Principal's Report

Well, didn’t that move quickly?! Whilst I attended the State Principals Conference last week, the walls of our gymnasium were erected and what had previously been to me just an image on paper suddenly became an exciting reality. I was fortunate to spend a short period of time in the site earlier this week as one of the panels was placed, and what a fascinating process it was to watch. The skill and craft of both the design team at McIldowie Partners and the builders at Newpol are bringing together a vision for our school that will benefit literally thousands of children long into the future in this area, and of that I am incredibly proud. 

Early next week, I will share a letter on behalf of our School Council, launching our fundraising drive for the next twelve months. It will outline an aspirational goal for our community to help ensure that the fit-out to the final product reflects the state-of-the-art build that we have been so fortunate to have received such a significant grant for. I will also share some rendered drawings of the final product, as available at the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) website. 

I cannot understate my gratitude to our students, staff and families for how they have managed around the new build to date. Just over the past week, I have asked classes to relocate at short notice, have had to narrow walkways and entrances (even more than we already had!), closed Bundeera Road and altered bus pick-up and drop-off points. We have done all of this around some wicked weather as winter commences, and still, we maintain a calm and orderly learning environment and continue with the great learning and wellbeing programs that our school is renowned for. 

Today, as our students enjoy an extended long weekend, our staff are participating in professional learning at school, with a particular focus on:

• Maths and reading assessment analysis.
• Indicative NAPLAN results. 
• Moderation of student work samples. 
• Entry of assessment results into, and analysis of, our whole-school data wall. 
• Moderation of student achievement progression points. 

As outlined in previous newsletters, the Semester One student reports will not contain written comments, our staff are working tirelessly to ensure that their rigorous teacher judgements will provide a clear explanation of student learning and growth during the first half of the year. 

The Department have provided all schools with the following statement regarding student report comments:

We will be providing student achievement reports for Semester 1 this year as usual. The reports will be distributed on Friday 19th June. The reports will continue to provide important details about student learning attainment, but full descriptive comments will not be included as a result of industrial action taken earlier this term by the Australian Education Union. We will of course be pleased to discuss with you your child’s progress at our next parent-teacher interviews, scheduled later in Term 3, or, as always, you can contact us with any questions via email here.

Thanks for your ongoing support and keep doing your best.

Rohan Cooper

Principal