From the Principal
Term 1 Week 4 Matt Mulree
Dear Parents and Carers,
AGM and Acquaintance Night
On behalf of all staff here at West Beach I’d like to thank all families who came to our acquaintance night. Staff really valued the opportunity to share their plans for the year and were excited to get the opportunity to meet families. Communication is a large part of a successful year for any engaging classroom environment, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s class teacher if you missed the opportunity last week.
Thanks to those families who attended the AGM. I really appreciated that you would take the time to meet after hours and help drive the school priorities for 2020.
Site Improvement Plan
The future direction of teaching and learning at West Beach is guided by our Site Improvement Plan or SIP. Through ongoing investigation of our data we have three clear learning areas we are focusing on.
1. Literacy: increase the number of students and retain in higher bands 3, 5 and 7 (NAPLAN) in writing.
2. Numeracy: increasing the achievement of R-7 students in numeracy.
3. Literacy: increase the number of students showing high growth in years 5-7 (NAPLAN).
Throughout the year staff will participate in a range of professional development to support the implementation of the SIP. The SIP will ensure we maintain and improve our results. If you have any questions about the SIP please contact me.
External Review
Towards the end of Term 4, 2019 our site underwent an External Review. The review process was an opportunity for a panel to examine how our site operates and the effectiveness of the programs being offered. West Beach was praised for having a welcoming school community, where students feel valued and are able to clearly articulate their learning. The review was largely successful and have provided us with some key directions moving forward.
Direction 1:
Build coherence and further refine teacher practice by developing processes to provide a cycle of focused observations to deliver SIP criteria.
Direction 2:
For all students to receive differentiated learning with appropriate stretch and challenge, strengthen teachers’ capacity in learning, design and moderation.
Direction 3:
Enable all students to monitor and assess their learning through ongoing conferencing to set individual learning goals establish clear success criteria and received timely feedback.
Our site will be reviewed again in three years, which the longest review period offered to a Department school. The extended version of the ESR is currently available on the school webpage.
Pupil Free Day
Our site will be closed for a Pupil Free Day, Friday 6/3. All staff will be engaged in a Professional development opportunity with teachers across our partnership focusing on Learning Design and moderation in Writing. This will be a great opportunity for staff to improve practice and develop their teaching and learning programs to better suit the needs to students at West Beach Primary School.
Student Leaders
Special thanks to Student Leaders Jett and Eve who toured Education CEO Rick Persse and Communications Manager Hayley Connolly around West Beach Primary School last Tuesday. Rick and Hayley were blown away by the sense of community and engagement displayed by our students.
Congratulations to our House Captains who were introduced at the Week 2 assembly. We look forward to the great work that you will do across 2020.
At this week’s assembly our STEM and Arts Leaders will be introduced. Our Junior Primary Buddies will be introduced in Week 8.
Staff Car Park
A reminder to please not park in the Staff Car park adjacent the hall at school pick up or drop off times. We have had some near misses recently due to the enclosed nature of the space. Please park in the surrounding streets or further down along Woodhead Street. The rear carpark can be accessed if needed, and has a better line of site for safe exit at busy times.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Matt Mulree
Acting Principal