Message from the Principal 

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

ANNUAL REPORT 2022 DATA

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, our 2022 Annual Report has been tabled at School Council and as promised here is another set of data from the report to share with our school community. This graph highlights the large percentage of students in Years 3 and 5 achieving in the Top 3 Bands in Reading & Numeracy over a 4-year average.  All these percentages were well above the State average and importantly above the Similar School average. The highlight of the 2022 NAPLAN data was the increased percentage of students in the Top 3 bands in Reading. This was 90.2% in Year 3 and 85% in Year 5. This indicates that our continued and sustained focus on reading continues to have a strong impact on student learning achievement and outcomes.

We are indeed a GREAT reading school, and we want to keep getting even better. We have great teachers, a superb Library and of course a strong level of parent support for reading for pleasure at home.

So how do we keep working to make sure we remain such a strong reading school?

At school, we will achieve this through a very strategic and detailed professional learning plan based on ensuring high levels of staff knowledge around what high quality reading teaching is and how we deliver this consistently across the whole school each day. In fact, reading is so important at our school that we dedicate the start of everyday with 15 minutes focused on this in every classroom. This is just one of our commitments at school and you can also partner with us by doing something similar at home too.

At home, you can assist your child to find an extra 10 minutes a day to read. It might be as simple as 10 minutes less on technology or reading for 10 minutes before dinner. We know that you can become better at something if you focus on it more. Reading becomes easier and more enjoyable the more you do it! If you need some motivation have a think about this: If your child currently reads for just 1 minute a day, they will read 21,000 words this year. Increasing this by 10 minutes a day will lead to 321,000 words being read in a year. It also works for those students that are already reading for the suggested 15 minutes a day. Currently these readers would be churning through 1.8 million words a year. Ten minutes more would take this to over 2.7 million! 

Help your child to choose different types of books to read and take turns to read with them. Talk about the book and look for words to pay special attention to. Most importantly, make the experience as fun and engaging as possible.

STUDENT AGENCY CONFERENCES

This is a reminder that our Student Agency Conferences will be held on Tuesday 28th March. On this day, students only attend school for the duration of their conference. These are 15 minutes each and they will run between 9am and 6.30pm. Bookings are now open via Compass and they will close on Monday 27th at 12pm.

Please note that the conference structure will be 15 minutes with the teacher, student and parents. As is always the case, should you wish to discuss any issue with your child’s teacher throughout the year, you can contact them to make a suitable time.

Student Agency Conferences give students the opportunity to articulate and reflect on their learning. It is recognised that if our children are to be successful in the future, they must be given the skills to know how to learn. We want them to understand that learning is something they do, it is not something done to them or something that just happens. Strategies like conferencing assist in leading students towards becoming self-directed, independent learners. Student agency conferences ensure that the focus remains on the students and the critical role they have in determining their own next steps for learning.

NAPLAN ONLINE

This week, our Year 3 & 5 students will be completing the annual NAPLAN assessments. This year, the test will continue to be completed online using iPads. The value of using this platform is that the test will adapt to better match the student’s level as opposed to a one size fits all where often there is only one or two questions that stretch students at the top end. The online platform will also mean that in time schools and families will be able to access the data and results in a timely manner. In the past, NAPLAN results have been sent to schools in September which is well past the used by date for our teachers to use the assessments to guide their teaching and planning. 

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact me and I will share the overall school results with our community when they come through. 

CLEAN UP GREENHILLS WORKING BEE – SUNDAY 19th MARCH 9am – 11am

We start at 9am with an OH & S briefing and we will finish at 11am.

Our aim is to tidy up garden beds and pathways.

All students who attend our working bee with a parent / carer will receive a $5 canteen voucher.

Next week on Friday 24th March, it is National Ride2School Day

We are encouraging as many students as possible to ride or walk to school. If this is a normal day photo, I can’t wait to see what it will look like next Friday.

GRADE 6 ANGLESEA CAMP

On Tuesday morning, a very excited group of Year 6 students boarded the buses for the Anglesea Camp. I am pleased to report that they are all having an excellent time and really enjoying the activities and adventure. Camps are one of those really special extra-curricular activities that allow students rich experiences that just aren’t possible within the normal school environment. Look out for a full report in the newsletter next week.

PARENT HELPERS

Thank you to all of our parents and carers who have completed a Parent Helper Induction session. We are so fortunate to have such strong community support for our school. Our Parent Helper Inductions are a very important process that helps our school community understand that our school has a clear and public commitment to child safety in the form of our Child Safe Code of Conduct and Child Protection Reporting Policy. By including these policies as part of our parent helper requirement, our School Council has clearly defined and explained acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for staff, volunteers and children.

The next sessions will be held on:

• Tuesday 21st March - 6pm Webex
• Wednesday 22nd March – 9am in the staffroom
• Thursday 23rd March – 3pm in the staffroom
• Friday 31st March - 9am in the staffroom

SCHOOL TOURS FOR 2024 ENROLMENT

Each week I host a tour of our school with a particular focus on students beginning school in 2024. If you know of a family with a child ready to start school, please encourage them to go to our website to find out about the tour dates and times for this term. I am pleased to say that our school continues to have a very strong reputation in our local community and people attending the tours often share the good things they have heard about our school.

Next Wednesday 21st March from 6.15pm -7.15pm I am also hosting an evening tour and information session. This is an open invitation event to all parents of pre-school children considering schools for 2024. 

James Penson

Principal