Year 3 - Year 5

Assistant Principal's Report

Middle School News

Are we really heading into Week 5 of Term 4 already?   Whilst time is flying and preparation for 2019 has begun, I could not be more proud of the focus in our 2018 Year 3/4/5 teaching teams and students.

All Year 5 students are preparing leadership speeches, however,  students will ‘self-select’ themselves to present these next Wednesday in front of teachers and school leadership.  It has been wonderful to read and hear some snippets of the speeches that students are preparing to present along with the respect and support students are giving each other.

During this fortnight, I have had the pleasure of reading out the ‘Springer’ Awards at the Friday Springers celebration.  These awards spotlight the effort and achievements of our students and are a nice reminder of all the great things happening in and around our school.  I have been to all classrooms to engage in the learning and I have enjoyed many conversations about what matters to our students and generally how they are feeling. A large portion of an Assistant Principal’s role is to ensure children are safe and happy so that can learn and achieve high levels of success.  At Pakenham Springs we aim to be the best school.

Our whole school ‘Recount Writing’ is coming to a close with some truly amazing pieces ready to be shared on the writing display boards very soon.  In week 6, our whole school writing focus will shift to either free choice or persuasive structures, depending on your child’s year level.  Since the introduction of a whole school writing model, our student’s growth both in writing confidence and writing academic outcomes has grown.  This was evident in our school reports and NAPLAN data.

In numeracy, students continue to learn key curriculum concepts appropriate for their year level and personal capabilities.  Alongside this, all students in Year 3, 4 and 5 are completing numeracy assessments that will summarise their learning and support a targeted approach in 2019.  This is a new online system that will support, monitor and track our students learning.  When speaking to the students in Years 3, 4 and 5, they are really enjoying the new system and tell me they feel better about their numeracy learning.

Our senior school SPRAY PAINTING has been a huge hit. If your child has not come home talking about this, I recommend asking them to explain.  The completed pieces will be a part of the Spring Fest and highlight another example of how at Pakenham Springs we are listening and engaging our students in learning.

Have a very safe weekend.

Kindest Regards

Jane King

Assistant Principal in Middle School