A message from the Principal

As we approach the halfway mark of the school year, it’s a great time to pause and reflect on the learning journey so far—both for our school as a whole and for every individual child.

Our staff are currently deep in the process of assessing student learning and beginning to write Semester One reports, which will be released in the final week of this term. These formal reports provide an overview of your child’s achievement against the Victorian Curriculum, along with a comment on their social and emotional development.

As teachers undertake this work, a clear trend is emerging: students across the school are making strong and consistent progress—and in many cases, especially impressive gains. We believe this is due to a number of factors, including the successful introduction of PhOrMeS and the growing use of explicit instruction across the curriculum. 

These initiatives are helping to strengthen our teaching practice and, most importantly, student learning outcomes.

But strong learning isn’t just something that happens at school—it’s the result of a three-way partnership between school, home and student. That’s why we place such a high priority on communication. As well as the mid-year reports, we continue to invest time and energy into our ongoing reporting via the Seesaw platform.

Through Seesaw, your child now has a developing portfolio of work samples in areas such as Reading, Writing, Maths, Italian, Art and Performing Arts. These include photos, videos, written reflections and teacher comments that offer a rich, detailed picture of your child’s progress, strengths, and next steps. It’s a powerful and immediate way for families to stay connected to what’s happening in the classroom.

I am so impressed by the standard of these Seesaw samples. They demonstrate the skill and professionalism of our teaching staff - their deep knowledge of their students, the curriculum and the learning process. They show the high standard of teaching and learning that takes place in our classrooms each day. Importantly, they show a commitment to teachers always improving their practice and doing the best for SKiPPS students and families. I am so proud of our team - they are exceptional.

Our teachers have put huge amounts of time and effort into these Seesaw portfolios and I have a couple of requests to make of our parents and carers;

• If you have not yet done this, please login to Seesaw and take some time to view your child's learning and to listen to the reflections and comments made. Teachers are able to see when a work sample has been 'seen' by parents and we are really keen that you get involved with this process. If you have mislaid your login details and instructions on how to access Seesaw, please email your child's teacher and they can provide these to you quickly and easily. 

• It would be wonderful if you were able to provide positive feedback to the teachers on these reports. As this way of reporting is brand new, it would make their hard work worthwhile and reassure us we are on the right track to hear if you have found the Seesaw samples useful to understand your child's learning. A quick email or chat in the school yard about the work samples would be much appreciated.

Together, we can continue to ensure every student at SKiPPS thrives, learns and feels proud of their progress.

Neil Scott

Principal