From Christian's desk....

Bunnings BBQ

Our school has been offered and accepted the Bunnings Chirnside Park BBQ on Saturday December 19th. Whilst we understand it is a busy time for families and it may be challenging to get volunteers, it is also a ‘bumper weekend’ for fundraising with people preparing their homes for Christmas functions. CHAPS member, Danielle Bell is seeking volunteers. Please head to the CHAPS News page for the link to the sign-up sheet.

We’re welcoming parents back onsite!

The Victorian Government announced that Victoria moved to the Last Step of the roadmap for reopening from 11:59pm, Sunday 22 November 2020. As a result of the changes announced, some important updates have been made to school operations:

School visits

Limitations on who can visit school premises no longer apply from the Last Step.

This means parents can be welcomed back on site, for example for school drop-offs and pick-ups, parent helpers in the classroom, sport and guests at Assemblies.

These inclusions must follow public health directions and apply the operational health and safety measures outlined by the State Government and, for larger events, the Public Events Framework. Further, schools are subject to organised gathering limits with total gathering caps (including students, staff and visitors) of 150 indoors and 300 outdoors. Note: Face-to-face level Assemblies and Graduations can occur at full capacity if they are exclusively attended by students and staff only.

Drinking fountains

The use of drinking fountains in schools is now permitted.

So, at our school…

Drop off and pick up

Feel free to come on in - however, to support contact tracing, if you are on our school grounds for longer than 15 minutes you must record your attendance using this FORM. QR Codes will be posted around the school. As per normal practice, if you are a formal visitor to school, for example, as a parent helper, you are required to sign in at the Compass Kiosk at the General Office.

Before and after school family catch-ups

If you are choosing to spend time socialising at school, we ask you do so outside our ‘internal fence line’ and not linger at the internal Prep and Junior playgrounds.

Colour Run

CHAPS members Penny and Allison have swung into action and are taking the initial steps to once again provide our school community with the annual, much-loved Colour Run. I commend them on both their commitment to this community event and their attention to compliance with the Public Events Framework. The proposed event is set for 2:30pm Friday December 11th, with Wednesday December 16th the back-up day. Community members wishing to support the organisation of this event are encouraged to keep an eye out for communications on the CHAPS Facebook Page.

Billy Cart Grand Prix and Soap Box Derby

As shared last week, this annual event will go ahead and, given the latest updates, it will look very similar to previous years. Community members wishing to attend will be asked to gather in their ‘level venue’ and record their attendance using the contact tracing visitor FORM. A map designating the specific gathering areas will be distributed in the coming weeks.

Assemblies and Learning Level Events

On Friday December 18th all levels will host an End of Year Assembly in various outdoor areas of the school at 12:00pm. Information on each of these Assemblies, other level events and parent helper opportunities will be provided to families via each Learning Level Friday Update.

Year Six Graduation

In the coming weeks the most challenging organisational event for our school will be Year Six Graduation. The Graduation Planning Team are currently revising the Graduation Plans they had in place prior to these updates. They are exploring a variety of creative solutions in order to meet the needs of all community members, whilst staying within the public health guidelines. As decisions are made they will be communicated to the community.

School Review

Our School Review concluded yesterday, with the Review Panel providing overwhelmingly positive feedback on the school climate and our understanding of our future direction. I have already been provided the draft Strategic Plan for 2021 – 2024. Consistent with the panel’s findings and recommendations for the future it includes strategies that:

Build teacher and team capacity to collaboratively use formative assessment to plan, document and teach a differentiated curriculum that targets each student’s point of learning.
Further embed the use of the school’s agreed instructional model and High-Impact Teaching Strategies to enable consistent, high-quality instruction in every classroom.
Enhance the coaching program and develop the capacity of coaches to build the capacity fellow team members.
Build a culture of high expectations and high achievement.
Build teacher capacity to enhance student voice and learner agency. Develop and document a whole-school strategy to empower students and develop growth mindset and self-regulating learners.
Develop a whole-school approach in which teachers enhance feedback to students and use student feedback to adapt their approaches to improve student motivation, self-efficacy and achievement.
Continue to embed the positive education across the whole school.
Embed practices that cater for the cultural and linguistic diversity of the school community, including the teaching of intercultural capabilities.

On behalf of School Council I would like to acknowledge and thank each of the panel members for their time, energy and contributions to the ongoing improvement of our great school: Martin Winfield (Accredited Reviewer), Kerrie Anderson (Senior Education Improvement Leader - SEIL), Sian Jamison (School Council President), Wilma Culton (Challenge Partner - Guest Principal), Kim Bride (Challenge Partner - Guest Principal), Carol Wyatt (Assistant Principal), Amy Prior (Assistant Principal), Gen Stephens (Teacher), Kelly Gommers (Teacher)

REPEAT: Parent Thank-You

Typically our school hosts a number of thank-you celebrations to acknowledge the contributions of our school community. These include morning teas, dinners and BBQs. Unfortunately some of these will be unable to go ahead in their normal form.

It is important to our staff that we still have the opportunity to celebrate your contributions. To help us, can I please ask community members to anonymously nominate parents, carers and other community members that have contributed ‘above and beyond’ this year? Moreover, if the family is concluding their journey at Croydon Hills this year please add that detail to your nomination.

To nominate a community member please complete this FORM by Friday 27th November.

Christian Holdsworth - Principal

For our students....

This Week's Birthdays