Principal Report

Bullying No Way Week

This week, all of our classes have been marking Bullying No Way Week through their lessons and morning circle reflections. It’s an opportunity for schools to foster a shared understanding of bullying behaviours and highlight strategies for their prevention.

We encourage our students to be ‘upstanders’ who call out inappropriate behaviour when they see it, and who seek adult help for complex social situations. Speaking up for yourself - and for others - takes courage, and we should always acknowledge the efforts of our children to do this.

Alongside our classroom learning, staff have been reviewing our internal processes to ensure that, firstly, students are supported to display positive behaviours, and secondly, that undesirable behaviours are responded to in a timely and age-appropriate manner. This includes informing parents and carers about actions we have taken, and supports we are putting in place for students.  

Staff Absences

One of the great strengths of our teachers is the consistency of the care, support and challenge that they offer to our students, and we know that staff absences can be unsettling for students at times. Our year level teams of teachers plan together to provide consistent, high quality lessons across all classrooms, so when teachers are absent due to illness, professional learning or other personal reasons, this team planning helps provide students with continuity in their learning.

Whenever possible, we replace absent teachers with other available members of staff, or with familiar relief teachers. At times, it is necessary to split a class and have the students join another class for some sessions. This is never our first preference and we will always aim to split a class for the least number of sessions possible on any given day a teacher is absent.

On their return from absence, teachers will work with their colleagues to assess students’ current understandings and to plan next steps in students’ learning.

Parent / Carer Survey

All families have received a Compass notification about our Parent / Carer Survey. Please use the link and code provided on Compass to complete the survey so that your views can inform our school improvement work.

If you need support to complete the survey, please come to the school office. We are also grateful to the parent helpers who will have a table at our school assemblies, where they will provide assistance in completing the survey. The survey is available in many languages and translation guides will also be available from our parent helpers. Survey support is also available each week at Breakfast Club on Friday mornings.

We want to hear from you! Please complete the survey before the end of term, with one submission per household.

All the best,

Tom Drummond