Principals Report

HAVE INPUT INTO OUR SCHOOL…SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS OPENED ON MONDAY 17TH FEBRUARY

We know that one of our school’s key strengths is our strong parent input and involvement. Our School Council is one the main forums in which parents and staff work together for the benefit of all our students. At the beginning of each school year, we have a number of vacancies for School Council. If you are interested in nominating, please collect a form from the school office or download one of the forms that is attached. An outline of the process including the timeline is also attached.

Please contact me if you would like more information about being a parent on our School Council: robyn.owens@education.vic.gov.au

Traffic Safety Reminder

School drop-off and pick-up times can be busy and hectic, making it important for everyone to prioritise road safety. We kindly ask all parents and carers to follow road and parking rules to ensure the safety of our students and to be considerate of our neighbours.

This year, we encourage everyone—including those who may not have always followed the rules—to be more mindful of the impact their actions have on others. Setting a positive example for our students is key to creating a safer school environment.

I found a great short 2.5-minute video from Glen Eira City Council that explains parking signs, school crossings, and traffic safety around schools. I encourage families to watch it together and discuss the importance of road safety.

🎥 Watch the video here: https://vimeo.com/795049475/01d1dc8db4

Our New Playground

Our school has regular playground audits to ensure the equipment meets OH & S standards. Last year our much loved boat playground was been deemed unsafe so we have been workly on designing a new boat playground for that area. Due to the support of our school community and money from the school, we now have the funds to proceed ordering our new playground. It has been ordered, but there is a long wait for installation. We are hoping for it to be installed in or near the June/July school holidays. I will let you know when the timeline is confirmed.

Our Commitment to Child Safety

Child Safety is a high priority at Wales Street Primary. We have just received notification that we have achieved compliance with minimum and child safe standards assessment. This has been a huge task that started in Term 3 last year. All our child safe policies have been updated and are all on our website.

Please see the attached document: Our commitment to Child Safety which was approved by staff and school council this week.

Curriculum Days

We have finally been able to secure our Term 3 curriculum date-it actually will now be in Term 4-due to our focus for the day. As a staff we will be looking at the new elements of the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 that staff will need to report on next year: Arts, Technologies, PE, Italian, Science & the capabilities: Critical & Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural, personal & social. We will cast a PYP lens over all these areas.  

The curriculum day will be held in Term 4, Friday 21st November.

Curriculum Day: 21st February: Responsive Teaching

Bron Ryrie Jones, a consultant and instructional coach spent the day with staff to unpack classroom learning and the effects of the environment and working memory and unpacked strategies on how to get the learning to be sustained in long term memory. A really interesting, engaging and practical day. Bron will be working with the staff throughout the year to support us in embedding new   practises and refining protocols and strategies that are already in place.