The Principal's Report

Wominjeka 

Wominjeka (Woi-wurrung word for Welcome) to Term 3.  A special welcome to new the members of our community, 12 students and families commenced this week and to our returning teachers Sarah and Carli in FCB and Shannon as our Assistant Principal. 

We look forward to working with you to have a fabulous term of learning. 

Online Parent Library

This year we would like to start developing a parent resource that will assist you, provide you with information, resources and articles that can support you as parents, as supporters of your children and our school. 

We wonder what you might like us to provide, are there topics that would be of use to you? If you can spare a few minutes then please follow this link and complete a Google Form to give us some suggestions. 

Parent Online Library Google Form

I have attached an article which provides you with some ideas to support your children to be a problem solver. 

Parent Opinion Survey

We want your opinion to support us to improve as a school. Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents think of our school. The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst a sample of randomly selected parents. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour and student engagement. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

Approximately 30 per cent of parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year the Parent Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 22rd July to Sunday 11th August.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 10-15 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, Somali and Punjabi.

The survey results will be reported back to the school at the end of September. The survey results are presented at School Council and then we work through how we can use the feedback to continue improving our school. 

Please speak contact me if you would like more information - via phone  on 98575157 or email - boroondara.park.ps@eduail.vic.gov.au 

Urgent Health Assistance 

We would like to ask for your co-operation in an important matter.

One of the students at our school has a medical condition and is receiving medical treatment, which puts them at risk if they develop chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal or tuberculosis. The risk for this child can be reduced by receiving special medical attention as soon as possible after coming in contact with these illnesses.  

It is very important therefore, that you let us know immediately if your child develops any of these infections, so that the child at risk receives medical attention at the earliest opportunity.

Your child is at no risk whatsoever from this situation. However, the health and wellbeing of one of his/her classmates does depend on your help and cooperation.

This is also a gentle reminder to please keep your child/children at home if they are unwell with common illnesses such as colds/flu/gastro, to ensure that all students can attend school, even if they are undergoing medical treatment.

Cultural Understanding and Sensitivity Training

In the last week of Term 2 our staff completed the second half of their CUST learning. We again spent time learning about Australia's First Nation People. We were able to start considering how we are engaging with the Indigenous content in the Victorian Curriculum. 

For many of us a great way to start is through literature, pictures books offer us so much and we are never too old to read or have read to us a great picture book. The images below are from Welcome to Country by written by Aunty Joy Murphy and illustrated by Lisa Kennedy; Wiam A Birrarung Story by Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly, illustrated by Lisa Kennedy; Young Dark Emu A Truer History by Bruce Pascoe. At least two of these books are in our school Library. 

National Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with a Disability

All Australian schools are required to participate annually in the NCCD.

The NCCD reflects and supports the ongoing work of schools. The NCCD draws on teachers' professional judgement and practices throughout the year supporting students with disability to access and participate in education on the same basis as other students.

Under the NCCD model, teachers and school staff use their professional, informed judgement, based on evidence, to determine the level of adjustment students with disability receive, in both the classroom and whole of school context, as well as the broad category of disability that relates to the adjustments.

The NCCD model is based on mandatory obligations to students under the national Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and Disability Standards for Education 2005(DSE). Understanding these legal obligations and the NCCD model is essential knowledge for principals and teachers.

The NCCD is used by the Australian Government to calculate the students with disability loading in recurrent funding for schools provided by the Commonwealth to states and territories. The quality and reliability of information gathered for the NCCD is critical.

School principals are responsible for verifying the accuracy of their school's NCCD data and validating that there is evidence at the school to support the inclusion of a student in the NCCD. This is a key responsibility given that the NCCD data will be used to inform funding provided by the Australian Government to Victoria and may be the subject of audits or compliance activities.

App information

In the next few newsletters I will be sharing information about a variety of different apps. The information comes from the Carly Ryan Foundation.

I hope that the information is useful as you move into the digital world with your children. The fact sheets aim to assist you to keep your children safe, some of it will be explicit in terms of child abuse so please be aware of that as you read through.