Week 2

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Thank you

I thank all families for your assistance in making our small changes this term seamless. I encourage all parents to come and visit the classrooms at the end of the day. We will be setting up a parent gathering area with coffee and tea.

Car Parking

I have had a number of parents mention that Pittosporum Grove can get congested at the end of the day, and potentially dangerous. We have little control over that road, though we can contact the council. I urge parents to consider the drive through pick up point, or park in the Power Road Car Park and come on into the school to collect your children. This school is your school, and we look forward to holding events that welcome you.

Improvements

I want to provide our students with the best education in terms of academic, wellbeing and diverse opportunities to show their talents. We want to be known as the school to send students to, so to do that, we want to continue to improve what we provide our families. You will begin to notice some small changes happening. I want to highlight a couple:

Breakfast Club: With the support of the Parish, and the hard work of Glenis Cheyne, our students can now enjoy some breakfast from 8:20 am to 8:35 am Wednesday to Friday. This is held in our old community hub, which we are developing into a room for the children to relax in the morning and do some activities they enjoy to start the day (I am yet to be beaten at Connect Four). The room is open on Monday and Tuesday as well, but no breakfast! This is to support our families who need to get to work. Gates will open to the school at 8:20am, which is much earlier than many schools.

Signage: We want to improve the look and messaging of the school. So some signage to welcome people from all backgrounds, a clear message of our Charism, Be The Light is in the foyer, and clear messaging around enrolments have been added. This has already seen an increase in enrolments for next year which is pleasing.

Wifi and Screens: Over the holidays, new screens have been put in each classroom along with an improved and more secure WIFI network to meet the increasing demands on digital technology in schools.

Coming soon: Important maintenance on our roof will be taking place to ensure that our building provides the best conditions for our most important people, our children.

School Fees: All these improvements do cost money. It is my commitment to be prudent with the school finances to ensure that the money supports the best academic and wellbeing outcomes for our students. I thank families who are up to date with their fees or make regular payments.

I understand the increasingly challenging landscape we are operating in. I have had confidential conversations about supporting families, because that is what we are here to do. However, it is an expectation that if you need assistance, you come and have a discussion with myself so that we can come to an arrangement that supports the family and school.

If you have a Health Care Card, or some other Government Concession, you will be entitled to reduced fees. Our school is reimbursed by the Government for this, so it is in your and the schools best interest that these are recorded. If this applies to you, or are wondering about the qualifications, please do not hesitate to come and see me.

All conversations will be treated confidentially, however, are critically important to ensure we can provide the outcomes and resources your children deserve.

Curriculum resource materials to better support our teachers and learning:

I am pleased to advise that Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) will shortly commence working with schools to develop high-quality, comprehensive curriculum resource materials to better support our teachers to deliver the F–6 Victorian Curriculum.

This follows the overwhelming endorsement of this approach by teachers across the Catholic sector in a survey conducted last year. Research also shows that high-quality curriculum resources will create more sustainable workloads for our teachers and allow them to focus more on teaching and student engagement, where their time and energy counts the most.

In addition, this approach will promote equity and excellence across MACS schools, ensuring all students have access to evidence-based, quality-assured, sequenced learning materials that will help lift their outcomes over time.

We anticipate the rollout of the F–6 resource materials will be a three-year project. The initial phase will focus on F–2 Mathematics. These materials will be made available to us in Term 4 this year for review and planning purposes, with implementation in Term 1, 2024.

Importantly, our teachers will retain autonomy to tailor curriculum implementation to meet the individual and local needs of our students. Teachers will also have opportunities to participate in the development and quality assurance of the materials.

This is an exciting development for our school community and clearly demonstrates the commitment all Catholic schools share to supporting every student to fully flourish in their learning.

We will keep you informed as this important work continues.

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