From the  Principal 

Schools are communities where relationships are so very important to their success. I  am reminded of the importance of our strong relationships with parent volunteers in learning spaces, PFA events, Fathering Project, School Council, Kinder partnerships, Out of School Hours Care and so much more.

SHOUT OUT TO OUR AMAZING TEACHERS

Last Wednesday our teachers immersed themselves in our whole school professional learning day focused on mathematics. It was a highly interactive day where various staff shared their insights and new mathematical learning. Led by Amanda Miller and Gen Murtagh, with cameo roles by the Principal Team, we were driven by our Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) priorities and targets, which are underpinned by our school’s data.

The day was divided into sections where we connected with the following key ideas:

• Why? Engaging with evidence
• How? How can we organise the teaching and learning of mathematics at CPS to support all learners?
• What? What can we do to plan and teach this?

Time was afforded to our teachers to connect and reflect with their current practices and to plan a lesson using the evidence informed model.

CELEBRATING LEARNING

I was fascinated to learn about the Grade 6 children’s passion projects where they candidly shared what they had learned, and answered some high level questions. 

For example, one of the students, Chris, shared his knowledge of science with me, articulating the difference between a star and a planet, and explained why we now only have eight planets and the definition of a wave.

Jasmine experimented with her cooking skills and created vanilla plain and matcha eclairs. She was able to create her own flavour after her initial inquiry and research.

Kiki, Sienna and Summer created a podcast interviewing teachers with a series of questions. Most interestingly, they reported that they know their teachers better after spending time with them. I listened and learned about one of our staff who loves horses; who would be a horse trainer if he entered another profession; who was a school captain and his most memorable experience in primary school was graduation. I wonder who this teacher is?

Oh, nearly forgot, he also likes silly jokes and his favourite joke is: 

What is faster? Hot or Cold? 

Hot, because you can catch a cold!!!

Sasha, Owen, Hamish, Eli and Zavier produced a murder mystery short film. They wrote the script and filmed their very own movie. The boys identified many challenges including crowd control, tech issues, finding suitable areas to film, locating appropriate costuming and lighting difficulties. In the future they would organise costuming earlier, choose their set location and film on one phone only. Riddhi designed and created the perfect shoe and Layla expressed her emotions through painting.

GRADE 3/4 CAMP THANK YOU

Congratulations to Amy Carhart and Matthew Lello for organising our recent year 3 and 4 camp. The camp was held at Mt Evelyn and personnel from the camp offered such positive feedback about the behaviour of our students and the respect they offered to staff and each other. Clearly, our school values extend beyond our gates.  

Our camping program is much anticipated by our students each year and when away from home and their routines, it is wonderful to see our children making new friendships, supporting one another, and enjoying the challenges. 

My sincere gratitude is extended to all staff involved and to the staff who remained at school, who supported the camp by shuffling their normal timetables and yard duties. 

FAREWELL TO MS CARHART

We will farewell Ms Carhart on Friday 1st September, as she embarks on the next chapter of life’s journey. Mrs Carhart will be taking maternity leave to spend time with her new family. We wish her every happiness in her new role. We welcome Ms Abbey Pomeroy and Ms Desiree Oh, two of our ongoing teachers who together will teach 3A, for the remainder of the year.

SUNSMART HATS

In line with advice from the Cancer Council, students and staff will begin wearing their Sunsmart hats from Monday 14th August. Please ensure your child’s hat is washed, named and ready to come to school for that day. This is an important part of our SunSmart policy. We thank you for your support in ensuring your child/ren bring their hats every day.

FUTURE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 

2023 Prep Orientation Sessions

• Wednesday 8th and 15th November – 2.30 till 3.20pm
• Wednesday 22nd and  29th November – 11.45 till 1.15pm

During these sessions our 2024 preps will visit our learning spaces and participate in special activities as well as meet new prep friends from a variety of feeder kinders. Information sessions are also offered to parents at these times. Further details will be available closer to the dates. If you have not yet enrolled your child for prep 2024 please contact the office as soon as possible to complete the enrolment. 

2024 ENROLMENT

We are in the process of developing a 2024 Workforce Plan to ensure we have the right people with the right skills to cater for the learning needs of our students. We need to confirm our anticipated enrolments and identify those students/families who are intending on leaving or travelling in 2024.

Please complete the 1 minute survey on Compass (3 tick the box questions only) to support us in knowing how many students we will be catering for in 2024.

Please click on INSIGHTS in Compass and complete your 2024 Enrolment Intentions as soon as possible.

PLEASE NOTE that the INSIGHT option is only available on the web page of this app. You will need to click on OPEN IN BROWSER.

2023 PARENT / CAREGIVER / GUARDIAN OPINION SURVEY:

Dear Parents and Carers,

Your family is asked to participate in the 2023 Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey. The Department of Education has contracted ORIMA Research (ORIMA) to conduct the survey. ORIMA is Australia’s leading provider of end-to-end research and data analytics services to the public and not-for-profit sector.

Each year the school conducts an opinion survey with the school community. All families are invited to participate in the survey. Results will be used to inform and direct our future school planning and improvement.

I ask you to please take the time to complete the survey as your opinions are important to us and will contribute to the future management and organisation of our school. The department will use the results from the survey for research purposes and to improve outcomes for students. 

• The survey will be conducted online and only takes 20 minutes to complete.
• The survey will be open until Friday 8 September 2023.
• The survey is available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Please be assured that your responses are completely confidential. The survey is conducted anonymously, and it is important to us that you complete the survey as honestly as possible.  

Please refer to the Compass Post dated 10th August for the survey log in details and PIN. We are unable to share these via the newsletter to ensure only parents and carers connected to our school complete the survey. If you need further assistance, please feel free to contact the office.

Thank you for taking the time to participate. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Questions?

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any general queries about the survey. For specific technical or participation-related queries, you may also contact the department or the supplier administering the survey, ORIMA Research.

• Should you have any technical queries regarding the Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey, please do not hesitate to contact ORIMA Research on 1800 654 585 (toll-free during business hours), or by email: pos@orima.com.
• Should you have any participation or survey-related queries, please contact the school, or the department by email: school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au.

The department and ORIMA protect your responses in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic). For more information, please visit ORIMA’s Privacy Policy, and the department’s Schools' Privacy Policy.

Kind Regards

Karen Roberts