Assistant Principal's Report
Welcome back to Term 2! It is fantastic to see the students return to their daily routines and engage in their learning. Students across Foundation to Year 6 have begun focussing on new picture story books or novels to build their comprehension skills and core knowledge. The core knowledge focuses on the Humanities curriculum, particularly Geography which is explored through our inquiry big idea ‘I’m a Tourist’.
Professional Learning
Last week the Principal Class Team attended the Riversdale Conference. The conference focused on instructional leadership, explicit teaching and system wide coherence. One of the keynote speakers, Bronwyn Ryrie Jones focused on the Foundations of Responsive Teaching. The responsive teaching framework focuses on enhancing student learning by using in-lesson, short-cycle formative assessment to adapt instruction. It emphasizes evidence-informed techniques (like mini-whiteboards, hand gestures, questioning) to check all students' understanding, aiming to address misconceptions.
Our staff are involved in a 4 part webinar series with Bronwyn, enhancing our approach to responsive teaching. In our first webinar this week, our teachers discussed ‘Teach-Track-Respond Cycles’. This is a structured approach to planning and instruction where teachers intentionally teach, track student understanding, and immediately respond to the needs of the class or individual. ‘Teach-Track-Respond Cycles’ can be long cycles (assessments such as NAPLAN), medium cycles (assessment within a sequence of learning) or short cycle (‘in the moment’ assessment). We look forward to our next webinar session later in this term on ‘Checking all Students' Understanding’.
Year 3-6 Cross Country
Today the Years 3-6 students challenged themselves whilst fostering school spirit, in our annual House Cross Country event. The event is where students of all abilities participate, having a go at achieving their personal best or just a fun run in a 2km or 3km race.
The students demonstrated our school values competing in their House Colours, cheering each other on.
We thank Mitch for his organisation and the smooth coordination of the day and the staff and parents who volunteered as marshals or members of the cheer squad! Congratulations to the students, who will participate in the District Cross Country.
Mother’s Day Stall
On Thursday 7th of May and Friday 8th of May we will be hosting our Mother’s Day Stall. Gifts will be priced between $1- $8 with a handful of gift packs valued at $20. We are seeking parent helpers to run the stall. If you are interested please email parent.association@burwoodeastps.vic.edu.auto register your interest. Information regarding the Mother’s Day Stall has been shared via Compass for you to know which day your child will be attending the stall.
Students love the opportunity to purchase a gift for their mum, grandma, aunt, or any special person in their life to show how much this person means to them. We wish all the mums and special people a day filled with love and laughter on Sunday 10th of May.
Have a great week,
Edwina and Teri