Caulfield Junior College Newsletter

From the School Leadership Team,

From Chris Chant,

Principal.

 

 

Last day of term 4 2020 is Friday 18th December. School will be dismissed at 1.30 pm.

 

First day of the 2021 school year for students is Monday 1st February. (Year 1 - 6 students)

 

 

Our Year 6 graduation is planned to proceed on the evening of December 16th with an outdoor ceremony for the exiting students. We have planned for the graduates to be presented on the oval, however there are a number of DHHS restrictions that need to be followed and it is important that we ensure our children and families can share in this important event in an otherwise challenging year. We have an alternative plan for inclement or extreme weather but have our fingers crossed we will not need to activate this plan. Families have all been sent a Compass message outlining the format(s) of the evening.

 

Reports are being made available to families, via the Compass portal, on Friday 11th December.  If your child is leaving the school, ensure you download any reports from Compass as access to Compass will be removed on your child's last day.

 

Important dates: 

  • Semester 2 student reports available: Friday 11th December, via Compass.
  • Whole school Orientation morning: Tuesday 15th December
  • Year 6 Graduation: Wednesday 16th December
  • Last day of the 2020 school year: Friday 18th December at 1.30pm (for all students)
  • First day of the 2021 school year: Year 1 – 6 students, Monday 1st February
  • First day of school for 2021 Prep students: Friday 5th February

Lost Property is growing again.  Please ask your children to come and have a look.  It's at the doorway close to the art room.  Don't forget that all students require their hat at school and there are many hats there. Everything should be labelled with your child's name and class.

 

Parents dropping off students at the start of the school and collecting them at the end of the day are reminded that U-turns are illegal and not permitted. It is clearly signed, is a Victorian road rule, is a safety issue and something that all drivers must take responsibility for.

 

Our 2021 School Student Leadership positions are very important appointments. These roles ensure that key school events, functions and activities can be led and managed by the students. This a key element of our Student Agency and Voice focus moving forward. Our year 5 students have been involved in interviews, speeches and presentations to put forward their best pitch for a leadership role next year. We are currently making these appointments and will have a decision later next week.

 

Earlier this year we had a series of communications from students, staff and members of the community around the suitability and appropriateness of the current house names at Caulfield Junior College. After lengthy debates with SRC, staff discussions and School Council input our students are supporting a change of names for these house groups. The colours will remain the same but the students are supporting the use of local plant names that will be used to identify each house group. More details will follow as we get closer to a final decision on the final names.

 

We have received the data from the 2020 Parent Opinion Survey. Thanks to all those who were able to input their ideas into the survey. This Survey assists us to formulate future planning and is an integral component of the feedback process at our school.

 

I have highlighted some key elements of the survey to acknowledge the work undertaken in this area and reflected on some key areas that will need to be addressed as the 2021 school year unfolds.

 

 

This year there was an additional element of the survey related specifically to the Home Learning experiences of our families and students.

 

 

Using this survey data, staff opinion survey data and student surveys we can now identify areas of strength in our school and what we need to do to further enhance these areas. Conversely we can also identify and clearly allocate resources, time and expertise to addressing elements of these surveys that clearly show less than ideal performance or satisfaction levels.

 

Teacher Communication was an area of the survey that highlighted a high level of connection and access to staff when school operates “normally” and changes when we have to undertake Remote and flexible Learning.

 

Student agency and voice was also an area of the survey where there were areas of improvement identified and we are allocating resources and staff to support our work in this area.

 

The School Improvement focus for our school next year will be to build a broader intervention and support process for students who are having learning issues - and this can be at either end of the learning spectrum. The State government has mandated three clear areas to be addressed in the 2021 Annual Implementation Plan and this will be shared with families in an upcoming newsletter once we have all the planning targets and implementation activities/ actions finalised and approved.

 

Assessment of our children was difficult during the Home Learning programs and staff became quite creative in collecting data and artefacts to support their judgements of student progress. This work will be refined even further next year as the school embeds a Professional Learning Community model of collaborative work where staff will use shared data to support student learning, intervention activities and create shared curriculum plans and classroom assessment activities.

 

Chris Chant.

 

From Nadia Walker,

Assistant Principal.

 

Semester 2 student reports will be made available via the Compass portal on Friday 11th December. 

 

Student semester reports are designed to provide you with clear information about your child’s progress against the curriculum standards, and to describe your child's social and personal development. The Victorian Curriculum provides a coherent and comprehensive set of prescribed content and common achievement standards, which schools use to plan student learning programs, assess student progress and report to parents. Students enrolled in the Binome program at Caulfield Junior College will also be assessed against the French Curriculum. As a result of advice received from the Victorian Department of Education and Training regarding Semester 2, 2020 reporting requirements, modifications have been made to the usual report students receive at the end of the academic year. The modified report includes: 

  • a description of the areas of the Victorian Curriculum provided to all students
  • a description of the areas of the French Curriculum provided to students enrolled in the Binome program
  • a progression point against a 5-point scale indicating achievement for English and Mathematics
  • an indication of achievement levels for French Curriculum areas for students enrolled in the Binome program
  • a comment on your child's overall effort and attitude to learning, as well as their behaviour, social capabilities and personal growth.

The areas of learning in the Binome program are organised according to the French Common Framework, aligned to the latest French Curriculum. It gives us the opportunity to better align our teaching program with the Victorian Curriculum achievement standards. The levels of achievement are:

  • Dépassés (exceeded)
  • Atteints (achieved)
  • Partiellement atteints (partially achieved)
  • Non atteints (not achieved)

In the French Curriculum, a particular skill may be assessed once, or several times in the same year level. This skill may be assessed as ‘achieved’ at the end of one year, whilst being assessed as ‘partially achieved’ the following year. This does not mean that your child is working at a lower level, but rather that the achievement expectation is now higher.

 

Nadia Walker.

From Christelle Breimeyer,

Acting French Director.

 

Wominjeka chères familles,

 

Deux semaines avant les grandes vacances…

 

À l’école, les élèves sont encore tous bien occupés avec différents projets. Les Grandes Sections préparent un exposé sur les fêtes, les CP et les CE1 travaillent sur un projet théâtre sur le livre du Petit Prince, les CE2 et les CM1 finissent un projet sur les monuments de la ville de Melbourne, les CM2 s’entraînent pour des saynètes qu’ils vont publier dans leur magazine et les 6èmes continuent leurs ateliers philosophiques.

 

La semaine prochaine, les enseignants vont se retrouver en équipe pour commencer à planifier le premier trimestre. Étude de la langue, mathématiques, et projets engageants pour le début de l’année 2021 !

 

Nous aurons notre dernière journée de transition avec les futurs élèves de Grande Section mardi prochain. Les élèves du Binôme viendront à l’école et les élèves du Mainstream feront leur dernière séance sur Zoom. La transition s’est faite tout en douceur, en petits groupes de 10, avec des activités pour découvrir notre école et commencer à se préparer pour la rentrée ! Nous avons hâte d’accueillir nos nouveaux petits élèves à CJC.

 

Notre journée d’orientation pour toute l’école aura lieu mardi le 15 décembre prochain. Cette journée sera l’opportunité pour nos élèves de rencontrer leurs professeurs pour 2021, leurs camarades et de découvrir leur salle de classe.

 

Les Grandes Sections vont célébrer un an à l’école jeudi prochain. Ils vont participer à une assemblée spéciale, vont recevoir un diplôme, vont prendre part à des activités artistiques et auront leur « bal de fin d’année », aussi appelé « Prep Disco » l’après-midi ! N’oubliez pas de vous habiller pour l’occasion les Grandes Sections !

 

Excellent weekend à tous,

 

*****

 

Wominjeka dear families,

 

Two weeks before the summer holidays…

 

At school, our students are still keeping busy with different projects. Prep students prepared a project about a celebration, Grades 1 and 2 worked on a drama project based on the story of The Little Prince, Grades 3 and 4 designed a project about Melbourne city and its monuments, Grade 5 students are practicing role plays that they will publish in their magazine and Grade 6 students are taking part in their philosophic workshops.

 

Next week, teaching teams will meet to start planning term 1 for next year. Literacy and numeracy and also exciting projects to get our students engaged right from the beginning of the year!

 

We will run our last transition session for our future Prep students next Tuesday. Our Binome students will attend that last session onsite and our Mainstream students on Zoom. It has been a smooth transition, done in groups of 10, allowing students to discover our school and start getting ready for February 2021. We cannot wait to welcome our new students at CJC!

Orientation day will take place on Tuesday, December 15th. This day will be the opportunity for our students to meet their 2021 teachers, their classmates and see their classroom.

 

Our 2020 Prep students will celebrate one year at school next Thursday. They will attend a special assembly, receive a certificate, take part in craft activities and enjoy their own Prep disco in the afternoon. Prep students, do not forget to dress up for the occasion! (Preps do not need to be in uniform this day)

 

Have an excellent weekend,

 

Christelle Breimeyer.