Dear families,

Can you believe we are halfway through Term 4, with the end of the year fast approaching? It's been a busy term of learning across the school, with so many opportunities for our students at Modbury to succeed. As we move towards the end of the year, it is important to recognise the work of the staff at Modbury School. Each day we see our staff go above and beyond for our students, supporting them and helping them to thrive and be the best they can be. It is wonderful to be part of Team Modbury!

Please enjoy reading through the latest newsletter, grab a cuppa and catch up on Modbury Matters.

World Teachers Day

World Teachers Day was celebrated on Friday, 25/10, and our teachers were spoiled. World Teachers Day acknowledges the dedication, effort, and commitment our teachers make every day to ensuring our students have the best opportunities possible.

"Hats off to teachers!".

Diwali

Our recent Diwali celebration was a great celebration! At Modbury School P-6, we pride ourselves on embracing and celebrating the rich cultural diversity within our community. Earlier this term, our students had the wonderful opportunity to immerse themselves in the vibrant traditions of Diwali, the Festival of Lights.

Our celebration included a variety of engaging activities, such as creating beautiful henna designs, making intricate rangoli patterns, and participating in cultural learning sessions. These experiences not only allowed our students to explore and appreciate the significance of Diwali but also fostered a deeper understanding and respect for their peers' diverse backgrounds.

Thank you to all the staff, students, and families who contributed to making this event so special. We look forward to continuing to celebrate and learn from the many cultures that make our school community so unique.

Preschool Art

Check out the amazing artwork in our preschool. We certainly have some talented artists.

Book Fair

A big thank you to Alanna, for organising our Book Fair through Larrikin Books. Our students had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Book Fair and engage in a love of reading. We are pleased to announce that $1961.00 was spent over the week. Of this, we have received $696.35 in commission and have spent this on books from the Book Fair to go into our school library.

Thank you to everyone who supported us with the Larrikan Book Fair. We hope you enjoyed the book fair and enjoy reading all the new wonderful books in our library!

EMS

As you know we have successfully migrated to EMS, replacing our old system EDSAS. EMS will help to transform the way our school operates. Thank you to all our staff in making our transition to EMS seamless. In particular, a BIG THANK YOU to Bianca and Kym who were instrumental in ensuring our school was prepared for our transition to EMS.

The benefits of moving to EMS include:

- Replace old technology for our site (EDSAS, EYS and unsupported third-party application technology) with a central support model and modern solutions such as cloud storage space and digital workflow capabilities.

- Provide a centralised, single-student record that will exist throughout each student’s public education.

- Save our staff time with digital alternatives to labour-intensive, paper-based processes by using digital solutions such as EdSmart (where we can manage digital forms and consent from parents).

- Allow flexible access for staff.

- Improve the accuracy of information for student record management and enable our site and the department to meet compliance obligations and State Record requirements.

Acknowledgement of Country

We are thrilled to announce that we are currently in the production stages for our very own Modbury School P-6 Acknowledgement of Country. Last week we welcomed Sam Leverenz from 'Spice of Life' media company to work with our staff and students on this very special project.

Sam took a series of videos, including candid, scripted and drone footage. Our Aboriginal students then recorded their speeches which will be used as voice overs in the final product. Sam was able to show the students how the equipment worked, and how he was able to isolate individual voices and cut them together. We are very proud of our students and the way they represented our school when working with Sam. We hope to be able to share our Acknowledgment video with the community very soon.

Children's University Graduation

On Wednesday of Week 4, our eligible 2024 Children's University students attended their Graduation Ceremony. They were joined by Mrs. Slater and Mrs. Flavel at Bonython Hall, which is one of the oldest buildings at Adelaide University. The students, who each received their bronze award for 30 hours of learning, were called on stage where Professor Katrina Falkner (Adelaide University Curriculum Domain – Alternate Lead, Executive Dean, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the University of Adelaide) presented them with their certificates.

Congratulations to Mansur, Aariz, Keerat, Holly, and Priscilla on your achievements. We are very proud of you! Registrations for Children's University in 2025 will open early next year. We will share more information when the program reopens.

Breakfast Club

The recent launch of our breakfast program has been a remarkable success. Providing breakfast to primary school students ensures they start their day with the necessary nutrition, fostering better concentration and learning. We have also enjoyed seeing students joining with friends to share breakfast while building relationships and connections. The positive response from students and parents highlights the program's impact on student well-being which can support academic performance. We are thrilled to see how well the Breakfast Club has been received and are committed to continuing this valuable initiative into 2025.

Some of our families have generously offered to send donations of Breakfast Club items. This is thoroughly appreciated- please reach out to our leadership or the admin team if this is something you feel you would like to contribute to.

We would love to have some extra hands to support us at breakfast club, like buttering toast, serving milos, washing and drying the dishes and cleaning up afterwards. If you would like to volunteer to help at Breakfast Club, please pop in and see us, and we can organise volunteer training for you (if you are not already a trained volunteer with our school).

Pupil Free Day

Our staff recently engaged in professional learning on our Pupil Free Day last Friday. Staff began the work of developing our directions for our Site Learning Plan and looking at our current context and learners. The Preschool staff engaged with the Department's Speech Pathology Team and worked on developing their knowledge and understanding of language, as well as developing the directions for the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) in Preschool. We also spent time with Renee Book, our Literacy Coach from the Literacy Guarantee Unit, learning about Fluency in reading.

Fluency is the ability to read connected text accurately at a suitable rate and with appropriate prosody. When the 3 core components of fluency - accuracy, rate and prosody - are combined, they contribute to:

precise reading
smooth reading
expressive reading
self-monitoring and self-correction
comprehension

Fluency involves automatically recognising words in less than half a second and activating their meanings. This enables most words to be come 'sight words'. Words are then orthographically mapped and instantly retrieved from long-term memory during fluent reading.

'the point of becoming fluent....is to read - really read - and understand' (Wolf 2008: 130-131)

Remembrance Day

On the 11th of November, Modbury School P-6 observed Remembrance Day, a significant occasion to remember and pay tribute to the brave men and women who have served and sacrificed in wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. Our students and staff observed a moment of silence, to reflect on the courage and dedication of those who have fought for our freedom.

Remembrance Day serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of peace and the enduring impact of war on individuals and communities. It is a day to educate our students about the values of respect, gratitude, and remembrance, ensuring that the legacy of our veterans is honoured and preserved for future generations.

Classes

Our staff have been working hard to look at our 2025 class structures. The decisions about the organisation of classes within the school, including the year levels in each class, the location of classes, and the teacher/s and students within these classes are made by teachers, the Leadership Team and the Personnel Advisory Committee (PAC) of the school. The PAC consists of the Principal, a staff representative, and an Australian Education Union (AEU) Rep elected by AEU members in the school and an SSO rep elected by staff.

We ask you to trust the professional judgement of the teachers placing your child. In deciding where each child will be placed, we take into account the following criteria:

• Teacher knowledge of learning needs, group dynamics and supportive and unsupportive friendships

• Enrolment numbers

• Gender balance

• Previous placements

Emergency Procedures

As a Department for Education school, we are required to carry out Emergency drills each term. We support our students and practice Evacuations and Invacuations so we are familiar with our school processes. Last week we practised an Invacuation, and our students and staff were competent in knowing what to do.

Transition Visits

We are looking forward to welcoming our new 2025 Reception and Preschool children on their transition visits. These visits are a wonderful opportunity for our youngest learners to become familiar with their new environment, meet their teachers, and make new friends.

We are excited to welcome them into our school community and support them as they embark on this exciting journey. Our dedicated staff are committed to ensuring a smooth and enjoyable transition for every child. We can't wait to see their smiling faces and share in their enthusiasm for learning.

End Of Year Concert

We are busy practising and perfecting our dance moves, ready for our End of Year Concert to celebrate a wonderful learning year at Modbury School P-6. Please continue to look out on Class Dojo for regular updates from your teacher and the school about this annual fun event.

Please keep selling the raffle books and sending these back in to school. We have some amazing prizes available and the fundraising will continue to support our school resources.

End of Year Excursions

Teachers have been busy planning End of Year Celebration excursions for our students on Friday 29/11/2024. Our R-2 students in Rooms 6, 7 and 8 will be enjoying an excursion to Wizbang Play Cafe and the 3-6 students will be enjoying a move at Hoyts TTP. Please see your class dojo for more information. If any of our trained volunteers are available to support on the day, please let us know.

ThankED

Do you know an amazing staff member who's making a real difference? Every day, those working in public education shape futures by inspiring children and young people to reach their full potential.

ThankED gives you the chance to celebrate and thank public educatirs, as well as those people who work in support of them.

You can say thanks at any time, to anyone working in public education who has made a difference to you - visit www.education.sa.gov.au/webforms/thanked

Suggestions Spotlight

We appreciate your valuable insights and active participation in enhancing our school community. We invite parents/carers to share any suggestions or ideas you may have for school improvement. Your feedback is essential in fostering a positive and effective learning environment for our students.

Your suggestions may be discussed at future Staff Meetings or Governing Council meetings, or we may contact you personally for further follow-up.

Please use this link to submit your suggestions.

Warm regards,

Sara, Ali and Sheila.

Leadership Team

Getting ready for Reception 2025