From the Leadership Team

Half-time

As a lifelong soccer (football) fan, it was so wonderful seeing all the students getting into the spirit of supporting the Socceroos today. It's always lovely when we get to come together as a broad community, with people from all walks of life and support a single cause. 

I remember using the World Cups to expand my knowledge of geography and cultures around the world, sneaking out to watch games early and learning new countries and capitals and how their people were connected to others. It's a special event, even if it's not your preferred sport and we all love a chance to barrack for Australia in any format. 

Celebrating Success

Of course, we are also at that time of year where we celebrate student achievements for the first semester. The reports themselves are a bit light-on this semester due to the industrial action, but hopefully any gaps you feel you might have in this area can be addressed through the Parent-Teacher Conferences. Around 50% of households have booked their time already in Compass, so if you haven't yet done so, please hop on the app and book a time with your child/ren's teacher(s). 

I always find this time of year helpful to support students to recognise how their approach to learning is maturing and what changes they have made or can make to benefit themselves. For instance, students will often go through slight shifts in how they pay attention in class, recognising that they get easily distracted when near a particular friend and have started to trial methods for limiting those distractions. These little shifts and changes can often be the most impactful actions a student makes and it is good to try and help children recognise and highlight these moments. 

The portfolios are also an important component to the celebration. These are a special collection of student work from throughout the semester, designed to show growth. Work pieces are not always polished and ideal, but that is not the focus. Talk to your child/ren about how their writing is developing, not just handwriting but their word selection, sentence complexity and maturity of ideas. Recognise how the maths concepts they are tackling are increasing in complexity. And ask them to identify areas of growth they are proud of. 

Staffing changes

It has been a bit of a juggle this term as we have had a few shifts in staffing in classrooms and the office. 

We welcome Trent Asquith to 4O, stepping in to replace Jack O'Brien who is off to try a different role in a university. We also welcome back Esther Mendez, who will work alongside Vanessa Reusser to teach 3C after May Chynoweth made the difficult decision to take time away to support her family. 

We also welcome formally Nadine Drijfhout in the office, who has been assisting us on and off over a couple of years now but is officially part of the team after Liz Downs picked up a slightly different role at Luther College where many of you will no doubt bump into her again.

We apologise for the disruption to newsletters this term while we have worked through getting back to being fully staffed in the office. They should resume their usual fortnightly schedule from next term

One of the great aspects of RNPS is the camaraderie and collegiate support of our teachers, ensuring that anyone who joins a team is able to settle in and get up and running quickly and confidently. I have no doubt these new staff will feel like part of the furniture in the very near future but we, of course, wish the very best to our departing staff.