From the School Leadership Team
Parent Information Night
It was a pleasure to see so many of our families join us for Parent Information Night earlier this week and to share in a great time of community together. The teachers gave some amazing presentations of the learning, events and routines that are planned in each class for the year, and it was a pleasure to again share our new strategic plan with our school community, as well as our plans for the Eisugakkan visit and our optional Japan Study Tour for Year 5 and 6 students later in the year. Thank you to our P & F who did a magnificent job of arranging drinks and nibblies for the evening for us to join together in community. Community is always one of the highlights of our school, and it was a pleasure to hear from some of our former students at the Endeavour College Opening Service earlier in the week who also articulated that the sense of community that we enjoy at our school was one of the defining positive features of their educational experience here. A reminder that our first P & F Meeting for the year is coming up on Monday 12 February at 7.30pm and all are welcome.
Strategic Plan
We have an exciting year ahead as we embark on the implementation of our new strategic plan. We are energised by our purpose to enrich the lives of children and each individual in our school community, and beyond the school environment. With a Christ- centred foundation, we foster an inclusive environment where everyone can belong, explore and thrive. Equally exciting are our new values - love, collaborate and explore, which will underpin all that we do, as well as our strategic priority areas of:
• Excellence and innovation in learning
• Well-being and culture
• Community and Partnerships
• School Development
Parent Lounge
We are excited that our new parent portal, Parent Lounge, has been launched this year. This is a great way to be able to check that your contact details and your child's medical details are up to date, as well as to be able to view the school calendar.
Please check your email for the login information sent last week and you are most welcome to be in touch with us if you have any queries around the login process.
A few reminders
Please be reminded of some of our key events to commence the year:
- Saturday 10 February - Fishing Club at Webb Beach
- Monday 12 February - P &F Meeting - 7.30pm
- Tuesday 13 February - Shrove Tuesday and Anniversary of the Apology
- Wednesday 14 February - Ash Wednesday
- Friday 1 March - SAPSASA Swimming
- Saturday 2 March - Fishing Club at Goolwa
Will Wallace
Principal
Safe and Ethical Use of ICT
The change in the past 10 years has been phenomenal in terms of technological advances with individual and personal devices. We are spending more and more time on screens. How do we best manage this so that ourselves and our children don’t fall into the oblivion of an online obsession? It’s not easy but there are steps that can be taken (best to start early) to encourage a positive approach to using devices. In our year 3-6 classes we have looked at iPads, online safety, essential agreements and ICT polices. In the near future all year 3 and up families will receive an ICT policy to read through and sign with their child. This is an agreement between the family and school to support the child’s learning with technology. Today I discussed with the year 3 and 4 students many important habits to form when starting out using iPads at their age. We discussed the importance of an essential agreement at home, where as a family you can make important decisions. This could include how much time, where it is to be used, how it is to be used and where the device is kept.The website below gives great ideas on how you can support your family into creating a happy approach to using devices.
https://www.peacefulkids.com.au/blog-page/finding-the-balance-screen-time-gaming-and-social-media-by-luke-sheehan
Tim Kriewaldt
Deputy Principal
Toddle
We use Toddle at GGLPS to share a portfolio of each student’s work in their year levels. It is our aim to provide evidence of a student’s learning. This allows parents to celebrate the growth that children show across a wide range of learning while also providing insight into what comes next for the learner. There are many ways that we can view evidence of learning and there are many stages in the learning process where students and teachers may choose to show parents evidence. As a school, we have moved our focus from big tasks at the end of learning, to showing the process of learning and the growth that occurs.
We are excited about the many ways that we as a school will continue to grow our understanding of the effective ways to use Toddle to learn with and to showcase learning.
At school, children from F – 2 use QR codes to complete and post work. In Years 3 – 6, students download the student app on their iPads. Families, download the ‘Toddle Family App’ to view their children’s work. Invitations to your child’s Toddle are sent via email. When first using Toddle, please view the information provided through the link below, to walk through the process of loading and using the Toddle Family app effectively.
If you have not received an email or you are having any difficulty viewing work, please let me know.
Please find below a link to the information provided to our school families about Toddle during Parent Information Night.
Jayne Zadow
Director of PYP, Teaching and Learning
zadow.jayne@goldengrove.sa.edu.au