Principals Report
Welcome back to all families as we begin the new term. I hope you all managed to enjoy some of the good weather and time with family over the April break.
We have a productive and very busy term ahead. There are many exciting activities planned for this term including incursions, excursions, grade 6 swimming, sports gala days, cross country run, school photo day, school disco, education week and Mother's/Special Persons Day stall. You can access dates and details for these events via the Compass calendar.
Staffing
This term we welcome four new staff members to our team. Laura Nunan and Anne Graham are working in our Grade 1 team this term. We also have Rose Halloran who is a new Education Support aide working in various grades across the school.
Congratulations to Louise Scally who is replacing me as Acting Assistant Principal for the rest of the term while we go through the principal appointment process. Lauren Shepherd who has been working in Louise’s grade 1 day a week as well as 2 other classes, will be stepping in for the term as the full-time classroom teacher for Grade 5B. Clara Nickson will be replacing Lauren one day a week in Grade 4A & 4B.
Foundation 2025 Enrolments
Foundation 2025 enrolments are now open! If you have a child at home due to commence Foundation in 2025, please see compass alert from 23 April containing official enrolment forms or contact our school office with any questions. The Department of Education has a new Prep Enrolment process, which includes Prep 2025 enrolment timeline closure as of Term 3 July 26, 2024. We look forward to your contact and enrolment of your new addition to our school for next year!
Student Free Day Reminder
A reminder about the upcoming student free day this term. On Monday May 20, staff will take their report writing day to prepare for semester reports. Teaching staff will be working on assessment and reporting in preparation for the release of Semester 1 reports at the end of Term 2. As part of the new Industrial Agreement for teaching staff, one of our curriculum days must be a report writing day. This is a student free day. TheirCare will operate on this day. You will need to make a booking directly with Theircare if you require care for your child/children.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
Thank you to all the parents/carers who made times to see their child/children’s teacher last week. Teachers very much appreciate meeting parents and sharing your child’s learning at an early point in the year. These rich conversations, using the evidence from teacher pre and post-tests, the student’s participation in differentiated and explicit teaching sessions and teacher observations give teachers a clear and evidence based snapshot of how your child is tracking academically, socially and emotionally.
This week we have started to implement our new friendship program: URSTRONG. Teachers have been pre testing the students and will post test at the end of the term to track how we are going and seeing if we are making a difference in supporting the development of friendship strategies and a common language of friendship. In Term 3 we will be having a whole school ‘friendship day’ and we have the ‘The Language of Friendship’ on Wednesday 22nd May online at 6:30pm. I sent this information to families in an email earlier this week.
I encourage all families to attend. It’s so important that school and home are sending the same message to our students to support them in fostering healthy, good relationships and we are sharing a common language.
Curriculum Day
On Friday 26th April, we were privileged to focus our teacher learning on Literacy with Dr. Nathaniel Swain. We investigated the many elements necessary for a child to become a successful reader. We revisited Scarborough’s Reading Rope to ensure this is reflected in our literacy planning.
We thank Nathaniel for his continued to support, ensuring that we are keeping up with current research and best practice so we are able to provide a first class literacy program for our students.
Reminders
Kiss & Go zones
A reminder that the ‘Kiss & Go’ zones are for parents to pull up & drop their children off. This is not an area to park your car and come into the school. Parents rely on these spaces for a quick drop off and get away so please use these spaces as they are intended for.
Uniform
A reminder that we are a uniform school. Our uniform policy which is available on Compass and the website clearly states what our uniform is. Our policy is currently under review by our Junior School Council and Policy Committee. Once it is ratified by our School Council at our next meeting we will send out a copy to all families. We seem to have a growing number of students coming to school out of uniform, so we would really appreciate your assistance with this.
Hats also need to be worn until May 1st.
Child Safe Practices
If your child is experiencing difficulties with another child, I respectfully ask that you contact your class teacher or a member of the welfare team to discuss the concern and it can be actioned in a timely and appropriate manner. Please refrain from speaking directly to another child as this does not align with the school’s child safe policies.
Children waiting at the Office after school
We understand that occasionally parents/carers can be held up/running late to collect children after school. On these occasions children may be asked to wait at the office after school. We kindly ask that you organise to utilise TheirCare for afterschool care if this is more then a one off occurrence. The office closes at 4:00PM and our office staff are completing their days work at this time.
AND............A lovely acknowledgement from Ged Kearney
