Leadership Report

A Note from Leadership

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of our first semester, and half way through the school year. This term has been a busy one as we worked through our school’s priorities and goals. This term we’ve seen many highlights across our school, in addition to our wonderful learning programs. These included:

• ANZAC commemorative assembly
• Swimming Programs
• Winter Gala Sports days
• Athletics Days 
• Education Support Day celebration
• School Camp
• Incursions
• Excursions
• Student Led Three Way Conferences
• Reconciliation walk and assembly
• Minister of Education visit to our school
• $37.321 Million Allocated Funding

End of Semester One Reports

Your child/ren’s end of semester school report/s can be accessed via Xuno from Wednesday 21 June. We encourage all parents to please take the time to read through your child/ren’s report/s as this provides valuable information about their academic achievements. Celebrate your child/ren’s learning achievements and efforts. Three-way conferences were held earlier this  term, which provided an opportunity for your child to showcase their learning and portfolio on Schoolbox. 

As with any type of technology, sometimes technology glitches occur. In a school of 1800+ students, it can be difficult to pinpoint these glitches, therefore it you notice that your child’s report has any structural errors, please notify us and we will endeavour to correct any issues. 

$37.321 Million Allocated Funding

The Victorian Government is investing record funding in our schools to give every student access to a great local school and education. As you may have heard with the recent visit from our Minister for Education, Natalie Hutchins, our school has been allocated $37.321 million to expand our college and create places for an extra 400 local students.

We have worked closely with our School Council and the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) to deliver an outcome that will benefit the entire community. To prepare for the upgrade, we will complete an Asset Management Plan (AMP) over the next 11 weeks. The AMP is a long-term document that helps to plan for a school’s future. The plan identifies, organises and prioritises the building works required at a school – ensuring students have access to educational facilities that prepare them to thrive in the 21st century. This will help ensure our building plans support our educational direction and long-term vision for the school. 

We have run sessions to gather input from our teachers and staff, as well as parents/carers and surrounding community. We have also involved our students to listen to their unique and very important perspective. We will keep you informed with updates as the project progresses. 

Staffing

During this term, as we have gained new enrolments, we have also welcomed new staff members: 

• Sara Fasano teaching Prep I on Fridays
• Aidan Sega replacing teachers on leave

2024 Prep/Foundation School Tours- every Friday 9.00-10.00am 

For the past term, our Prep A.P. Taxia Katsouranis, and Prep Leading Teacher Sarah Mason, have been welcoming prospective Prep parents and conducting tours on Friday mornings. So far the tours have been booked out and our college is still receiving a lot of interest from families who are within our zone (and outside of our zone). A reminder that the department specifies the following requirements for enrolment:

• Except in very specific circumstances, schooling is compulsory for students who have turned 6 until they turn 17. 
• Every Victorian student has a legislated right to enrol at their designated neighbourhood school.

New enrolments will be processed and families will be notified in August of their placements.

Casual Relief Teachers (CRT) availability

There is currently a high demand of CRTs due to the many illnesses and absences of teaching staff across the state of Victoria. This is also further impacted by the restrictions put in place over the last two years, resulting in a shortage of CRTs across Australia. All schools across Australia, including ours, are being impacted. This means that when we cannot replace a classroom teacher, a class may need to be split, usually across the cohort. Teachers across cohorts plan similar learning content and activities which supports any students who are in a different classroom due to their teacher’s absence. We aim to minimise the learning program as much as possible by sourcing all available CRTs, and by ensuring the learning program continues when classes are split.

Curriculum Days- Student Free Days

This year, the Department of Education has issued schools with five student-free days. These days are used for professional development, school planning and administration, curriculum development, and student assessment and reporting.

These days are communicated to parents/carers in advance so families can make individual arrangements, as they are pupil free days with students either staying at home or attending the Out of School Hours Care (OSHC). Please note our remaining Curriculum Days/Student Free Days, for 2023, so that you are able to make arrangements in advance. Big Childcare (OSHC) will be operating, should you require care. Please contact them to make arrangements.

2023 CURRICULUM DAYS (STUDENT FREE) remaining, as approved by our School Council:

• Day 3 - Berry St Side-by-Side training for staff Friday 25th August 2023
• Day 4 - Melbourne Cup Eve (Report Writing) Monday 6th November  2023
• Day 5 - Teacher planning day Wednesday 20th December 2023. 

We thank you kindly for supporting the work of our school.

Late arrivals to class

In previous communications, we have explained how arriving late to school may impact a student. We provide constant reminders to highlight the importance of attendance and punctuality. 

• Research shows that when a child is 10 minutes late to class, it throws the child off for a couple of hours, in addition to that first lesson of instruction being missed
• It can be likened to missing the start of a movie, you are constantly trying to catch up
• When a child shows up late to class, other students are distracted
• Attention is drawn away from the teacher or learning task, and toward the child who has just arrived
• Lateness has a direct impact on relationships, and consequently, on self-esteem.

In summary, when students arrive late to class, it can disrupt the flow of a lesson or discussion, distract other students, impede learning, and may erode class morale and self esteem. We remind our families to be aware of our school session times and to arrive at the expected times.  Thank you for your co-operation with this. 

Safety - Riding policy

Our school has created a Ride to School policy outlining safe/expected behaviours when riding to and from school which has been approved by School Council. We are communicating this policy with our wider school community, so that we are all aware of the expectations. A reminder to everyone in the community to commute to and from school carefully and to be aware of pedestrians in the interest of safety. There have been reports of some students and parents riding their bicycles and scooters at high speeds on the walkways and running into pedestrians. We kindly remind all members of the community who commute by bicycles or scooters, to walk them around the perimeter of the school and to be alert for pedestrians.

We would like to reinforce the following expectations:

• All students on a bike, scooter etc. must wear a helmet. It is law.
• Students must walk their bikes on any footpaths around the perimeter of the school.
• All students must cross the road at designated crossing areas (not at the corner).

We urge our students to use caution when riding to and from school and to adhere to the policy outlined. Thank you in advance. 

Term 2 Ends

The Last Day of Term 2 is Friday 23rd June, for a two week break. On behalf of the staff at Saltwater College, we would like to wish all our families a wonderful school break. We look forward to seeing you back in school in Term 3, on Monday July 10, 2023.  Term 3 is a 10 week term and concludes on Friday 15 September, 2023.

Thank you, on behalf of the leadership team, Jackie Daniali.