Principal Report
Dear families,
Welcome back to school for term 4. This is always a fun term for our children and our staff. There are two big highlights for me. Saying a fond farewell to our grade 6 students as they move on to their next adventure at the BIG school. The other is the welcoming of our new prep students and families as they start their adventure at the BIG school. This year we are running three classes and in prep, taking us back up to 16 grades in 2023 and to the 380 students mark again.
56 Camp
Last week the grade 56 students, teachers, and support staff travelled to Coonawarra for a 3-day adventure camp. Even the most resilient parents of those students probably had a few butterflies in their stomachs wondering how they would go after missing out on camps over the last few years. Well, those kids smashed it. They had the best time. I had regular photos being sent through and they all looked happy, engaged and most of all like they were having fun! Thank you to our staff who shared that the children were a pleasure to be with across the 3 days.
Prep transition
Yesterday we welcomed our new preps to Rolling Hills. The team and support staff ran a wonderful morning despite the threat of poor weather. The teachers shared that the children were settled and a joy to be with. They are looking forward to the next prep transition session on 27tth October, a student-free day for the rest of the school. The new preps will have the full run of the school!
Laptops
We are nearly there! Hopefully, the big handover happens at the end of this week, or early week 4. Thank you again for your great support for this initiative. We are just waiting for a final batch to be delivered as well as the vinyl stickers with your children's names on there to help them identify the laptop when mixed in with 24 other students. I will be sending a letter and some information on what the agreed processes are moving forward. I will also be organising a parent information night before the Christmas break on how you keep the devices and your children safe online moving forward.
NAPLAN
I think we should all be proud of our shared efforts over the last 2 to 3 years supporting our students to grow as people and as learners. NAPLAN testing is not the be-all and end-all for how we measure a student's learning growth. It is a measure that allows us from time to time to see how we are travelling as a school and make adjustments to our setup if required. The data for our year 3 students who started school in 2019 is excellent. Let's keep in mind that this cohort has had two years of disruption to their learning.
Reading at year 3 shows 76% of our students are in the top two bands of NAPLAN, equating to 12 months or more ahead with their reading. This is 15% more than schools that are similar to our school and would place us as one of the most improved and one of the highest achieving schools in the outer East area. In addition to this their Writing, Spelling, Grammar, and Numeracy are all above similar schools. A brilliant display of their all-round academic abilities. There are very few students not making the benchmark level. Those who have not are all being catered for with our support.
Take a look through the images below:
At year 5 the story is also a positive one, with our students at or above similar schools across all areas of literacy and numeracy. An area that has been a focus for improvement has been our
Writing. I am pleased to share that our year 5 writing has moved from below similar schools over the last few years, to be 12% higher this year at 35%. This is an excellent result for them and for our staff who have worked on writing skills and processes over the last few years.
Take a look through the images below:
I believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that with your support for strong attendance, reading at home and those conversations you can be having about numbers in the real world we can see these results increase even more. Well done everyone!
Attendance
One area that we are not kicking goals this year is attendance. There have been a lot of illnesses' this year that have resulted in a huge number of days missed at school. I am hoping it is relative to other schools. This will be a big focus for us moving forward, ensuring that every day a child who is able to be at school, is at school each day.
Class Placements 2023
We are beginning to prepare for the class structure for 2023. Our Teachers collaborate across teams to place children with friends they work well with.
Sometimes we are not aware of external considerations, for example, friendship clashes or family circumstances.
I invite you to write a letter, in hard copy or by email/compass, to share information that you think would be important for teachers to consider in the class placement process. Requests are processed confidentially.
Whilst we consider parent comments, teachers have the final decision about class placement and this is completed in a highly professional and considered manner. Note that we are not able to consider parent requests for a specific teacher. Teacher allocation to classes for 2023 is not yet determined and is shared in early December.
Letters/compass/emails regarding class placement need to reach the school by Friday 4th November.
Email: rolling.hills.ps@education.vic.gov.au
Finally, thank you to parent/carers for taking the time to speak to us in the student support groups for those students receiving support. Your ongoing support is essential for their growth.
Remember our upcoming curriculum day and the 2nd prep transition date are the 27th October with a canteen morning tea at the start of that week, 24th October.