Leadership Report
Already two weeks down,
Happy Friday Magill!
Firstly...
A very warm welcome to our brand-new mid-year Receptions and their families! And, to the handful of students (and families) who have joined us across other year levels this term. We’re so glad to have you as part of our Magill community, and we sincerely hope you've had a great start to your time with us.
To Literacy next...
A quick musing ... One of the most powerful things we focus on in classrooms, is helping students understand that all writing has purpose and audience.
Who are you writing for? Why are you writing it? What do you want the reader to feel or understand after they've read it?
If students can answer those questions, the quality of their work changes, because they're aiming for a purpose, not for completed words on a page. Their thinking deepens. Their word choices begin to matter. The writing improves. Suddenly, the thinking shifts from 'did I finish the page of writing/the task?' ... to ... 'did I entertain? Did I scare? Did I build suspense? Did I shock? Surprise? Did I inform? Did I persuade?'. And that’s where the writing comes alive.
Quick tip at home! Next time your child shows you a piece of writing, ask them; "What was the purpose in this part? What do you want your reader to feel or think here?"
It's an easy way to turn surface-level writing into something meaningful.
Now, to the Term so far...and what's to come...
We’re at that point in the term where time moves strangely ... somehow very slow and very fast at the same time. But things are happening (good things, of course - it’s Magill). Try and clear some space in your head to comprehend the upcoming big ticket items for this term alone; Book Week, Year 5 Camp, SAPSASA Basketball, SAPSASA Netball, SAPSASA Athletics, Year 6 Leaders Day, ABODA Musical Performance, Festival of Music Senior Choir Performance, Year 6 Market Day (and more...)
Our pupil free day with Brendan Lee in Week 1 was a great way to start the busy term, giving staff the chance to sharpen how we target teaching for every student. The simple version: more kids getting what they need, when they need it. I wouldn’t expect your child to come home saying, “Mum, Dad, I felt very educationally supported today, and my teacher clearly understands my stage of learning in the instructional hierarchy” – but rest assured, the benefits are already there, and we’ll continue to build on them.
Book Week Coming Up:
In Week 5 of this Term, we celebrate ‘Book Week’. This celebration is about appreciating the joy and magic of reading, fostering a love, or sparking an enthusiasm for books, creating memorable experiences around books, and seeing if we can't leverage the opportunity to get some reluctant readers to want to pick up a story. This year’s theme is ‘Book an Adventure’, and it’s a perfect fit. Books can take students anywhere ... into new worlds, big ideas, new learning, and on adventures they’ve never imagined.
Throughout the week, classes will engage further in rich reading experiences, and on the Friday of that week (the 21st of August), we will have a whole school dress up day, where students are encouraged to dress up as a favourite book character. Get creative, recycle, borrow, improvise, it’s all part of the fun and participation – not the pressure...
Parent Workshop: The Wellbeing Journey
Next Friday (15th of August, 9:15–10:15am in the Resource Centre) we are inviting parents in for our Term 3 Parent Workshop. This workshop is an excellent opportunity for parents to engage with our wellbeing initiatives and understand how they contribute to a holistic educational experience. You’ll also hear from our Year 6 leaders on how student agency is promoted through Wellbeing Engagement and Collection (WEC) Survey and Student Action Teams.
Interested in attending? Please RSVP by 9.00 am, Thursday August 14.
To secure your place:
https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/q3veu
Please note, the event capacity is 50 places.
A new Acknowledgement of Country
This week, we launched our new Acknowledgement of Country video at our 3–6 assembly. We wanted something that honours the Kaurna people as the Traditional Custodians of the Adelaide Plains and recognises that their culture, history, and connection to Country continue to guide and influence how we grow as a school community today.
Magill is an incredibly diverse place, and that diversity is strengthened by the lessons we learn from the Kaurna people – lessons about respect, community, and caring for the land we share. Our new acknowledgement is about honouring what came before us, recognising what is still happening now, and using that understanding to move forward together.
Speaking of video projects, a reminder that two new exciting videos were released at the end of Term 2. Inside Magill, a program which gives you a nice rundown of some noteworthy highlights, and the latest episode of Positron vs Negatron, where our two characters look at our reward system, and what it truly means to live our values for the right reasons.
Inside Magill
Positron vs Negatron
That’s all for now – thank you for reading.
Mike Shortt
Assistant Principal