Assistant Principal's Message
Adele Brice

Diversity and Inclusion

Autism Acceptance Month

April is Autism Acceptance Month (AAM) and a great opportunity to celebrate our autistic students, learn more about how we can support and include them, and help foster understanding and acceptance of autism among all students. AAM is an offshoot of the United Nations’ sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day on Tuesday 2 April 2024. The day will begin a month of global events to celebrate autistic people.

Our school is committed to understanding, including and celebrating our autistic students and values the contribution they and their families make to our school.

To celebrate AAM, we would like to share some resources that support autistic students and their families.

The Department of Education has worked with organisations for autistic people and lead researchers in autism to develop new resources for schools to help us better understand, support and celebrate the strengths of autistic students. I hope you find them useful and insightful.

-AllPlay Learn Inclusive School Communities: Monash University’s AllPlay Learn team has developed evidence-based guidance and resources on how to create inclusive school communities where everyone feels welcome and supported. It includes videos on engaging with other parents, using inclusive language and student resources you can share with your child or children.

-Amaze has produced videos and tip sheets for parents on how to include families of autistic children.

-The Art of Learning video.

More support for autistic students The department has established the Diverse Learners Hub to help meet the needs of diverse learners, including autistic students. It is key initiative of Disability Inclusion and flagship of the Autism Education Strategy.

The hub provides evidence-based advice, information and resources on best-practice inclusive teaching for autistic students.

Water Safety over the School Holidays

We know many families head away during the school holidays to locations near water, including lakes, rivers and beaches.

To help families stay safe around water these school holidays, please share the following water safety resources with parents and carers:

Surf Life Saving Australia’s Beachsafe website where you can view a location and the closest patrolled beaches (available in 132 languages – click on the ‘Select language’ tab). This information is also available in an app which you can download from the Beachsafe website. The app includes videos with tips for visiting Australian beaches, in 8 languages: English, Arabic, Hindi, Korean, Japanese, Malay, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
Vic Emergency’s Get to know our warning signs website, including posters translated into Arabic, Dari, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Life Saving Victoria’s Water safety tips.

Partnering with the Parents/Carers/Community

Childsafe Volunteer Training

As you are no doubt aware we are mandated (without exemption) to provide training for all volunteers working in our school. It's a requirement that our staff and volunteers are equipped with knowledge, skills and awareness to keep young people safe through ongoing education and training. Training is required to be updated annually.

All volunteers working in all school will need to have completed annual training prior to working with students at our school.

Over 240 people in term 1 have either updated their training, or trained for the first time. Thank you for being invested in our school and volunteering in our programs. I have enjoyed working with you to build a shared understanding of Child Safety.

There will only be two Volunteer Training Sessions on offer in Term 2, so please be aware of when your annual training expiries and join one of the online sessions if applicable. The details for the sessions are listed below, you can also find the link on the Sentral Parent Calendar.

Thursday 18th April 5.30-6.00pm (online)

https://eduvic.webex.com/eduvic/j.php?MTID=me7cf9093c397ef40136d9162e7e6fcd2

Meeting number: 2650 752 0041

Password: HSmRqkr9s52

Tuesday 4th June 5.15-5.45pm (online)

https://eduvic.webex.com/eduvic/j.php?MTID=ma799d08a7644b999cebfe9f02112349d

Meeting number: 2653 898 7549

Password: bmEBiP6va78

Term 1 Partnering Highlights

In Term 1 the school has provided opportunities to connect and partner with the school in the following ways;

-Getting to Know You Interviews

-Online Cyber Safety Workshops with The Cyber Safety Project