Principal's Message
Hello Tarneit Rise Primary School Community,
Welcome to another edition of ‘Rise and Shine’! We hope everyone has had a lovely fortnight.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to the following children and their families and to the following staff who have joined Tarneit Rise Primary School over the last fortnight:
Year One: Kiswah
Year Two: Avyan
Year Six: Azaan
Staff: Katie White (Year Four classroom teacher), Jodie Chander (Prep Professional Learning Community (PLC) ) & Tatiana Barros (Leading Teacher PLC 2).
It is amazing to think that we are nearing the end of Term 1!
Harmony Day
Last week was Cultural Diversity Week in Victoria. Cultural Diversity week is held every year in March to celebrate the power, influence, and stories of Victoria’s rich multicultural communities. Did you know Victoria is home to people who speak 290 languages and have 315 ancestries? How remarkable!
Tarneit Rise Primary School once again, participated in Harmony Day on Thursday March 21 (a day which coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination). And what a truly spectacular event it was! Tarneit Rise Primary School is such an incredibly vibrant school community comprised of children and families who speak 78 languages and have ancestries from Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, United Kingdom, England, Ireland, France, Eqypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Canada, United States of America, Ghana, Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda.
This day not only invited our school community to open our hearts and celebrate the tapestry of humanity that binds our school community, but it also invited us to reflect on all that has happened to pave the way for this celebration to occur. From the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world, our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are here at Tarneit Rise Primary School.
National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy
We would like to congratulate our Year Three and Year Five children who completed the second week of the National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing! We are very proud of how our children took the assessments in their stride. By approaching these assessments calmly and viewing the assessments positively- as opportunities to demonstrate their skills and knowledge and to see how they are progressing- they demonstrated how assessment is nothing out of the ordinary- it is a part of their learning journey. And this is a testament to how well Tarneit Rise Primary School creates a supportive teaching and learning environment- assessments are an integral part of the environment, not a random occurrence.
When the results are released later in the year, we will interrogate the data to see how our children are progressing in literacy and numeracy, over time, against the national standards. And when we communicate these results to our children, they will know that their results are not a decisive measure of their worth OR their future potential for academic success. No assessment can determine the worth of any human being or their potential. We hope you approach your child’s results with the same mindset.
This is a Safe Place to Talk about Racism
Last year, some children in Year Four, Five and Six were invited to partake in a data dive to help teachers to understand the results of the Attitudes to School Survey- a survey that is conducted each year in Years Four, Five and Six. The data dive identified the absence of the school value of Respect in the yard, and more specifically, racism as a significant area of concern for the children. As a response, three members of staff attended an anti-racism professional learning workshop with the Centre for Multicultural Youth to learn how to raise awareness of racism with children, increase children’s understanding of racism and its impacts, and discuss racism strategically and confidently with children. From here, the school has created a standalone anti-racism policy (which complements our discrimination and harassment policy) to highlight the issue and our stance on racism. Our student leaders will share this across all classrooms along with posters promoting the school as a safe place to talk about racism.
Take care everyone,
Nadia, Sarah, Missy, Gemma, Lauren, Stephen, Adam and Alana