Leadership Report

Dear Saltwater Families,

Welcome Back to Term Three!

Dear Saltwater Families,

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful and refreshing break over the holidays. As the winter chill settles in and frosty mornings greet us each day, we’re excited to begin what promises to be a vibrant and productive Term Three.

A special welcome to all new families joining our Saltwater community, we’re so glad to have you with us.

This term is packed with opportunities for learning, growth, and connection. Our dedicated teachers have thoughtfully planned engaging lessons to support each child’s progress, while a range of extracurricular activities and special events will help build a rich and well-rounded experience for our students.

We encourage families to stay actively involved by maintaining regular communication with classroom teachers and keeping up to date with school news. Working together is key to ensuring the best outcomes for our students, and we always welcome your questions, feedback, or ideas.

Please note that Term Three is a 9-week term, concluding on Friday 19 September, 2025.

NAPLAN RESULTS AND UPDATE

We’d like to inform families of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 that NAPLAN results were distributed in Week One of Term 3. If you haven’t yet received your child’s report, please reach out to their classroom.

As with last year, NAPLAN results are now reported using four proficiency levels introduced by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to provide a clearer picture of student achievement. These levels are:

• Exceeding

• Strong

• Developing

• Needs Additional Support

NAPLAN continues to assess key areas of literacy and numeracy: reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. The updated reporting format gives parents and carers more accessible, easy-to-understand information about their child’s progress and achievement in comparison to national expectations.

When reviewing your child’s results, you’ll also receive a guide explaining these proficiency levels. This data is one of many tools we use at school to identify learning strengths and areas for growth, and to ensure that each student is supported in their development.

If you have any questions about your child’s NAPLAN results or would like to discuss them in more detail, we encourage you to contact your child’s teacher or the Year Level Assistant Principal.

ICAS Assessments – Registration Closed

Thank you to all families who registered their child for the 2025 ICAS Assessments. Please note that registration for students in Years 2–9 officially closed at midnight on Monday 28 July. Unfortunately, no late entries can be accepted as this is managed by an external provider.

The ICAS testing period will run from Monday 4 August to Friday 29 August, with specific subjects scheduled as follows:

Please be aware that students must be present at school during the scheduled time for their specific test. As ICAS is managed by an external company (similar to NAPLAN), we are unable to provide alternative sittings or make-up tests outside the allocated dates.

ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) is a highly regarded academic competition that celebrates student achievement in a range of subjects. Each participant will receive a printed certificate and an online results report, with top performers eligible for medals.

We look forward to supporting our students as they take on this opportunity to extend themselves and showcase their skills.

If you have any questions, please contact the school office.

Trevor MacKenzie Inspires Year 2 and 9 Teams at Saltwater P-9

https://www.trevormackenzie.com/

Last week, our Year 2 and Year 9 teaching teams had the privilege of working with Trevor MacKenzie, a leading inquiry-based learning consultant and author from Canada. Trevor is known for empowering educators to build student-driven, curiosity-led classrooms.

Trevor led a full-day ‘Learning Lab: Inquiry in Action’ with our staff and leadership, exploring how to deepen inquiry practices using provocation tasks, open-ended experiences that spark student questions and thinking.

The days included a team-teaching session in Year 2 and Year 9 classrooms, where Trevor and our teachers modelled how to use student ideas and questions to guide the learning process in real time.

Teachers then worked with Trevor to plan future rich Units of Inquiry focused on student voice, engagement, and deeper thinking.

We thank Trevor for his insights and are excited to continue growing our inquiry practices at Saltwater P-9.

Curriculum Day Term 3  Friday 1st August Week 2

A reminder that our school has one curriculum day in Term Three:

• Friday 1 August 

Please ensure you have made suitable arrangements as students do not attend school on these days. 

Big Childcare will be operating, should you require care for your children. Please contact them for care at saltwater@bigchildcare.com.

100 Days of Prep

CONGRATULATIONS to our Prep students who celebrated 100 Days of School on Tuesday 29 July, 2025. This special milestone marked 100 days of learning, growing, and having fun together in Prep. To mark the occasion, students came dressed in something related to the number 100. Throughout the school day, they enjoyed fun counting activities, games, and classroom celebrations, to honour this exciting achievement. What an exciting event for all involved!

Gate Access Update – School Additions and Extensions

As part of our ongoing school additions and extensions, you would have seen the building and construction work. We’d like to inform our families about recent improvements to gate access points.

The Carrick Street entry has been extended to provide more walkway space, allowing for a smoother and safer flow of students and families during peak times.

Thank you for your continued support as we work to improve accessibility and safety around our school grounds.

Student Supervision Hours

A reminder to all families that our school gates open at 8:15am, and students at the Primary School are supervised from 8:15am to 3:00pm each school day.

Outside of these hours, we are unable to provide supervision, as teachers have professional learning, preparation and meeting commitments before and after school. We kindly ask that students are not dropped off or left at school outside of the designated supervision times.

We appreciate your support in helping us keep all students safe.

Kind Regards,

The Leadership Team