Nigel's Natter

Hi All, 

It's been a long while since the last newsletter as a result of a really busy time at HBPS. Hence the Saturday morning newsletter and LOTS of updates! 

Yesterday was the official half way mark for Term 3. 

We have accomplished so much of our Term Improvement Plan in the last 5 weeks! Here are just a few of the things we've been up to: 

• Review of the announcement regarding a NEW Victorian Teaching and Learning Model. The great news here is that we are already kicking goals! 
  • We are using an explicit model of teaching already.
  • We have developed whole school routines for managing student attention and focus.
  • We are including daily reviews and fluency practice in our lessons to ensure retention and recall.
  • We are monitoring our assessment data OFTEN to ensure mastery!
  • Our team have engaged in a huge amount of Professional Development about how the brain works and learns.  

• Review of the Victorian Gov's announcement about moving to an evidence-based approach to teaching reading. Again, this means business as usual for us! We moved to a much more explicit and systematic approach to teaching reading 24 months ago, and we are already seeing the results! In fact, we're doing so well in this space - we are regularly hosting visitors from other schools to see how we've made such significant improvements so quickly! 

• Staff Wellbeing Survey. This is something I'm really proud of. Currently, there is lots of talk about a teacher shortage and plenty of media coverage about why this may be the case. I am working towards HBPS being an EMPLOYER OF CHOICE. I want a school community where adults THRIVE so they can best support our students. Each and every term, we run a WELLBEING CHECK for our entire team to 'take the temperature' of how our staff are feeling about work - and to reflect on the impact of the strategies we use to provide a brilliant workplace for our team. This term, our results indicate that 83% of our team are either COMPLETELY or MOSTLY Satisfied at work and 80% of our team report that they have an acceptable workload. We are actively working to support our team and are currently working on improving access to robust curriculum materials - which will further reduce workload pressure. This means teachers are really focus on TEACHING. We have also just released our first draft of a Neur-Inclusive Workplace Strategy - to ensure our neurodiverse adults are as well supported as our students! 

• Reading Guarantee and Year Level Team Projects. This term, as a school we made a commitment to a HBPS Reading Guarantee. Essentially - we're on a mission to ensure that EVERY SINGLE STUDENT leaves Hamlyn Banks PS a confident reader! This may seem like a no brainer - however, it is widely accepted in many schools that there is a performance bell curve - where some students will do very well - and - others - not so much. This is not good enough for us. We've invested a huge amount of time and money into providing additional intervention to those who need it most. Each team has selected a focus area for improvement and are working hard to achieve their goals. We are monitoring ALL STUDENTS who are not at the expected standard of performance fortnightly - to make sure that the instruction and intervention they are getting is making a difference.  

• Spelling Mastery decision. To follow on from our strong work in Prep to Year 2 with Sounds Write and our systematic approach to teaching english, we are introducing the Spelling Mastery program in 2025 from Year 3 to Year 6. Spelling Mastery will complement our existing curriculum well and ensure our kids leave primary school with the fundamental language skills required to thrive in life!  

• Mathematics Community of Practice. This Year, HBPS has joined a group of like-minded schools who are keen to ensure a STRONG and EXPLICT approach to teaching maths. Each school has chipped in and we've employed an outstanding facilitator that is working with us to establish our shared approach to number fluency and student progress monitoring. The HBPS Leadership Team are engaged in this work, so we can lead with expertise in the coming years.   

There are many other excellent things happening at HBPS, but, I'll leave it at that for this week. 

Father’s Day Stall - Thursday 29th August

Children will have the opportunity to buy a gift for their dads, granddads and other father figures in their lives. Gifts are priced between $2 and $12. Classes will visit the stall between 9am and 11am, with children being able to buy up to 2 gifts at that time. Only those with money will be able to purchase on the day. We are unable to ‘hold’ any purchases.  Please send a bag for your child to put their gift/s in. 

If you are available to help at the stall, please email hamlynbankspfa@gmail.com.

HBPS STUDENT NEWS

Be sure to jump over to the HBPS Face Book page to watch the latest episode of our student created Hamlyn Banks P.S News report. BIG THANKS to Mr Brown for supporting our students to create the News Report each week. It's brilliant. 

PARKING

A heads up to our community. In the coming weeks, we are going to be providing information to our neighbours about how to report illegal parking and unsafe driving. This will include the City of Greater Geelong Local Laws team who issue parking fines and the Highway Patrol Unit of Victoria Police who police speeding and unsafe driving. 

This is one more step we are taking to keep your children safe, in addition to ongoing reminders and requests for support.  

Please drive and park safely. Please respect our neighbours properties. 

Check out the STUDENT NEWS page for stacks of photos from events and activities that have happened so far this term! 

Be sure to check out the Dates for the Diary - as there have been plenty of new dates added. 

See you at the front gate. 

Nigel