather.

Regards Heather