Principal's Report

Dear Families,

It's hard to believe that we are almost at the halfway point in terms of the 2022 school year. I wish to congratulate all in our community for the collaborative way in which we have worked for this first half of the 2022 school year. 

In this short space we have welcomed new additions to our Kismet Park Primary School Community. A very warm welcome to Levi, baby son of Mrs. Emily Gale, Demi baby daughter of Ms. Cassie Hampton Smith and little Everleigh baby daughter of Ms. Ash Grey. Congratulations to all three mums Emily, Cassie and Ash and I am sure all in our community will agree, that all three babies are beautiful.

School Review and Survey for Parents/Guardians – OPEN until Friday June 17th

Our school is currently in a year of review:

At the time of review, the Department also undertakes a review of school performance to inform the directions of the school’s 4 year School Strategic Plan (a legislative requirement for all schools). The aim is to create a self-sustaining cycle of continuous improvement, where schools are supported to improve student outcomes.

The process for the review involves hearing from all stakeholders: students, staff, and our parent/carer community. Our community’s feedback is highly valued, and we look forward to receiving your feedback.

Please see instructions regarding how to access the survey:

Access Compass on a browser (or from the Compass app click the 3 lines/more button down the bottom right, and then choose Open in Browser.

On the parent portal home page you will find the Insights Cycle Open heading, choose ‘Click here to proceed’

Then on the Insights tab, click on the Parent Feedback Survey 

The survey will then open, type in your answers and click save. DONE!

Professional Practice Day Tuesday 14th June – No Students required at school 

Next Tuesday 14th June our staff will embark on a whole day of professional learning around Restorative Practices. 

The philosophy of Restorative Practice views relationships and people as the most important aspect of schools and communities. Schools embracing this philosophy prioritise building, maintaining and repairing positive relationships, teaching and learning social-emotional capabilities, wellbeing for all, creating supportive learning environments, and establishing fair, democratic systems across their community. 

The content our staff will be delving into is as follows: 

Session #1 - Relationships and the neuro-biological basis of emotion and behaviour 

Our staff will explore the core business of restorative approaches in schools - relationships and behaviour. The presenter will cover the psychology of emotion and behaviour motivation (psychology & neuroscience), with a focus on neuro-sequential processing, and affect shame and its role in mistake making and fixing and relationship management. This also touches on trauma-informed restorative approaches, understanding the function of behaviour, and meeting needs using the science and strategies of regulation. 

Session #2 - Restorative responses to wrongdoing - a nuanced approach 

In this session our staff will look at what it means to prioritise relationships in schools, exploring mindset and use of language around the concepts of punishment, consequences, discipline and accountability. Our staff will be supported to explore a continuum of restorative approaches to mistake-making in schools. Our staff will be introduced to everyday restorative language and dialogue that builds relationships and addresses mistake making and wrongdoing in the context of relationship. The presenter will unpack case studies and provide time to contextualise these approaches within the setting of our school, for example, using the language of strengths, SWPBS, or school values in restorative dialogue. 

Session #3 - Using circle pedagogy as a restorative process 

Working in a circle is foundational to restorative approaches, but it takes great skill and practice to facilitate them effectively. Circle work can focus on relationship building, developing classroom cohesion and community, holding difficult conversations safely, Social Emotional Learning capabilities, or academic content and is a key component of any restorative school, regardless of the setting or age of the students. In this session, our staff will engage in a particular circle strategy, flexible enough to be adapted to any context with any group of learners.

This training will be delivered by Kristy Elliott. Kristy holds a Bachelor of Education and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology. Kristy is an experienced teacher and consultant, having worked for over two decades with schools in Australia and Asia making a positive difference in the lives of young people, educators, and school communities. 

Kristy is founder and director of Melbourne-based business Restorative Pathways. She passionately supports schools to create relational, thriving school cultures using the science of wellbeing, and restorative approaches to relationship management.

We look forward to our professional practice day with Kristy and the learnings that the day will bring forth.

REPORTS AND 3 WAY CONFERENCES/PARENT & TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Our teachers are in the process of writing student reports. All student reports will go out LIVE via COMPASS on Friday 24th of June – last day of Term 2. In addition Student Portfolios will go home with all students on Friday 24th of June for parents/carers to view. These will then need to come back Term 3 for our 3 Way Conferences (Years 1-6) and Parent Teacher Interviews (Year Prep).

The dates for our 3 Way Conferences (1-6) and Parent Teacher Interviews (Year Prep) are as follows:

Tuesday 19th of July 3:30pm – 8:00pm

 **Year 4 cohort will begin their 3 Way Conferences from 1:45pm and go through to 8pm, this is to accommodate the larger numbers)

Wednesday 20th of July 3:30pm – 6pm

Bookings will be placed on compass in the coming week.

Please SAVE these dates for Term 3 to celebrate your child’s learning and share in the progress your child has made this school year.

COVID UPDATE FOR TERM 2

We continue to practise safe covid processes as per DET guidelines. Thank you to all our parents/carers for working with us and being understanding of the changes in timetables and teachers due to illnesses. We continue to put our students wellbeing and education front and centre despite the challenges. 

I would like to reassure all in our community that our children’s safety, happiness, and learning continues to be our number one priority. In the event that students are sent to other grades (year levels other than their cohort) students will be provided with work packs, at the students’ year level, to take with them for the day.

Thank-you for your continued patience and understanding as we work through these times.

Oval Works

Our oval works continue, at this stage the synthetic turf is scheduled to be installed from June 23rd through to July 6th. The schedule given to us reads that the works are to be completed by 22nd of July.

Prep 2023 School Tours and Information Sessions

We had our last evening prep tour last night. The session went well and I am planning to hold some further prep tours in Term 3 to accommodate families. 

The dates remaining for our Prep Tours are:

Monday 25th of July – 6:30pm (Evening Session)

Thursday 28th of July – 9:30am 

Tuesday 6th of September – 6:30pm (Evening Session)

Please remind your family and friends about our upcoming tours and our wonderful school.

Thanking Our Staff

I would like to lead in thanking our staff for their resilience, professionalism and focus despite all the challenges that have come our way. I am sure our students and families appreciate our staff efforts in providing the very best care and education for our gorgeous students. 

Finally, I would like to thank all in our community for your continued resilience and positivity. Take care over the long week-end and please continue to be kind.

Warmest Regards,

Kathy Cvitkovic

 Principal (Acting)

‘Building the foundations for success and happiness’.