PRINCIPAL UPDATE 

Preps 2024

It was lovely to welcome our 54 new prep students last Friday.  They engaged well with their peers and prep teaching team that consists of Nikki Robertson, Laura Stephenson, Brit Hercus and Mylea Adams.

They will join us again on Friday December 1st at 9:15am.  We will also welcome parents of these students to an information session, coffee, and morning tea on this day.

Staffing update

We have appointed Elisa Hultgren to a 12-month teaching position for 2024.  We look forward to welcoming her to the team.  She will be joining us on December 15th to spend time with her new class.

Staff professional learning

Last week staff undertook a Curriculum Day planning with teams using a new consistent planning document across the school.  The key focus of this document is around the use of date to inform differentiation and strategies to cater for individuals and small group learning needs along with aligning planning to Literacy, Numeracy, and specialist Instructional Models.  The following day, staff undertook their Professional Practice Day moderating student learning and making consistent judgements about student learning needs and progress.

During this time, the Educational Support Staff went to Tate St Primary School to undertake a learning walk and peer observations.  The focus of this professional learning was to explore and understand strategies that staff put in place to support students within the classroom that display various learning needs.  Upon reflecting on this visit with them, it was really positive to see so much gained from this and strategies already being implemented within classrooms.

Also last week, the grade 5 and 6 teaching staff visited Geelong High School to observe secondary math lessons.  The focus of this was differentiation within a classroom whereby there was a high variation of academic knowledge and achievement. In addition to this they observed how teaching staff at Geelong High School engage students in higher order mathematical learning.  All staff really got a lot out of this professional learning, and also reaffirmed the high level of mathematical achievements taking place in their own classrooms. We thank Lauren Chapman and Steve Brown from GHS for welcoming us to their school and into classrooms.  We look forward to repaying the favour next year and inviting secondary teachers into our own classrooms.

Thank you to Junior School Council for their organisation of Cultural Day on Friday of this week.  We look forward to learning about cultural festivals from around the world and enjoying a special lunch.  Particular Students will share in assembly on Friday.

Please ensure you are checking school calendars and updates in regard to events taking place over the following few weeks.  A busy, but exciting few weeks ahead.

Thanks again and have a great week.

Kind regards,

Meg