Principal's Message
Welcome BBQ Postponed
Due to the extreme fire risk today, as well as the predicted forecast around winds and possible storms this afternoon, it is best that we postpone our BBQ that was planned for this evening, until Thursday 27th February.
The event will begin at the same time - 4:45pm and run until 6:45pm. We will assume that if you RSVP for the initial event that you are attending on the new date of the 27th.
Looking forward to seeing you all there, we were so thrilled with the massive number of responses!
Our Work for 2025
You may be aware that each year schools put together a plan detailing some goals, targets, key improvement strategies and actions they will undertake to lead further improvement. 2024 was a strong year at Launch with our staff, community and most importantly students making focused, collective efforts to further improve our literacy and numeracy outcomes. 2024 was our first year of UFLI (phonics and phonological awareness explicit teaching) instruction and implementation of Talk For Writing. We documented curriculum, scope and sequences and unit plans, making sure ‘The Launch Way’ was known to all and ready to be innovated on for our next cohort of students as they move through the school.
I’m proud to share with you our key improvement strategies for 2025:
Assessment: Build teacher capacity to collaboratively use formative assessment to plan a genuinely personalised program.
Leadership: Strengthen instructional leadership in the areas of consistent instruction and common approaches to planning.
Engagement: Further embed a whole–school approach to student agency in learning and wellbeing.
Engagement: Further build student capacity to set challenging learning goals in consultation with teachers; and monitor their own learning growth.
I look forward to sharing with you as we move through the year the practices we are adopting and routines we are putting in place to achieve these goals.
School Council Nominees
Congratulations to these School Council nominees who will sit on our School Council in 2025:
Staff Positions
Audrey Watt
Brydie Tatterson
Katherine Bolton
Parent Positions
Bec Van Est (Continuing)
Gemma Wynd (Continuing)
Emma Roberts (Continuing)
Claire Fyfe
Melissa Jones
Congratulations to the above councillors on their appointment!
NAPLAN
Preparations are beginning for NAPLAN which begins in Week Seven of this term. NAPLAN testing is an excellent opportunity for our school and staff to measure our improvement over time. In last year’s NAPLAN testing we were thrilled that 75% of our Year 3 students were assessed as being ‘Strong’ or ‘Excelling’ in Numeracy. This year we hope to further build on our success.
It is important to note that students who receive reasonable adjustments in our classrooms are also able to access adjustments during NAPLAN testing. This may look like additional time, planned rest breaks, access to a scribe or a support person. In the next week we will be contacting families to organise these adjustments and ensure all students are adequately supported to achieve their personal best on NAPLAN testing days.
Further parent communication will be provided shortly on Compass.
If you would like to see a bit more of what the testing will look like, check out the Public Demonstration page here: https://nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-site
Make sure you select the appropriate year level for your child.
Year 5/6 Camp
Some further information has been sent home this week about our upcoming Year 5/6 camp to Karoonda Park in Week Six. It has been a school tradition and rite of passage for many years for our Year 5/6 students to visit this camp and partake in the fabulous opportunities such as horse riding, hiking, abseiling, flying fox and rafting down the Snowy River. Please ensure you go through the information that has been sent home with your child and begin the process of preparation and making sure you have the clothing/toiletry items required.
Author visit
Ingrid Laguna will be visiting our school in Week Five to run some Writing extension groups with our talented and enthusiastic writers.
Ingrid Laguna is an author and educator. Her memoir, Serenade for a Small Family (A&U) was awarded a Varuna Fellowship and, after publication, The Age Non-Fiction Book of The Week. Songbird (Text Publishing), Ingrid’s debut children’s novel, was given Notable recognition by the Children’s Book Council of Australia and shortlisted for Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year Award 2021. It has been published in Australia, NZ, the UK and the US. The companion novel and sequel, Sunflower, was long listed for the ABIA and shortlisted for the Children’s Peace Literature Award. Bailey Finch Takes a Stand won the 2022 Environment Award for Children’s Literature (fiction), as well as Best Primary Resource and Best Chapter Book with Educational Publishing Awards Australia (EPAA) 2022. Kit & Arlo Find a Way (Consent for Young Readers), co-created with Vanessa Hamilton won the same awards with the EPAA in 2023. Ingrid has written for numerous publications including The Monthly, The Age, Magpies Magazine and the AEU magazine. She was the Education Advisor for the Melbourne Writers Festival over two Festivals.
I look forward to sharing with you how the sessions go and some of the writing students produce.
Flexi Library visit
Our Year 3/4 students began their visits from Justine, Yarra Ranges Flexi-Library last Friday. If parents haven’t already it would be great to follow the process that was communicated through Compass and the paper notes home to sign your child up for borrowing. The library sessions involve some sharing of literature and then an opportunity to borrow from the visiting library. We will make sure that we share the opportunity around to other year levels over the future terms.
School Tours
School tours are now available for prospective families for 2026. If you would like to make a time please contact our office.
Virtual Tour
See you around our place,
Laura Caddy
Principal