From The Principal

During the school holidays we had significant work done around the school. This includes:

• The construction of a stage wall in the PAC. This will allow performances to enter from stage left and right waiting behind the scenes. Installation of strip floor lighting will occur to ensure students can see where they a going.
• The replacement of roofing, gutters and downpipes on the STEM and design and technology buildings.
• Upgrading of two single use toilets in the languages block. This includes wall tiling and new fixtures and fillings. Air vents have been installed in the doors to ensure circulation of the air supporting the extraction fans. It is intended to upgrade two more further toilets in the term 2 holidays.
• Redevelopment of the Learning Centre to change location of office space and increase space for students and learning support and supervised lunchtime activities.

Staff changes:

At the end of term 1 the following staff have left us or gone on leave:

• Glen Little won a leadership position in another school
• Jenna English has gone on 12 months maternity leave
• Craig Neilsen has gone on leave for term 2

We have welcomed the following staff for term 2:

• Laryssa Montgomery who will be the Assistant Principal: Innovation in Middle School and Wellbeing for Learning years 7 to 12 for 12 months
• Michelle Stephens is the Coordinator: Innovation in year 8 until 2028
• Brad Boothe teaching mathematics
• James McLaughlin teaching Health and PE
• Meenu Sundhu teaching mathematics
• Alysha Johnson learning support
• Mikayla Sheffield learning support
• Georgia McAllister learning support

Student Free Day

Our second student free day occurred on 29 April. On the day we explored the reading fluency data for our year 7 and 8 students.  Our speech pathologist provided information about the simple view of reading. 

The view of reading shows the interrelationships between different aspects of reading and for staff to understand the connection of student's word recognition skills and language comprehension. Both of these aspects contribute to the student's reading comprehension. 

Reading comprehension is the ability to make sense and meaning from written texts whether for example it is a novel, textbook or online article. As students' progress through to year 12 there is increased demands for reading comprehension. 

Our staff worked in teams to explore strategies we can use to support students from year 7 to 13 in their reading fluency. The afternoon saw us explore the characteristics of effective teachers and teaching.

Our next student free day is on Monday 22 July when our focus will be on Wellbeing for Learning building on the professional learning of the Berry Street Education Model.