Principal's Desk

School Camping Program

We provide an extensive camping program here at Park Ridge. We believe that be offering these types of experiences, along with our teaching program, supports in the development of the whole child. With our Yr 4 and Yr 6 student heading off on camp this coming Monday, it is perfect timing to again share with our school community the camping program we offer:

FOUNDATION

Healthy Day – To help support important concepts learnt throughout the Foundation ‘Healthy Me’ unit, the students enjoy a day full of healthy activities, nutritious food and fun.

YEAR 1

Extended Day – Students enjoy an afternoon at school where they participate in team work games, have a visit from a children’s entertainer, and then enjoy a sausage sizzle for dinner.

YEAR 2

Oasis Mt Evelyn Day Camp – An opportunity to immerse students in the essence of camp life without sleeping over.  Students will experience outdoor activities and share meals together to prepare them for the camps ahead, whilst enjoying the beautiful surrounds of the Australian bush.  Students will be tempted to complete a crate climb, climb walls, make candles and work together to complete initiative games.

YEAR 3

Ferngully Lodge Healesville (1 Night Camp) – Nestled in the breathtaking landscapes of Healesville, the adventure camp offers an unparalleled escape into nature’s embrace. Amidst towering eucalyptus trees and rolling hills, campers will eagerly embark on a journey of excitement and exploration. From challenging traverse walls, ropes course, the centipede and cargo net,  each day will bring new thrills.

YEAR 4

Mt Evelyn Discovery Camp – Mt Evelyn Discovery Camp is a wildlife and environmental adventure camp located in the Dandenong Ranges. Students will experience a range of programs and activities that take advantage of the beautiful environment and the natural spaces around the site. From the flying fox to high ropes, to nature trails and bush walks students will make a connection with nature, whilst supporting their adventurous spirit.

YEAR 5

Camp Campaspe Downs – Campaspe Downs is set amid 160 acres of stunning natural bushland in the Macedon Ranges.  It boasts a wide range of exciting adventure activities – from flying fox to raft making, a double giant swing and the leap of faith.  The focus being developing the students’ love for the outdoors and nature, while also developing resilience, independence, relationship building and fun.

YEAR 6

Camp Rumbug –  An adventure-based camp located in the hills of South Gippsland, two hours from Melbourne’s CBD and set in 200 acres of rainforest overlooking Wilsons Promontory National Park. The camp includes a wide range of adventure activities such as abseiling, canoeing, archery and mud run to name a few!  It also offers a specifically designed schedule which includes fun evening entertainment programs.

How do we assess your child?

Our leadership team often analyses annual surveys, including the Parent Opinion Survey. One of the questions in which we received fewer positive responses was, ‘I understand how my child is assessed’.

It is not possible to explain everything in a short newsletter piece about the different assessments that teachers conduct.  However, it is important to note that analysing and evaluating a range of data is the critical first step for teachers when planning what the students need to be learning. All teachers at Park Ridge PS are highly trained professionals who use a variety of assessment methods to make teacher judgments. Teachers also spend considerable time discussing student data in their weekly team planning sessions. 

The school has a range of formal assessments for Reading (including Running Records, PAT Assessment & Essential Assessment), Writing (including regular moderation) and Numeracy (including various online assessment programs). This information provides the information that teachers need to ensure that students are completing ‘just right’ tasks in class – not too easy and not too difficult. It also assists in placing students at the level that you see on their semester reports.

Alongside the formal assessments described above, teachers are constantly assessing students informally. This is most common when they are working with small groups of similar ability students, explicitly teaching and supporting them, whilst also gaining a greater understanding of where their learning is at… and where to next.

Next time you walk in or past a classroom, you will most likely see the teacher working with individual or small groups of students – not only are they teaching the students, but they are also assessing what the students can say, write and do.

Attendance

As always, we wish to emphasise the importance of students attending school. At Park Ridge, we often have better attendance rates than the rest of the state but that doesn't mean we can't do better. 

It is important to remember that a child who misses a day each fortnight will have missed the equivalent of 4 weeks of school by the end of the year! This can be an entire maths unit from beginning to end. Similarly, students who consistently miss the first 20 minutes of each day are missing the equivalent of 12 weeks of reading instruction. 

I appreciate how difficult it can be to get a child out of bed and ready for the day, it's my job to rouse my two very sleepy 10 and 11-year olds and get them ready each morning, but I am sure that no-one would voluntarily have their child miss more than a term of reading instruction. 

For these reasons, the Department of Education, and the staff at Park Ridge, are working to ensure that we are doing all we can to promote ongoing student attendance. 

If your child is absent and no reason has been entered into Compass, you will get a call from our office staff to confirm their absence and to enter a reason. It is part of our legal obligations but it is also an important way to know if we need to offer support to families or students who are finding it difficult. 

If you don't wish to be interrupted by these calls, please enter your child's absence reasons in Compass. If you do receive one of these calls, please know that it is not a criticism, but an important piece of information about your child's engagement with school. 

Communication

We value parent partnership and connection. Here are a few important reminders about Parent/Carer and Teacher communication. 

• If a matter needs urgent attention, please contact reception on 9752 8555 and our wonderful office team can relay messages as needed. Teachers are generally unable to respond to emails and phone messages between 8.30am and 3:30pm as they are teaching or in meetings.
• Regarding in person meetings before/after school: Unless the conversation you need to have is less than 2 minutes and is specifically related to the day ahead, please email the teacher, via Compass, to make a phone or face to face appointment. This ensures matters can be given the time and attention they need. Please also note that staff are unavailable on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons as they may be in a staff meeting.
• Email communication: We have introduced (last year) the pathway to communicate directly with our staff via Compass. This is generally the most convenient method of communication with our community. 

We hope these three methods of communication helps ensure a strong connection between home and school. Not surprisingly, research shows that the more parents and teachers share relevant information with each other about a student, the better equipped both will be to help that student achieve academically, socially and emotionally.

Choosing a School for Next Year / 2025 Foundation Enrolments

At this time of the year many people are thinking about choosing a school for next year. This may be parents of children in Year 6 who are deciding on secondary schools or parents of pre-schoolers who are looking for a primary school. 

Choosing the school that is best suited to your family and child’s needs can still be a challenge. The best way to determine the right school for you is to visit them, participate in the school tours and take advantage of the open days/nights and various transition events that the schools offer. 

This approach works equally well for primary and secondary schools.

We are now accepting enrolments for Foundation in 2025. We encourage prospective parents and carers to complete an online tour via the school website where you can learn about our wonderful school and meet our staff and students. Prospective families can also attend an in-person tour where we can show you our school and answer any questions you might have or discuss your child’s individual needs.

Mrs Chalmers, Mr Garvey and I have been busily providing personalised school tours for interested families, looking to enrol their child at Park Ridge in 2025. Prospective families can book a school tour through our website: https://parkridge-ps.vic.edu.au/ or through the office on 9752 8555.

With a new state-wide enrolment timeline this year, we will be accepting enrolments for Foundation for 2025, and any other year level, from the beginning of this term. Further information about choosing a school and enrolling your child is available at https://www.vic.gov.au/how-choose-school-and-enrol Enrolment information is now available at the office.

If you know of anyone who is looking at a Primary School for next year, please encourage them to visit our website and register for the online tour where they will hear teachers, parents and students talk about our school. They are also encouraged to come and visit Park Ridge and see our school ‘in action’ where they will get a sense of the great relationships that exist here. We love showing people around and talking about our school.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please feel free to pop in for a chat with either Carrie, Brendan or I, should you wish to discuss anything. 

Take care,

Mr. Dale Blythman