Principals` Message

Thank you to everyone in the community for your patience over the past few weeks as we plan changes and improvements to our security and safety processes in the school. We are waiting for final reports from the authorities who have reviewed our site security and policies, however there are several changes that were recommended already that we will be implementing over the coming week.

These changes will improve the security of our school buildings and grounds, and help us further control who is entering our school buildings. Some of the recommendations are also to reinforce existing processes which are good practice. The adjustments listed below will involve behaviour change by our staff, students and families, and may take some time for everyone to get used to. Please remember when we remind you that it is for a good reason! Starting next week we will be putting the following into place:

All late arrivals and early pickups will need to come to the George St office to sign in so that we can see the parent/carer
Parents/Carers who have an appointment to meet a teacher must sign in at the office and collect a visitors badge
Parents/Carers will no longer take their children into classrooms if they arrive late or before school
All classes will line up together in the yard before school. Foundation students will line up for the start of the day beginning Wednesday 29th May
Staff members on before/after school yard duty will be present at gates and entry/exit points in the school

These actions will reinforce existing processes and will bring some new changes, which will help keep our school more secure. Further changes and improvements will be shared as we move forward.

I would like to make an important reminder about health and illnesses. Now that the cold weather has arrived we have seen many children falling sick with illnesses such as cold, flu, RSV and COVID-19. This is reflected in the broader community outside our school community as well, with the media referring to a ‘soup’ of illness. It is important for children who are unwell to stay home and recover until they no longer have symptoms of illness. While we encourage and support student attendance at school, we always want unwell children to stay home and get better. This prevents spreading of illness at school and makes sure that they are feeling well, positive and are ready to learn.

Report writing season is beginning for our teachers and we have made some improvements to our reports following our survey of families earlier in the term. Feedback from families let us know that the areas of most value to parents/carers are the General Comment from the classroom teacher, the Curriculum Achievement dots, and the behaviour/work habits. We have adjusted reports for this Semester to respond to the feedback and remove the text heavy sections that families felt were not as important/helpful. These changes will make our reports easier to read and understand for everyone in our community.

Our student leadership team has expanded slightly this term with the inclusion of two more leaders. Ayub in Year 6 has taken on the role of lunchtime club coordinator. This role will be very important in making sure the clubs are running each day and helping to organise any resources that we need for them. Zac has taken on the role of STEM leader and will continue to STEM events in the school along with our other STEM leaders, Aeson and Maryam. We look forward to seeing our student leaders contributing positively to our school over the rest of the year.

Lastly, it is great to see lots of great experiences and excursions taking place for all year levels in our school. Our Year 3-4 visited the Arts Centre for a circus experience and had a great day – they had lots of stories about the performance. Our Year 1-2 students visited Fitzroy Library, learning about this great local resource. Our Year 5-6 students will be going to the Arts Centre for a ballet performance and the MCG to visit the sports museum. Our Foundation students will visit the Melbourne Museum and have a pets incursion as part of their learning this term. Excursions are a great way to connect in class learning with real life experiences and are often a highlight for all students.

-Nathan Moore & Andrea Hennessey