From the Principal

Our school is involved with the Resilience Project with our teachers and students working together on weekly and daily moments that focus on mindfulness, gratitude and empathy. Our newsletter also provides regular articles, so our school community walks with us on our wellbeing journey. 

It’s not just words on a page, or yet another ‘lesson,’ it’s a collective commitment we all make, to take the time to enjoy the little things in life, appreciate those around us and understand another’s perspective. 

A recent incident showed just how well our community comes together in times of need and we couldn’t be more grateful. 

CARE AND SHARE PROGRAM

Our school community have a ‘Care and Share’ program which provides support for families who find themselves in situations beyond their control and where extra help is temporarily needed. 

In times of crisis, it’s reassuring to know that our community has a team of volunteers who genuinely care and takes action to help others.  This year alone, our wonderful Care and Share volunteer group has helped families who’ve been impacted by fire, serious illness and youth crime. Support can be in the form of providing meals, helping with transport, child minding and even temporary housing. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to show gratitude to those who have taken action to help others. I know the positive impact your actions have made on our families. You can find more information about the 'Care & Share' program by collecting a pamphlet from the office. 

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES

Our school has a focus on increasing student agency where ‘agency’ means students having self-belief in their capabilities, taking ownership and being accountable to themselves for their progress while working in partnership with teachers to make decisions about their learning.  The research is clear:  ‘students who have agency in their learning are more motivated, experience greater satisfaction in their learning, and, consequently, are more likely to achieve academic success.’ (Williams, 2017).

In order to do this, students need to know:

• What they are learning and why it’s important, (the learning intention)
• How they are going and show evidence of the skills they have been working on (the success criteria)
• What they need to work on next (their goals)
• Which learner profile (disposition) is helping them. 

The student-led conferences on Monday evening provided the perfect opportunity for students to take control, share their learning and celebrate their achievements with their parents.

We conducted informal interviews with parents on the evening and the feedback was resoundingly positive with the most common responses being:

• How articulate the students were in talking about what they are learning and the processes they work through. 
• Seeing the progress over time (with students explaining this is what I used to do, now I can do this, and this is what I need to work on next).
• The pride the students have in their learning and in their school. 
• Schooling is so different now and I wish it was like this when I was at school!

While we all value the opportunity of parents and teachers talking together about the student’s progress, the student-led conference is vital to increasing student motivation and engagement. 

Thank you to everyone for your attendance and celebrating your child’s achievements. 

BOOK WEEK 

Book week is an annual event on the education calendar in schools across Australia. Book week typically includes a ‘Book Parade’ where students dress up in relation to the Book Week theme and/or representing characters from books that they have been reading.

From a parents’ perspective, it’s when your child says at 8:00am on the day of the parade, they have to dress up as a character and household panic ensues!

This newsletter is giving you a ‘heads up… the book week parade is coming’.

This year’s theme is ‘Reading is Magic’. 

Our ‘Book Week Parade’ will be on Thursday 22 August at 9:00am. 

Our Literacy Team is exploring how we can ‘jazz up’ the parade so stay tuned to Compass for their ‘Book Week Parade Announcement.’

PARENT/ CARER/ GUARDIAN OPINION SURVEY

Every year the Education Department asks parents and carers to complete a survey about their child’s school. The survey takes around 20 minutes (or less) and collates responses to categories such as: parent perception about the quality of teaching and learning, how the school manages behaviour and bullying, the school climate for learning, homework, stimulating learning experiences and more. 

These days we’re all constantly bombarded by requests to complete surveys, so we understand the hesitancy for doing ‘yet another one’. Despite this, we do humbly request that parents express their level of satisfaction in our school by providing your opinion through the survey. 

The parent/ carer/ guardian opinion survey is open until the end of August. The link and school code has been provided through Compass. 

In the mean time, keep those fingers crossed for a sunny day on Saturday 17 August for the fun filled Carnival.

Chellee Plumb