Welcome to our first (official) newsletter

As the year has started I have truly enjoyed seeing everyone from last year and having the opportunity to meet new people too. The largest group of people I have met have been Foundation students, obviously, who are full of energy and anticipation as they begin their schooling life. I have also spent time with a few students joining us from other schools who have quickly made friends and become an integral part of our community. Finally, I have had the privilege of connecting with parents, some new and some who I have known for many years. I am so proud of the fantastic community we have hear at KPS.

On behalf of our staff and our School Council, I welcome you all to 2023 at Kilsyth Primary School. A year full of promise and positive directions.

Introductions

We are welcoming one new staff member to our team this year. Mrs Melissa Simpson has joined us in the role of Art Teacher. Mrs Simpson is a highly experienced teacher and comes highly recommended. We are thrilled to have her aboard. We have already seen our students producing some fabulous artwork and we are looking forward to seeing what comes next! Welcome to the team Melissa!

Ms Karina Ely, one of our ES team, will be taking maternity leave in a couple of weeks. We wish you all the best Karina and look forward to meeting baby.

Ms Shannen May will be returning from maternity leave at the beginning of Term Two. Ms May will taking on a new role when she returns. She will be leading our Wellbeing Team as our official Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader. We are looking forward to welcoming Shannen back soon.

Know and Be Known

One of the phrases that is important to us here at KPS is "Know and Be Known". It is extremely important that every child at our school "knows" what to expect every lesson, every day, and that they feel completely "known" by our staff.

Know - We use consistent routines across the school so there is predictability in our day. Students know what to expect and what is expected of them. We can also know that students will receive consistent high quality experiences in every classroom and with every teacher. This feeling of certainty allows students to relax within a positive climate and focus on their learning.

Known - We use regular and carefully crafted assessment tools to ensure student learning needs are known in detail by their teacher. We ensure students are actively engaged in every lesson, with teachers regularly checking for understanding and providing students with a voice in their learning. Students have an opportunity to respond and can share their concerns and challenges with their teacher or our wellbeing team. We collect a great deal of data in both learning and wellbeing and use this to deepen our understanding of every single student in our school.

As the year has gathered pace, it has been great to move through the school and talk with staff and students about how well they know and feel known. This week I have seen just how well everyone is settling into our predictable routines and engaging in learning that fits exactly at every child's point of need.

We have completed our beginning of the year Universal Screeners - short assessments that identify specific learning needs of students in Literacy and Numeracy. We use this information to plan our curriculum and develop interventions and supports for those who need a little extra. As the term continues, you will begin receiving Continuous Assessment updates through Sentral, outlining how your child is improving in their learning.

Some new language you might hear...

We have made a few changes to how we structure our lessons this year. You might hear some new phrases coming home...

The Do Now...

Every time students come into the classroom to begin a lesson (start of the day, after a recess) they walk in quietly and sit down at their desks to begin a "Do Now". This is a written task, completed independently, that links in with daily lesson and helps the students focus on learning. It takes about 5 minutes and is reviewed by the teacher before the lesson proper begins. Since introducing these at the start of the year, we have seen students take on the routine quickly and easily. We have seen a distinct improvement in engagement. You can read more here...

The Daily Review...

At the beginning of every lesson, we start with a Daily Review. This is a quick series of tasks that require students to think back over previous lessons and retrieve ideas. This routine supports students to move what they have heard into long term memory. Research has shown that if we recall information multiple times over increasingly large periods of time we strengthen our memory of that information. So our daily reviews cover things students learnt yesterday, last week, two weeks ago, last month and last term. Here is an outline of the routine that our teachers use...

"Chin it!" - Using Mini Whiteboards...

This year we are regularly using Mini Whiteboards to provide students with opportunities to respond in every lesson. When students "Chin It!" they hold their Mini Whiteboard under their chin to show their response to the teacher. This allows the teacher to quickly check the classes understanding and either move on, or reteach a topic. There a few other phrases we use in this routine...

These are just a few of the routines we have introduced this year. I will be sharing more in coming newsletters.

Structured Literacy Night Reminder

As mentioned in our Welcome Back newsletter, we are holding two information nights to go over how we are supporting students to learn to read here at KPS. Please feel free to tell friends and family members who may be interested in the ways children learn to read and invite them along. We are looking forward to sharing this with our community.

Session One - Wednesday 5th March, 7pm

The Science of Reading

Understand the research and evidence behind effective ways to learn to read. From decoding in Foundation to deep comprehension in Year 6.

Synthetic Phonics

Explore the connections between the letters of written text and the sounds of spoken language and how, together, these form words.

A Systematic Approach

See how a comprehensive program is put together to provide the best possible pathway for your child’s learning from Foundation to Year 6.

Session Two - Thursday 12th March, 7pm

Supporting Your Child at School

See the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Explicit Instruction approach that we use to support your child’s literacy at school.

Supporting Your Child at Home

Experience the resources you can use at home to strengthen your child’s literacy through homework and other easy strategies.

Routines Across the Curriculum

Understand the importance of having predictable, consistent routines in place across every classroom in the school.

I hope to see you there.

Click here to RSVP: www.kilsythps.vic.edu.au/literacynight

New Out of School Hours Care provider

We are excited to announce that we have now partnered with an independent Outside of School Hours Care (OSHC) provider called TheirCare.

TheirCare provides a stimulating and safe environment for all children. During sessions, children develop life-skills, friendships, confidence, and creativity through play-based programs.

The TheirCare team will be holding an online information session on Thursday 6th March at 7.30pm. This will be held via WebEx.

We look forward to welcoming TheirCare to the Kilsyth Primary School community in Term 2, 2025.

For further information, visit www.theircare.com.au or call our support office on 1300 072 410

All the best

Daniel

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