End Of Term One

We always seem to pack a lot into a term these days, and this term has been no exception. There’s always a lot going on in schools and education. This term we have :

Inducted our new Foundation students into our community, and they are doing very well by all accounts.
Swimming - all classes have had swimming lessons this year
Harmony Week
NAPLAN testing
Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Codes Dress-up Day
Twilight Sports, 5/6 Winter Sports
'Project Rockit' incursion has also come into school and run Cyber Safety sessions for our senior kids.
EACH have been in and run healthy eating information lessons for the Year 6s, and they will be back next term to work with the F-2s.

Cultural Studies Next Term

Thank you to those families who completed our survey this term and gave their preference for the LOTE program. We have spoken with staff and School Council and have decided to go with Cultural Studies for the remainder of the year.

Nic and Sue will be taking the classes (Sue Foundation-Year 4 and Nic 5/6). In Term 4 we may look at including some Auslan as well. We are looking forward to getting back into the classroom again.

Mental Health And Wellbeing Leaders In Schools

We have been completing Mental Health and Wellbeing training this term, as each primary school in Victoria will have a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader (MHWL) between 2023-2026. At Scoresby PS this position is filled by our Assistant Principal, Nicole Rheumer.

MHWLs are employed as Victorian Institute of Teaching registered teachers, and work across the school to implement a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing for students, staff and families, based on a broad knowledge of the needs of the school community. It is recognised that schools play a role in identifying signs of mental health issues in children, providing early support, and referring students to health services.

Nic will be running staff meetings, introducing staff to the many areas of student mental health and wellbeing, and overseeing the referral process for students on a needs basis. She will also be doing the policy work and school-based frameworks that support our students and staff in the mental health and wellbeing space.

Newsletters

Next term we will be slightly changing the format of our Leadership section of the newsletters. We will alternate with each fortnightly edition between general content and health/wellbeing content. This will reflect our learning in the health and wellbeing space and give us an opportunity to focus on this important DET initiative.

School Photos

A friendly reminder that our annual school photos are taking place on Wednesday 23rd April, the first Wednesday back at school in Term 2. School uniform is required on the day, and children will be photographed in their green school t-shirt. Personalised photo information came home earlier this week.

Attendance

Attendance is becoming an increasing issue in schools these days. Since COVID, there has been a marked decline in student attendance rates across the system. Children are being allowed to stay home for a wide variety of reasons (including their birthday!). Kids are missing more and more days of school each year, with some students missing weeks, months and terms. It adds up very quickly.

Schools work hard to improve attendance rates for children, working with parents to understand the need for children to attend school, and the consequences of low attendance rates. Poor school attendance is one measure used when predicting the success of a child into adulthood.

We have also noticed in recent times an increase of early pick-ups in the last session of our school day. Session 6 runs from 2.40-3.30pm; lessons are planned for these sessions every day. We have a few students who regularly miss these activities due to being picked up early by their parents. Our office staff and teachers are trying to accommodate many early pick-ups and also get the end of the day work completed as well. Some days they are run off their feet trying to accommodate everyone.

We understand that there are rare occasions when children need to be picked up early for an appointment, and that is fine. However, there are some students who miss these afternoon sessions on a regular basis, and also miss the reminders for the following day, packing up their own equipment and recapping the learning of the day.

Our request to the school community is to please make your early pick-ups on the occasions they are needed - for medical appointments or emergencies - and let your children participate in the end-of-day routines and lessons. If you have a child with low attendance, we are more than happy to meet with you and work together to improve school attendance.

Anzac Day Ceremony, Thursday 24th April 3.15pm

We will be marking Anzac Day with a small commemorative ceremony on the first Thursday back at school for Term 2 (Thursday 24th April). There will be no assembly in Week 1 of Term 2.

Happy Holidays

We wish everyone a lovely Easter break. If you are local, please keep an eye on our beautiful school and, if there are any issues or concerns, please contact Knox Police 9881 7000 or 131 444.

SUE HARTLEY AND NICOLE RHEUMER

Scoresby Primary School Leaders

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