Assistant Principal's Message

Learning Partner Questionnaire 2024

On Monday all families were sent the link to the 2024 Learning Partner Questionnaire: https://forms.gle/azNLNHmsWktTfkzb9. 

This is an opportunity for you to discuss and select the names of 5 learning partners who learn best together with your child for 2024.  We value your time in discussing this as a family and completing the questionnaire.  Responses are required by Friday 15 September. 

We will endeavour to place your child/ren in a class with at least one of the students that you/they have nominated that they learn best with. We aim to set up each year for success, for teachers and students.  This means that as well as making sure that all students have at least one of their nominated learning partners, we also endeavour to ensure that there is a balance of personalities, academic abilities, interests and preferences in each class. 

We also acknowledge that in certain cases, some students are not a good fit together in a class. If there is someone you think your child should not be placed with please email toorak.ps@education.vic.gov.au with a short explanation by Friday 6 October 2023. Please include your child's first and last name and also the class they are currently in. Please don’t assume that requests from previous years are sufficient information – we acknowledge that relationships, behaviours and interactions change year to year.

Professional Learning Communities

Last Tuesday at School Council, Luke Fletcher presented the ongoing work of our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). 

At Toorak PS, teaching teams work collaboratively together in PLCs and meet weekly on a Monday.  There are 4 main phases of the Inquiry Cycle that teachers work together on and this following the departments ‘Improvement Cycle’.

The improvement cycle is typically bound to a 6-8 week cycle.  Data is used to identify an improvement cycle based on student and cohort needs.  We steer away from making assumptions and ground the work in evidence to improve teaching and learning outcomes for all students.  This year the 2 foci areas have been Numeracy and Literacy in line with our Annual Implementation Plan.  Each week teachers engage in professional reading, classroom observations, analysing student work samples and the rehearsal of the ‘explicit teaching’ components of lessons to ensure consistent high quality teaching practice. Returning after my placement, I was impressed to see the high level of teacher commitment, collaboration and trust in the way teachers worked together during the improvement cycle.  This fosters the strong sense of professionalism and culture we are continually cultivating at Toorak Primary School.  

Suada Dzaferovic 

Assistant Principal