Acting Principal's Report

Mother’s Day/Special Person's Breakfast – Friday 6 May

It was looking grim at first, but despite the crisp morning, we were fortunate for sunny skies. We had a large turnout – many families came to enjoy the breakfast offerings, coffee, chatting with other parents and spending time with their children before school.

A big thanks to Jennifer Clarke for her event planning and Brett McNeill who organised a merry troop of volunteers to cook, serve, set up and pack up on the day. Thanks, we couldn’t have done it without you! 

We would like to thank the following volunteers:

‘Musicals’ Trivia Night – Saturday 21 May

There was singing, dancing, hilarious outfits, lots of laughs and of course trivia. Our trivia night was a wonderful event. We celebrated ‘Musicals’ and judging by the costumes, our community has a penchant for Grease, Singing in the Rain and The Sound of Music!

Thanks to the outstanding efforts of the event organisers – lead ably by Megan Fairbank – who organised a raffle, silent auction, and the event itself. Congrats on pulling together a fabulous night that has raised funds for our Performing Arts program (the final tally will be available in the next newsletter). 

We thank the following parents for making the event such a success:

A special mention to those that supported the night with their talents – you all rock!

… and of course Double Denim – our always-wonderful band – Stephen Levickis, Erynn Binns, Dan Freer, Al Hunter, Gareth Murphy & Gordon Lindsay.

Foundation 2023 Enrolment

If you have a child ready to start in Foundation next year, please submit their enrolment form by Friday 15 July. Offers of place will be made at the end of July, so we need to know which siblings will be joining the school community. 

Student Attitude to School Survey

Over the next two weeks, students in Years 4 – 6 will be completing the Attitudes to School Survey. This is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist our school to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, and peer relationships.

Children will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool. All responses to the survey are kept anonymous in the response file. Personal identification data will not be recorded in the survey response file. This ensures that the confidentiality of your child’s responses is protected at all times.

The survey results will be reported back to the school in an aggregate form throughout the survey period and is shared at the school’s AGM in March 2023.

Semester Reports

In the last week of term, you will be able to view your child’s semester one report on Compass. Over the past few years, reporting has looked a bit different due to remote and flexible learning and the focus on supporting student health and wellbeing as they transitioned from face-to-face learning to remote learning. 

While we have had a full semester back at school, there have still been disruptions due to illness/isolation requirements from both students and staff. Despite this, it has been wonderful to see the growth that students have made both academically and socially!

We report against the Victorian Curriculum, and students are placed on a learning continuum in each curriculum area, based on the data that teachers collect throughout the semester. 

When you open your child’s report, you will notice some yellow highlighted areas and black dots. 

• The yellow highlighted area indicates the range which students of that year level are expected to be working in. 
• The dots indicate the progression point that your child has demonstrated in that curriculum area.   

It is important to note that the jump from one progression point to another can involve a huge amount of learning! Please know that if a progression point has not moved, it does not indicate no growth. It just means that the growth that has been made has not been quite enough to meet the next progression point. 

At Fairfield Primary School, we value individual growth, and celebrate students’ individual achievements. We understand that students all progress at different rates and that learning does not always follow a consistent trajectory – it can plateau and peak at different times. While the progression points on the front of a report do not always show the individual growth that has been made, the comments certainly will! 

Have a great week!

~ Sarah Abbott, Acting Principal