From the Assistant Principal 

Weathering the storm

We felt fortunate in last week's storm that our school only sustained minor damage and we were able to welcome students back on Friday. We know many families and local schools were not as lucky! We did keep children inside on Friday until we could have all of the beautiful gum trees checked from a safety point of view. A big thank you must go to our Business Manager Melissa O'Rorke and Maintenance Man Ted Dugdale who went above and beyond in their duties to ensure that the school is once again a safe environment, especially Ted for the many hours he spent over the weekend collecting/removing all of the debris. The basketball court was a sea of branches and leaf litter, 2021 is the year that just keeps on giving! 

I was so proud of all of our students who spoke with resilience and optimism about the disruptions that the storms caused for families. Lots of children spoke about feeling scared or inconvenienced - but that it will be ok and Mum/Dad are taking care of it. I've no doubt that for many adults it was a highly stressful time but I commend you for maintaining positive, optimistic talk for your children. In times of stress that can be really tricky!

If your family is still suffering from the after-effects of the storm and we can support you in any way please do not hesitate to be in touch. 

Semester 1 reports

I am so incredibly proud to let you know that my colleagues, the formidable Kalinda Primary School teachers, have been working far and beyond this term to provide you with a new and extremely comprehensive report format. Despite the disruptions of remote learning (which apart from the obvious pressures, made gathering assessment data more challenging) our teachers have built reports that I know you will find informative and encouraging. 

Student reports will be published to parents before the end of Term 2 and available through Compass. 

Our new report format moves away from comment-heavy feedback - which we know can be difficult to wade through without an Education degree - and instead provide specific and targetted checklists for each of the core Literacy and Numeracy strands, as well as Specialist subjects. At a glance you will be able to see which level of the curriculum your child is at (for example they might be in Grade 3 this year, but working at a Grade 4 level in Reading, a Grade 3 level in Writing and Grade 2 level in Number). You will be able to see what the expectations are for that Level, what they have achieved, and what they need to work on next. 

See the snapshot below for an annotated example of a checklist. 

Reports will include a General comment about their engagement, behaviour and major achievements, as well as a new Learning Behaviours checklist. The Learning Behaviours checklist has been created to apply to all students F-6 and is taken from our research and beliefs around the characteristics of an effective learner. 

Introducing the Kalinda Reporting Hub

We are proud to launch the Kalinda Reporting Hub - which can be your one-stop shop for learning how to access and read your child's report. The hub also contains a glossary of key Literacy and Numeracy terms and can be read in conjunction with reports to make them clearer. 

This hub will be a working document as we find ways to support parents further so we recommend bookmarking this page for future reference. 

I would love to hear your feedback about our new report format.

We are kind. We are resilient. We are respectful.