From the Principal
A strong start
It’s been a very big foundation term, and I’m delighted with the progress we have made in developing our school.
Official opening and Premier's visit
We have been visited this term by both the Minister for Education, Ben Carroll, and the Premier, Jacinta Allan, accompanied by local member Steve McGhie. The Minister spoke at and officially opened our school, and the Premier spent over an hour visiting in early March, touring the school and speaking with students and staff. A highlight was a 3-3 basketball contest, ‘politicians vs students’, which was decided to end in a tie at one game all!
It’s good to see the support and interest coming from these levels of government. We are also enjoying engaging with our local schools, community groups and regional services teams and will keep building these relationships as our year progresses.
Student learning
This term our students sat NAPLAN, with a strong participation rate of over 97%. We should receive early cohort-level results in the next few weeks, with individual results released later in the year.
At the start of the year we also conducted additional standardised testing in Reading and Mathematics with all our students, to gain a more detailed understanding of areas of strength and development. Our teachers have used this data to inform their curriculum preparation and teaching, and to identify students for additional literacy and numeracy support.
Students are now well settled in to their subjects, have completed assessment tasks in most subjects and are getting more used to homework expectations for their core subjects. You can read more about what students have been learning in the newsletter.
The focus of our professional development with teachers this term has been on establishing shared behavioural norms and routines to promote a calm and focussed classroom, including routines for entry to the room, use of common seating plans and strategies for gaining attention and promoting full participation across the class.
Curriculum planning and our lesson structure will be the focus of our Term 2 Professional Learning day.
Our recent Parent Student Teacher Conferences were well-attended, with 67% of families booking time with their child’s teachers. Our staff really enjoyed the chance to engage 1:1 in this context. Thank you for your participation in these conferences and your strong support for your child's learning at home.
Engagement and Wellbeing
Our students have settled in well to the school, and are certainly enjoying the amount of space and freedom they have at break times. It’s been lovely to watch large groups playing tag, soccer, basketball and using the gym equipment, with others enjoying the indoor breakout spaces and use of the student microwaves.
The Sports Field opening in March was also a highlight for many students!
Our Wellbeing and Allied Health team have all also commenced their roles: you'll meet the team in this newsletter.
We also have a Disability Inclusion Coordinator who is working well with our Learning Support team to plan and prepare for Disability Inclusion Profiles and funding applications, plus the implementation of classroom supports and learning plans for our students with additional needs.
We really enjoyed our community coming together at the Year 7 Family Picnic in February. Other engagement events this term have included:
- Interschool Bowls and Swimming teams
- Girls Tech Day
- Whole School Cross Country
- Lunchtime Games and Gardening clubs