THE LINK

Principal's Report

It is hard to believe the end of term is fast approaching. As always, we’ve had a lot happening over the past couple of weeks - Grade 3-6 Athletics, tennis, various incursions and our grade ½ swimming program started this week. Congratulations to all students who have participated in our extended curriculum activities, and to teachers who go above and beyond to provide these additional experiences for our students. 

 

Last week Mrs Dwyer and I spoke with Grade 1-6 children about the importance of everyone taking responsibility for caring for our school grounds. We noticed an increase in rubbish, garden destruction and Jimmy Boxer reported a number of taps and hoses being broken and taken. Inappropriate toilet use is also an issue – children wetting toilet paper and throwing it up on the ceiling and on walls, toilet rolls left in the toilet causing plumbing issues, bark in taps and inappropriate toilet use (without going into detail). We are working on this from our end and would also appreciate it if you could reinforce these messages at home. On a positive, we noticed a significant improvement in care for our school grounds, however toilets are a work in progress. 

 

We have also had reports of increased swearing in the yard, please reinforce appropriate language at school, we will also be addressing this over the next couple of weeks. We really appreciate your support, and we always find a more positive result when families have home discussions about improvements needed at school. 

Your child may not be involved in any of these situation (most children are not), therefore this discussion could be about – what to do if you notice someone doing the wrong thing - reporting to a teacher, using peer voice and state ‘that is not ok’.

 

Last week, we also ran an emergency evacuation drill. We run 1 drill per term, so we are well prepared for any ‘real’ situations that could occur. After the drill, staff debrief the process and ensure we make relevant improvements so that we respond efficiently and effectively in the event anything would occur. I want to congratulate the whole school on their prompt evacuation, and acknowledge how sensible all students were during the practice. 

 

Our grade 3 and 5 students (along with all grade 3, 5, year 7 and 9 students in Australia) have been completing NAPLAN testing this week;

  • Wednesday – Writing
  • Thursday – Reading
  • Friday – Conventions of Language 
  • Monday (next week) – Numeracy

As students progress through their school years, it is important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

 

You will notice some LINK site updates. We have added some new TABS so that any information you need is easier for you to access – new TABS include

  • Staff
  • School Policies
  • Home Support F-2 and Home Support 3-6 (how you can support your child at home)

Our Parent Handbook is in the process of being published and we have everything crossed we get this out to you in the last week of term (this all depends on printing). 

After a few queries regarding teacher replacements due to illness or other leave, I would like to outline the process we use for replacing teachers to our school community. 

  • Teacher notifies us they are going to be absent due to illness or leave
  • We make contact with our list of replacement teachers to book them in for work days (as soon as we know)
  • Replacement teachers confirm their availability 

Some issues we encounter (which may be perceived as the school being disorganised);

  • Replacement teachers confirm, then suddenly cancel
  • Having different replacement teachers in the class if teachers are calling in sick day- by-day (replacement teachers may not be available for the whole period, therefore we need to have other teachers in the class)
  • No replacement teachers available 
  • In the event we cannot replace a teacher, we will either distribute students to other classes or suspend a specialist subject for the day – depending on the impact on the school (this is our last resort)

We are going to do our best to communicate with you if your classroom teacher is absent via a compass email on the morning of or the night before your teacher is away (you may have noticed this already happening). If a teacher knows they are going to be away from school due to leave or professional learning days, they will send out a notification. The purpose of letting families know is to have the conversation with your child, so they are more prepared for the change and of course, just so parents know who is teaching their class for the day.

Please also note, we are feeling the general shortage of teacher replacements. We are in the fortunate position of having a school that is fully staffed, however replacements can be problematic. Teachers are human and they do fall ill or they are choose to use their long service entitlements – we do our best to ensure continuity of learning and a smooth transition. If you have any concerns or questions about replacement teachers, please don’t hesitate to contact your learning community leader, Ann Dwyer or myself.

 

Thank you to all parents/carers who took the time to vote for school council members in our recent ballot. This is the 2nd year we have gone to ballot, which is a good problem to have. I am impressed with the interest in school council and I am looking forward to supporting our new and returning members join the school council team.  Welcome back Clinton Hill and welcome to new members – Michelle Lyons, Elisia Nichol and Emma Charlton. Our AGM is on Tuesday 26th March.   

 

I just want to keep encouraging parents to make contact with either your classroom teacher, learning community leader, the admin team, Ann Dwyer (Assistant Principal) or myself if you have any questions or wonderings about anything. We are better to clarify, respond or work through a situation, rather than have you left dwelling or being unsure.