Nigel's Natter

Hi All, 

Welcome to Term 3. We are off to a great start, with settled classrooms and learning programs up and running. 

A very important reminder. This Friday is PJ day. Gold coin donation to go towards supporting young people in Out of Home Care. 

Please ensure PJs are weather and school appropriate.

CURRICULUM DAY

Our entire staff of 40 had a brilliant day of learning. We continued our learning about highly effective teaching of reading and dug deep into our Acadience Reading Data. Teams of teachers worked together to develop action plans to ensure high levels of learning growth during Semester 2. 

We looked at every single student's Reading Assessment Results and looked at Year Level and Whole School Data. We reviewed how many students were requiring Tier 2 support (this means something extra or more in the classroom) and Tier 3 supports (this is additional intervention provided by an expert teacher). 

The image below paints a clear picture of how complex teaching a child to read is. Each of the 8 sub strands must be taught, explicitly and expertly, in sequence for a child to become a proficient reader. 

We have engaged in a huge amount of learning about each of these sub strands, and we used the curriculum day to expand our collective knowledge of how to best strengthen each of these skills for our students. 

We made a commitment, that every adult is a teacher of reading, and our specialist team got around a plan for how they can support student reading growth in their learning areas also. 

We wrapped up the day with a refresher and some learning about workplace culture and collective efficacy. We talked about our staff norms, and the way we work together.  

NAPLAN

NAPLAN results have been released and will be sent home to families once we have had time to review the individual student reports. I have had a good look through the school level results, and I'm really pleased! We held strong or improved acorss the board. A fantastic result for HBPS. 

I will release more detailed info once I have shared the results with the staffing team. 

Here are a few little highlights:

• 71% of our Year 3 students performed in the STRONG or EXCEEDING performance band compared to 55% in 'similar' schools.
• Our Year 3 and Year 5 students outperformed students in 'similar' schools in Numeracy.
• Our Year 3 students either matched or outperformed students in 'similar' schools in 4 of the 5 testing areas.     

ATTENDANCE

As you can see, we are doing really well with our attendance data - and I believe this is making a difference to our students learning data! The graph below shows the following: 

• 30+ days absent - 8 students. 
• 20 - 29.5 days absent - 26 students. 
• 10 - 19.5 days absent - 80 students. 
• 0.5 - 9.5 days absent - 175 students. 
• 0 days absent - 16 students. 

We have LOTS OF KIDS who are only a few days off dropping into the next band. EVERY DAY COUNTS. Please continue to support our efforts by ensuring your child/ren attend school every day possible.

RECYCLE FOR READING RESOURCES 

We have registered as a donation partner with Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme. This means that when you recycle your eligible 10c containers Hamlyn Banks will receive your refund as a donation. We are earmarking these deposits to purchase new Reading Resources.  It's really easy - simply choose Hamlyn Banks PS as your preferred organisation when you scan your app to begin.

Our ID number is - C2000024255 

PARKING

Over the break, Annabelle (School Council President) and I met with representatives from the City of Greater Geelong to talk about parking around out school. This came in response to concerns raised by a number of our community members about parking and student safety. 

Please note that we have requested more frequent visits from Local Laws and the Highway Patrol to ensure safety for our students. 

Check out the Dates for the Diary for updated dates. THERE ARE PLENTY OF NEW DATES!

See you at the front gate. 

Nigel