Principal and Assistant Principal's Page

Principal's Report

What an exciting time it is for our school community.  On our curriculum day on Monday 23rd our whole staff worked with Tracey Ezard (an educational consultant) to reflect on where we have been, what successes we have achieved, the current educational climate and where we are headed over the next four years and beyond.  It was such a special opportunity to have us all in one place at one time focused on the one thing.  Although we are all in the school on a daily basis there are so many different elements to our work that to take the time to work together is something that we truly cherish.  It was lovely to see our newer staff members listen intently to the journey we have been on over the past four years and prior.  It was heart-warming to hear the longer standing staff members retell with such pride where we have been and the hurdles we have overcome to achieve what we have today.  The most exciting element was however having the opportunity to have shared conversations around where we are at presently and where we are headed next.  We will spend the remainder of the term looking at drawing together the ideas that were tabled on this day into a working order to provide to our School Review panel who will help to verify this planning against our data sets and work towards creating our 2017-2020 School Strategic Plan.  We will follow a similar feedback and feed forward session at our next school council meeting and with our student leaders both Junior School Councillors and Captains, to ensure we involve representatives of the key stakeholders in our school community.      

Reporting Week

Last week was our reporting week.  The timetable was altered to provide our teachers with time to collate their range of assessment tools and data, moderate with their fellow classroom teachers, finalise any student or teacher goals and ensure the students’ learning folders are ready to be sent home with reports.  This time of the year is always busy but exciting as well as teachers, and in turn student and parents, reflect on how far they have come over the first five months of the 2016 school year.

Mathematics Association of Victoria – MAV Award

Congratulations to Miss Nozomi Koyama who was awarded the Mathematics Association of Victoria Award for ‘Highest Aggregate Score in Mathematics’ across the two years of her Master Degree at the University of Melbourne.  Nozomi is an enthusiastic and diligent teacher in all areas and it was lovely to see her rewarded for her efforts.  This award came as no surprise to us as Nozomi is a highly dedicated teacher and I am sure she applied the same dedication and organisation to her studies.  Well done Nozomi!

Have a lovely fortnight everyone.

Kate Gray

Principal

Assistant Principal's Report

It’s been another jam-packed fortnight!

It’s been wonderful visiting a range of classes and seeing the learning activities going on. I visited 1C and Nishikubo sensei and enjoyed making (and eating!) rice balls. In 1S I had the pleasure of seeing children make creative hats for ‘Hat Day’ and also try a delicious smoothie they make for me as part of their learning with Harada sensei during Reporting Week. Each week I have the pleasure of listening to 2M in Music classes with Smith sensei. Whether they are singing a song or learning the pipe organ, they are always in tune!

The Year 1 and 2 classes enjoyed successful excursions to Coal Creek. This was part of their classroom learning comparing life as we have today compared to the olden days. Students enjoyed the experiences at Coal Creek to learn about what life was like in the past and how it was very different to what we enjoy today. Thank you to the teachers for organising this worthwhile excursion and to the parents who attended.

The Foundation students also embarked on a trip to Myuna Farm. This was an excellent experience for students as many have not experienced a farm before. One of our parents that attended reported to Kate and I what a wonderful experience it was, how well organised our school was (also complimented by Myuna Farm) and how well behaved and engaged our students were. Thank you to our Foundation Teachers for organising this excursion and to the parent helpers who came on the day. With support from our parents it makes excursions like these run smoothly and further build the links between home and school.

We have had a number of sporting events over the past fortnight. The Year 3-6’s have had the ‘Hot Shots’ tennis clinics which have looked like lots of fun. The instructors and teachers have commented on how well some of our students play the game of tennis- perhaps we have a budding Pat Rafter out there in our grades! The students have once again been really engaged, using great teamwork, trying their personal best and using great persistence when participating in the clinics.

The Oakleigh District Schools ran its annual cross country event. Huntingdale came second by the narrowest of margins and several students placed high enough to be able to participate in the division level being held this Thursday. You can read Mr Herskope’s report in this newsletter. Thank you to Mr Herskope for organising training for students at lunchtimes and supporting them in their running endeavours!

Finally, I wanted to share with our parent community another instalment of our ‘Play is the Way’ Program. In class and out in the yard teachers use the ‘Self Mastery Checklist’ to question students in conflict situations and also to check their thinking. It is a consistent language used throughout the school. It is initially used by teachers so students can think about their behaviour and combined with other questions such as ‘What happened?’ ‘How could things have been different?’ and ‘What can we do now?’ help students to self-regulate and work through situations. The mastery checklist is in English and Japanese:

You might like to try using the questions at home!

Have a great fortnight

Ruth Biddle