Message from the Principal

Dear Parents, 

Last week, all students in F-4 were part of the swimming lessons with trained instructors at the Paul Sadler Swimland Parkwood Green. Swimming and Water Safety is a mandatory component of the Victorian Curriculum. We thank our families and staff for their support in what can be a stressful week but one many of our students look forward to all year. Our Grade 5/6 students also undertook their water safety training yesterday with Surf Life Saving Australia at Port Melbourne Beach. The water safety and essential life-saving skills they learned will serve them well over the upcoming summer break.

Whole-School Raffle 

We have had a fantastic start to our Major School Fundraiser Raffle and would like to thank families for their support. There is still time to purchase more tickets as the raffle will be drawn on the 15th of December. There are over $2000 worth of prizes to be won, including a bike, basketball ring, scooters, gift vouchers, and much more. Extra tickets can be collected from the office or your classroom teacher. Tickets are only $2 each.

Reporting and Assessment

Teachers have begun writing student reports for this semester. From next week, teachers will commence a range of assessments with all students to get the most up-to-date information on student progress toward their learning goals and against the Victorian Curriculum. To ensure every student is given the full opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge teachers use a range of assessments including work samples, portfolio pieces, one-on-one interviews, and digital or paper-based tests. This information is used with all other assessments collected across the semester which teachers then share with their teams to determine a fair and accurate judgment of your child’s current learning ability across all areas. Our early data suggests that a vast majority of our students have already experienced significant growth in their learning this year and we look forward to celebrating this with them through their reports. 

Play your part, be eSmart

We know that students achieve their best at school in safe and supportive environments, where they are free from bullying and disruptive behavior. At our school, we put a big emphasis on making sure we provide a great environment for our students, including one that is free from bullying.

Bullying is a serious issue for all of us. We know that it can happen anywhere, anytime, and can have devastating consequences. We also know that with the rise of social media, cyberbullying is an increasingly important issue. Where bullying was once confined to the playground, it can now occur online at any time of the day or night. 

Cyberbullying is just as harmful as face-to-face bullying, and online actions can have real-life consequences. Social media services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat require account holders to be at least 13 years old. Creating an account with false information is a violation of their terms. This includes accounts registered on the behalf of someone under 13. Parents should support their children to adhere to these guidelines.

What does cyberbullying look like?

Cyberbullying can occur in many ways, including: 

· abusive texts and emails

· hurtful messages, images or videos

· imitating others online

· excluding others online

· humiliating others online

· nasty online gossip and chat.

I am being cyberbullied—how do I stop it?

talk to someone you trust straight away—like a parent, sibling, uncle/aunt, teacher, or friend, or contact the Kids Helpline

don’t retaliate or respond—they might use it against you

block the bully and change your privacy settings 

report the abuse to the service and get others to as well

collect the evidence—keep mobile phone messages, take screenshots, and print emails or social networking conversations 

What should I do?

Contact the school and make an appointment to discuss the issue. 

· Do not directly approach any other student or their family.

· Ask the school for a copy of your school's policies and any handouts on bullying.

Work with your child’s school to solve the problem by establishing a plan for dealing with the current situation and future bullying incidents.

Schools must follow privacy laws and may not be able to tell you everything that has taken place, especially about any other children involved. These laws keep you and your child’s information private too.

To support students in understanding cyberbullying and their role in preventing it in our community our school has engaged external experts 'Project Rocket' to lead learning for all students in years 3-6 and empower them to feel safe online.

Survey Feedback Summary

Thank you to all the parents, students, staff, and community members who invested their time to provide us feedback through the different means over the last few months. I highly encourage each of you to read the article in this week's newsletter for our summary of responses that will help guide our planning for 2024 and beyond. If you have any questions or would like to provide your own feedback or ideas you are encouraged to reach out to the school at any time.

I trust you and your families enjoyed the long weekend break and are charged for the action-packed remainder of term 4.

Warm regards,

Mr. Uzunovski