Dear Parents and Carers,

This will be my final newsletter for Term 2 as I will be taking the last two weeks of long service leave. Whilst on leave Mrs Stephanie Lindsay will be Acting Principal for the school.

On Monday 23rd June you will have received your child’s report. This will inform you and your child of the growth and achievements they have made over the first 6 months of the year. In the last week of the term, we will be setting Parent Teacher Interviews where you will be able to follow up with the teacher about any questions you may have. Parent Teacher interviews will occur on Wednesday 2nd July (students finish at 12.30pm). Please make a booking via Compass or contact your teacher for a possible meeting or phone call. Your child’s portfolio will also be sent home on this day.

This week we conducted the Student Attitudes to School Survey. This survey was completed by students from Grade 4-6. As the survey is completed on the devices, you are able to view the results 24hrs later once the students have completed it. In the table below, it shows that some of our key improvement areas have seen improvements in these areas of the school from 2022.

Currently the number of students that completed the survey is at 80% so we have about 20-30 students to chase up who have been away to get their feedback. Either way the current data is a a positive endorsement for the hard work our staff and leadership team have shown in addressing these areas.

Grade 4-6	2022	2023	2024	2025
Response rate	92% (188 students)	84% (183 students)	91% (215 students)	80% (225 students)
	Overall % positive	Overall % positive	Overall % positive	Overall % positive
Managing bullying	67%	63%	77%	82%
Sense of confidence	68%	63%	77%	86%
School connectedness	73%	67%	78%	82%
Student voice and agency	64%	59%	71%	77%
Emotional awareness and regulation	62%	58%	76%	80%

Now that assessment weeks are over, our students and teachers are back into teaching and learning programs. Our leadership team has been visiting classrooms to see the students' learning in progress and our teachers delivering the core curriculum.

Staffing welcomes

Next term we welcome back Jodie Goldring who has been away on medical leave and will return to Garden space to continue the work in this area.

Ms Jessica Burns will return to our school in Term 3 after spending time at Phoenix College and will move into 1A after Mrs Story takes maternity leave.

We also welcome Ms Jordyn Bibby who will join us in Term 3 and take on a variety of leave replacements. She will step into 5A while Mr Toan takes leave once his second child is born and then step into 6C whilst Mrs Jones takes leave also in the middle part of the term.

Uniform Reminder

The school holidays are a good time to remind ourselves about the school uniform and update them as required. A uniform dress code reinforces in students a pride in their own appearance, instils recognition of themselves as an integral part of the school community, and assists in developing pride in representing their school.

Ensuring your child attends in a clean fitting uniform assists them to feel connected to the school and proud of themselves and each other.

Attendance Reminder

On average, at the moment, we are seeing a large number of students absent every day … this is well above what we would normally expect. Although we understand that sick students should remain at home, please ensure they return as soon as possible.

Every minute counts.

Advanced Notice

Some key dates and events coming up:

Next assembly is Friday 20th June
The final day of this term (Friday 4th July) will be Pyjama Day! This is not a fundraiser, just a fun day where students can wear the Pyjamas to school. School finishes at 1.30pm.

Looking ahead into Term 3

Looking ahead to Term 3 we certainly have an action-packed term ahead that includes the following:

Year 5 camp to Halls Gap in Week 7
Year 4 camp to Anglesea in Week 8
The beginnings of the Kinder Transition Program.
Father’s Day breakfast and stall - Friday 5th September
The Young Authors’ Program.
Book week

On behalf of the school, thank you for another term and working together with our team of teachers, educational support staff and office staff to achieving success for our DPS students. I will see you again in Term 3.

Thanks again – Scott, Marnie, Stephanie and Michael

COMMUNITY NEWS

Check out what is going on in the Ballarat community outside of school...