Message from the Principal 

GRADE 6 ANGLESEA CAMP

On Tuesday morning, an extremely excited group of Year 6 students boarded the bus for the Anglesea Camp. I am pleased to report that they are all having an excellent time and really enjoying the activities and adventure. Camps are one of those special extra-curricular activities that allow students rich experiences that just are not possible within the normal school environment. Look out for a full report in the newsletter next week.

STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING UPDATE LAUNCHING OUR HIGH IMPACT LEARNER AGENCY TRAIT’S (HILAT’S)

We had a highly successful curriculum day with our staff team last Friday. The focus for this day was to launch our High Impact Learner Agency Trait’s. This is a key part of our Annual Implementation Plan for 2025 and is being led by Krysten O’Leary. Our HILAT’s is the next phase of our work around student agency.

Student agency refers to the level of control, autonomy, and power a student has in their learning journey. It involves providing students with the resources, skills, and opportunities to deeply engage with their learning.

Our High-Impact Learner Agency Traits consist of interconnected components that we believe are key to fostering a high level of agency in learners. These elements serve as the foundation for developing confident, self-directed individuals who can navigate their learning with purpose.

There are twelve specific HILAT’s that we unpacked with our staff team and we will share more about each of these is future newsletters and Two Minute Tuesdays. 

ANNUAL REPORT DATA – Part #1

Each year school’s produce an Annual Report and share this information with their school community. The report contains specific data that DET and schools collect to inform decision making and assess progress around strategic plan goals. Over the next two weeks we will share some of the specific data sets that are contained in our 2024 Annual Report. This Report has now also been endorsed by our School Council meeting on 4th March.

Overall, we are really pleased with our 2024: 

• Parent Satisfaction Survey Data
• Student Survey Sense of Connectedness Data
• Student Survey Management of Bullying Data

PARENT SATISFACTION SURVEY DATA

In the graph above, our school is the red line. In 2024, our percentage of positive endorsement for parent satisfaction was 84.5%. This continues our strong percentage of parent satisfaction over the last few years and is 3% higher than the State average for primary schools. 

We have been working very hard on ensuring our communication is detailed and timely. Our Principal Team also provides a high level of transparency and accessibility. We take parent concerns seriously and walk the talk when it comes to having an open-door policy. As a team we are highly visible in the year before and after school and also send out a weekly Two Minute Tuesday. Each term we host a Meet with the Principal Team forums are we are now in the process of moving our Continuous Reporting process over to Compass to streamline school communications and reduce the number of platforms we use. 

STUDENT SURVEY SENSE OF CONNECTEDNESS DATA

Wellbeing results around School Connectedness were also positive. This trend has been witnessed over a four- year period with the average positive endorsement for the school sitting at 82.1% which is 6% above Similar Schools at 76% and 4% above the State average of 77.9%.

Pleasingly the school percentage of positive endorsement for Management of Bullying has a 4-year average of 78.7% which is over 4% higher than Similar Schools at 74.5% and 2% higher than the State average at 76.3%. 

This is attributed to the work of our staff team to build strong connections and relationships built on a positive and inclusive learning environment. All teams employ a systematic and focused approach to tracking student wellbeing. This enables check-ins, follow ups and other actions to be implemented effectively. Our Education Support staff provide a valuable link and an additional point of contact and support. Student Wellbeing is also a key component of weekly Principal Class meetings.

Overall, our students, families and staff report that they have strong positive endorsement for Wellbeing elements across the school. This is demonstrated through high access and contact from classroom teachers, specialist teachers and Education Support staff and Principal Class, a comprehensive and extensive communications program, a positive and enabling approach to classroom management, additional support programs, social groups, buddy program. 

Highlights relating to wellbeing in 2024 include:

• Being part of DET implementation of School Wide Positive Behaviour System (SWPBS)
• Dual Assistant Principal roles which enabled an increase in staff capacity to build stronger wellbeing processes across the school.
• A staff leadership teacher position which included one day release to support Wellbeing and Disability & Inclusion.  

STUDENT SURVEY MANAGEMENT OF BULLYING DATA

As you can see from the above graph, our 2024 positive endorsement for Management of Bullying was 72.8%. This was below both Similar Schools and State average, however the 4-year average data in this area sits well above Similar Schools and State average.

This has been achieved through our staff’s commitment and level of concern, extensive and comprehensive communications, positive classroom and behaviour management processes, social groups, buddy program and of course our weekly wellbeing focuses. 

We will include 2024 data sets around Learning (NAPLAN) and Engagement in next week’s newsletter.

STUDENT AGENCY CONFERENCES

This is a reminder that our Student Agency Conferences will be held on Thursday 27th March. On this day, students only attend school for the duration of their conference. These are 15 minutes each and they will run between 9am and 6.30pm. Bookings are now open via Compass and they will close on Wednesday 26th March at 12pm.

Please note that the conference structure will be 15 minutes with the teacher, student and parent/carers. As is always the case, should you wish to discuss any issue with your child’s teacher throughout the year, you can contact them to make a suitable time.

Student Agency Conferences give students the opportunity to articulate and reflect on their learning. It is recognised that if our children are to be successful in the future, they must be given the skills to “learn how to learn.” We want them to understand that learning is something they do, it is not something done to them or something that just happens. Strategies like conferencing assist in leading students towards becoming self-directed, independent learners. Student agency conferences ensure that the focus remains on the students and the critical role they have in determining their own next steps for learning.

NAPLAN ONLINE

Over the next two weeks, our Year 3 & 5 students will be completing the annual NAPLAN assessments. This year, the test will continue to be completed online using iPads. The value of using this platform is that the tests will adapt to better match the student’s level as opposed to a one size fits all where often there is only one or two questions that stretch students at the top end. The online platform will also mean that in time schools and families will be able to access the data and results in a timely manner. In the past, NAPLAN results have been sent to schools in September which is well past the used by date for our teachers to use the assessments to guide their teaching and planning. 

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact Brad Ryan and we will share the overall school results with our community when they come through. 

PARENT HELPERS

Thank you to all our parents and carers who have completed the Parent Helper Induction process. This process is available to complete via our school website. There is a short induction video to watch and several forms to download and sign. 

We are so fortunate to have such strong community support for our school. Our Parent Helper Inductions are a particularly important process that helps our school community understand that our school has a clear and public commitment to child safety in the form of our Child Safe Code of Conduct and Child Protection Reporting Policy. By including these policies as part of our parent helper requirement, our School Council has clearly defined and explained acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for staff, volunteers and children.

SCHOOL TOURS FOR 2026 ENROLMENT

Each week we host a tour of our school with a particular focus on students beginning school in 2026. If you know of a family with a child ready to start school, please encourage them to go to our website to find out about the tour dates and times for this term. I am pleased to say that our school continues to have a strong reputation in our local community and people attending the tours often share the good things they have heard about our school.

Next Tuesday 18th March from 6pm-7pm I am also hosting an evening tour and information session. This is an open invitation event to all parents of pre-school children considering schools for 2026. 

James Penson,

Principal.