Principal's Report
Dear Families,
Equity and Excellence Strategy
In the last 6 months the Department of Education has implemented a new strategic document called Equity and Excellence. We are currently aligning our school strategic documents to align to this work. We look forward to sharing further development. If you are interested in in reading more about the Equity and Excellence Departmental strategy, please see the link below:
One of our key focus areas of our 2023-2026 Strategic Plan is to develop a positive sense of belonging all of our students through the pillar of ‘Building Communities’. Having a sense of belonging has fundamental benefits for children and young people and flow-on benefits for their learning and engagement with school. Sense of belonging to one’s school is referred to as school connectedness and is the extent to which students feel a part of their school and feel valued and cared for by their school community. A positive sense of belonging has fundamental benefits for students, including feeling that:
- their teacher and peers like, value and accept them.
- the curriculum is interesting and relevant.
- they are capable of succeeding at school.
- their cultural identity is welcome and valued.
- they can ‘be themselves’ within appropriate boundaries.
Our goal is to prepare every student for their future and supporting positive transitions from school onto their next steps into employment. Effectively planning and monitoring every student’s learning pathway through their senior schooling and post-school destination keeps students on track to achieve successful outcomes. Our school priorities in senior secondary are:
• supporting every student with a plan to stay on track to attainment and meaningful post-school pathways
• positive transitions and knowing the post-school destination of every student
We provide every Year 11 and 12 student with work experience opportunities through placements at Cooberrie Park, Cawarral Boarding Kennels, IGA, Endeavour and/or working in our Café. Thank you to our Senior Secondary staff for making these opportunities happen.
Cold and Flu season
Influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial viruses, can result in significant disruption to schools. There are things you can do to help protect yourself and your children:
- Get vaccinated is the most effective way to prevent children and adults from getting flu, becoming seriously ill with flu or passing it on to others.
- Stay at home when sick - see the Timeout brochure
- Practice good hand hygiene wash hands regularly with soap and water or use alcohol-based cleanser
- Practice good respiratory hygiene cough or sneeze into a tissue or your arm, throw tissues away and clean hands
- Clean surfaces regularly
- Ensure good ventilation.
Positive Climate for Learning
Over the past 18 months our staff have been working on the development of a Positive Climate for Learning Handbook. We have been consolidating past and current practices into three levels of support for students. The first level of support discusses Universal Tier 1 strategies and what strategies should be in place for all students in every classroom. The second level is at Tier 2 level which indicates more individualised support for students through Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation strategies. More intensive support is available for students at Tier 3 level where students are referred to a Student Support Team or Complex Case Management Team.
Our Positive Behaviour for Learning Team, Guidance Officer as well as our Occupational Therapist have been instrumental in the development of our Positive Climate for Learning Handbook. The Handbook is now available on our school's website. https://rockhamptonnorthspecs.eq.edu.au/supportandresources/formsanddocuments/documents/positive%20climate%20for%20learning%20handbook.pdf
To further support staff, Bill Schneid, who specialises in Classroom Profiling will be visiting our school next week. Classroom Profiling is a supportive, reflective professional practice which allows teachers to reflect on the effectiveness of their pedagogical practices they currently use in their classroom. We are looking forward to hosting Bill in our wonderful school.
Have a great week everybody and hope to see lots of families on our Sports Day the 31st of August. Please take note that our front office will be closed on that day as Judy and Alana will be helping out on the Oval for our Sports Day. More information will be sent out regarding Sports Day.
Kind regards,
Dehlia