Transition to high school

This week we were delighted to inform our grade 6 students which high school they will be attending in 2022. The news was met with great excitement! This begins the school’s transition program as we focus on preparing our students for year 7 in classrooms throughout the second semester, as well as a transition day and the grade 6 graduation ceremony in term four.

Remote learning strategy

We were all taken by surprise to hear that the state has been put back into a snap lockdown and students will be learning remotely once again. It has been really helpful for teachers to have plenty of time today to prepare learning packs for all students and plan online lessons for next week. Our staff continue to demonstrate how dedicated they are to student learning, whether we are online or onsite. Daily webex classes and phone calls are also an opportunity for teachers to support students’ health and wellbeing during the challenges of remote learning.

This time around the F/1 team will be having a short meeting in the morning, followed by small group work throughout the day, then an afternoon class meeting to reflect on their learning. The grade 2 team will run an English and French class in the morning, followed by conferencing throughout the day. Students are developing their independence at this level.

The grade 3/4 and 5/6 team will spend the morning focusing on Literacy and support students to work independently. After the morning break, the class will come back together for Numeracy. Conferencing will also take place throughout the day to monitor student’s learning progress.

We are also very fortunate to have Amy, Bryce, Vicki and Michael providing students with individual and small group learning support.

Your feedback is very welcome! I am interested to know about your experiences with remote learning – feel free to email me if you have something to share.

Angela.Richmond@education.vic.gov.au

Staffing update

I am delighted to welcome Michael Keirs to the PE role. He has been team teaching with coaches from the Collingwood Basketball Club and is enjoying working with our students to nurture sporting talents and support students to engage in sport to the best of their abilities.

In the coming weeks I also welcome Badria Mustafa to the School Community Liaison Officer position. She has extensive experience working in a community liaison position at Collingwood College and is known within the local community.

Amy Giles has been working closely with our students in the tutoring role. Her role has now been expanded so she is managing individual caseloads with the Student Support Services Officer for students who require assessments or specialised interventions. Amy has a thorough knowledge of referral processes and is doing a great job to identify and monitor students across the school.

The parent, caregiver and guardian opinion survey is now open!

Our school will be conducting a survey to find out what parents/caregivers/guardians think of our school. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst a sample of randomly selected parents/caregivers/guardians (previously known as the Parent Opinion Survey). It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. Approximately 30 per cent of parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year, the Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey will be open until Friday 3rd September.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.

Within the next week, families who have been randomly selected will be contacted and invited to participate.

Angela Richmond

Principal

Fitzroy Primary School

Beaver`s Tail lunch orders