Newsletter Term 3 Week 10

Dear Parents and Carers,  I hope that this newsletter finds you in great spirits. We have reached the end of Term Three and what an incredible term it has been. 

Colour Run Event

What a wonderful way to end an action-packed term! Our Colour Fun Run event was a huge success and we were so fortunate with the beautiful weather. It was exciting to witness our neighbourhood oval explode into many shades of spectacular colour and to watch the pristine white t-shirts that our students arrived in, transform into a rainbow! 

I was delighted to see the whole school come together for this event. I watched the students happy and smiling faces, participating in this event with enthusiasm and excitement. A huge thank you goes out to our amazing parent community who never fail to show their support to the school and our children at Saltwater College. Events such as these are so important in bringing our community together, strengthening the bonds between each other and the school. Those bonds are crucial when building a purposeful community, as they act to improve mental well-being and establishing a strong sense of connectedness and belonging.

My sincere gratitude goes out to our wonderful and dedicated staff at Saltwater College, who work tirelessly not only to cater to the students’ academic, social, and emotional needs, but also organise events such as these, so that our students’ schooling experience is a memorable one. 

A big THANK YOU to those who raised sponsorship dollars – these funds will go towards improving our school. No matter how big or small, every donation is appreciated. I wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to our community members for their incredible generosity and involvement.

Term Three Achievements

In addition to providing some great academic learning experiences, this term saw us hosting some incredible extra curricula experiences:

Numerous camps and excursions across many year levels
Preps successfully completing 100 days of school. The children and their families were beaming with pride. What an incredible celebration!
Hosting several fundraising events such as ‘Matilda’s’ Day and the Food Drive.
Honouring and celebrating Science Week.
Successfully celebrating the Book Week event, Dress up day and the Scholastic Book Fair.
Participating in and winning many sporting events such as district athletics.
Successfully implementing our Numeracy Instructional Model (Launch, Explore, Discuss).
Successfully implementing formative assessment practices such as Reading Conferences and small reading group instruction.
Outstanding NAPLAN results for 2023. In almost all areas, we are above similar schools, our school network and the state with over 70% of our students attaining strong or exceeding performance.
The huge success of the Year Six Exhibition - Congratulations to all teachers, mentors, and of course our amazing students. 
Prep students participating in their first school swimming program.
Victorian State School Spectacular (VSSS) Dance Performance.
Helen Street Contextual Wellbeing consultancy and follow up work for staff and parents.
CUST training for staff - culturally safe and inclusive learning environments, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and classroom curriculum. 
Curriculum Day Berry Street Trauma Informed Training for staff.

  As you can see, we have so much to celebrate and be proud of.

Year Six Exhibition

The Year Six Exhibition was testament to how dedicated and hardworking our Saltwater students and teachers are, and how we as a collective group truly believe in our vision and mission, which is to provide more than just an education to prepare students for success in an ever-changing world.  

A huge thank you to the wonderful parents, carers, guardians and grandparents who took time out of their busy schedule to attend the event and support our wonderful students. As research suggests, effective schools have high levels of parental and community involvement. This involvement strongly correlates to improved student learning, attendance and behaviour. I am extremely proud and grateful of our Saltwater community for taking an interest in our children’s education and having that strong partnership with the school, to ensure that the students receive the best possible education. 

Our school, students and teachers were commended for their hard work and dedication and for putting together an outstanding exhibition, highlighting some important worldwide matters and issues. Our local government guests were impressed by our student’s ability to present, with clarity and precision, their research and findings and discuss their reflections and the actions they have taken because of these learning experiences.  

At the end of the opening night, many of our families assisted in helping us to pack away the exhibition. It was a lovely gesture of support and really highlighted the fantastic community we have here at Saltwater.

CUST Training for staff (Community Understanding and Safety Training initiative)

Throughout the term, staff have engaged in professional learning around creating culturally safe and inclusive learning environments. This is a Department of Education priority for all school-based staff, providing an introduction to ongoing learning and engagement with Aboriginal perspectives throughout the curriculum, through meaningful collaboration between local Aboriginal members and our school. 

We were very fortunate to participate in these authentic and purposeful sessions, facilitated by three department KESO workers: Tamara, Julianne and Bella, as well as elders Uncle Steve and Uncle Keith.

Our teachers now have a strong foundation of skills and knowledge in order to deliver First Nation's perspectives within their classroom curriculum. 

🎉🎉From Humble Beginnings to Educational Excellence in Five Years🎉🎉

Five years ago, Saltwater P-9 College opened its doors with a vision to provide a nurturing environment where young minds could flourish in an environment where we foster success in an ever-changing world. To mark the occasion of Saltwater P-9 College’s 5th anniversary, staff engaged in an opportunity on our curriculum day in week 7, to reminisce and recount the last five years and the impact they have had; and to enjoy a small feast as a token of appreciation.

What began as a humble establishment of 400 students, has now evolved into a centre of educational excellence, catering to the diverse needs and aspirations of its 1800 students and close to 180 staff. The journey has been marked by both challenges and triumphs such as explosive growth, the pandemic, a shortage of classrooms, and staffing challenges, each contributing to the school's unique character and spirit.

As the school celebrates its fifth anniversary, it's an opportune moment to reflect on the achievements that have been realised. Countless success stories of students who have overcome challenges, demonstrated exceptional talents, and grown into responsible citizens, as well as outstanding student results, stand as a testament to the school's impact. The journey so far is a tribute to the collective effort of teachers, students, parents, and the entire school community in our pursuit of providing more than an education.

From innovative teaching methodologies to state of the art facilities, our school has strived to create an environment that encourages curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity. Our dedicated educators have not only imparted knowledge but have also instilled a lifelong love for learning in our students.

Looking ahead, the future holds immense promise. Saltwater envisions continued growth, expansion in our programs and buildings, and innovation in its pursuit of providing quality education. Here's to the last five years and beyond, filled with even more achievements, discoveries, and transformative experiences.

Happy fifth anniversary Saltwater College! I am so proud to be leading such an incredible school.

Victorian State School Spectacular (VSSS)

The Victorian State School Spectacular is a valuable performing arts opportunity for Victoria’s government school students. The Spectacular celebrates the enormous talent that exists in schools, typically featuring music, dance, singing, and other forms of performing arts. Saltwater College school had 15 students in Years 6 and 7 who participated in this year’s Victorian State School Spectacular through a dance performance on 9 September.

A lot of work goes into being ready for the performance and our selected students worked had to practise every week at school. We were really pleased to offer this opportunity for our students to come together and participate in a professionally produced performance that highlighted their artistic abilities. We are extremely proud of collaborative effort involving students, our dance teacher Phill Haddad who led the choreography, and all other supporting staff who assisted with this performing arts initiative.  Well done on your achievement.

The VSSS is filmed and televised later in the year for anyone who isn’t able to make the live performance. We will share broadcasting dates and times once we have this information.

Staffing shortages

Like many schools, we are currently experiencing staffing shortages exacerbated by the teacher shortage in the casual teacher relief agencies that we use at Saltwater.  We are incredibly proud of our dedicated staff who have gone above and  beyond during these challenging times. They have shown flexibility and teamwork, stepping in wherever needed to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment for our students.  We want to extend our gratitude to our families for their understanding and support during this period. Your efforts in monitoring your child/ren’s health have contributed greatly to the safety of our school community. 

Planning for 2024

It's that time of year when the leadership team begin working through 2024 planning, class structures and recruitment processes. We are currently recruiting teaching staff for class teacher positions for 2024. As we continue the planning process for 2024, we would appreciate parents notifying the school if your child/ren will not be returning to our school in 2024, as soon as possible. Please contact the school office on 8366 7700 to let us know.

Class Formations for 2024

Class formation is a complex process which is carefully curated throughout the first part of Term 4. When creating classes and allocating students, teachers pay consideration to a balance of factors including male/female, academic ability, behaviour, students in receipt of additional funding for Disabilities, students with a diagnosis or medical issues.

Teachers will work in Collaborative Teams during Term Four of this year, to allocate students to 2024 classes. In order to allow for student voice in this process, early in Term Four, students will complete a “Friendship Circle” in Primary and a “Working Well With list” in secondary. This will give the students an opportunity to state who they work well with and who they would like to be placed with for the following year. Teachers support students through this process by discussing the issues prior to students completing requests, with a focus on selecting students who they work well with and not necessarily ‘play friends’. We endeavour to place students with at least one member from their requests when creating classes.  

School Parking

As the school continues to grow, traffic congestion and parking remains of concern for our entire community.

The times when parents drop off and pick up their children are busy at our school, with heavy road traffic and footpath congestion. Please demonstrate additional caution at these times, as we know families are often in a hurry and children are often excited and may forget road rules.

Please remember to:

Ensure that you are calm and comfortable and not in a rush, give yourself plenty of time to drop off and pick up your child.
Please do not park across driveways of private homes. We have received feedback from members of our community that this is happening.
Please do not park in the staff carpark, students are not permitted to be in the carpark as it is not safe for them.
Always obey parking signs; Please do not double park close to school as this only adds to the congestion and endangers others.
Keep an eye out for other children and be mindful that they can suddenly run or ride across the road in front of you.
Please do not obstruct the children's crossing near the school; doing so makes it more difficult for other children to view the road and safely cross.

The car parking spaces on the school perimeter are used as quick pick up and drop off areas as much as possible, however parking further away from the school and walking up is always a good option if no parking is available.

We thank you all for your cooperation with making our school drop off and pick up as safe as possible and ensuring we do not obstruct the access of our neighbourhood homes.

Sun Smart Policy- HATS

Please remember that students require a broad rimmed HAT for all outdoor activities and recess breaks in Term Four and Term One.

End of Term

On behalf of the staff at Saltwater College, I would like to wish you all a wonderful and safe term break. This term concludes of Friday 15 September at 2.40pm for all our students from Prep to Year 8.

We look forward to seeing you back at school in Term Four, Monday 2nd October, for a 12 week term which concludes on Tuesday 19 December, 2023.  We look forward to all the exciting developments that continue to happen at our school in Term Four.

Kind regards,

Jackie Daniali 

Acknowledgement of Country