Principal's Report

JAPANESE FESTIVAL DAY

The kids love this day, and Friday’s event was no exception.  A big well done to Mrs Cray and Mrs Morgan who put a lot of thought and work into planning and running such a successful day. Thank you to parents and carers who supported the kids with costumes and cash for the Japanese Shop, helping them to get in the spirit and ready for the day. 

For many years our school has run a quality Japanese program, exposing students to Japanese language and culture.  This includes a trip to Japan for a select group of 5-6 students every second year and it’s fabulous to know we have just a few months to wait until the next group of students get to join staff and parents to experience Japan first hand.

MOTHER’S DAY

We wish all mums a happy Mother’s Day on Sunday.  There are several things happening at school this week in the lead up to this day, which is all part of encouraging our kids to be thoughtful and the importance of showing gratitude.  It’s always nice to see the excitement in the room at the Mother’s Day Stall as the kids decide what to purchase for mum.  And of course we have our first Mother’s Day Breakfast on Thursday at the Bowling Club, which we know will be a nice event and hope it becomes a regular feature on the annual calendar.

PREP TRANSITION SURVEYS

There is a lot that goes into supporting students and families from kinder/day care into prep.  The process goes over many months and involves liaising with local kinders and other early childhood centres, preparing and distributing information, open mornings, tours, the pre-schooler program, orientation day, buddies and a range of strategies to help preps and parents settle into school in the new year. 

Late in term 1 each year, we survey our prep parents to gather feedback on how our preps have transitioned into school.  This is a useful way of helping us understand the impact of the transition process.  Parents are asked to rate key aspects of the transition process, for example:

• I was made to feel welcome on my initial contact with the school.
• The information I received from the school before enrolment was relevant and helpful.
• The transition visits to school were valuable and enjoyable for my child……. etc

Parents also had the opportunity to add written comments.

Recently the results were collated and last week I sat down with the prep team to consider the feedback gathered.  Overall, the results were extremely positive.  The ratings and comments were positive, suggesting the transition process we have in place is working nicely.  The results have also helped us understand where there are opportunities to improve.  The prep team have already planned a few subtle changes to the transition process in response to the feedback.

Well done to all involved in the transition process and a big thankyou to all parents who helped us out and took the time to complete a transition survey.