Kilsyth PS Newsletter

From Daniel 

 Our Principal 

Maximising Growth

We have one main objective as a school – to Maximise Growth for all students. As we work towards this objective, we focus on two areas, Learning and Wellbeing. I have grouped the highlights under these two headings.

 

Learning

 

This year has seen some big changes in our teaching and learning approach.  We have embedded clear instructional routines in all of our classes and restructured the way we teach literacy.  We are already seeing above average growth in student learning in literacy across the board.  It has been great to be able to catch individual parents in the yard and share with them the improvements I have seen in their child’s reading and writing, and even better to hear them share with me how they have noticed the changes at home. I have been using Sentral notifications along with the teachers to share the progress I am noticing in class.  Sometimes it is a small thing, like conquering a new phoneme or spelling pattern; other times it is a boost in confidence that sees the student sticking with a maths task they had previously found too difficult.  I know, as a parent, it is these small glimpses into the success our children experience that help us keep track of how they are going at school. 

 

We collect a lot of data on our students, particularly in literacy and numeracy, and I am very pleased to say that we have seen a sharp increase in student outcomes, especially toward the end of the semester as students have settled into our new teaching approaches.  This data provides clear evidence to us of which strategies are working and which need further refinement.  

 

In our Junior school classes we moved to a model that divided students into three groups and allowed us to further target student learning needs.  This has been very successful.  Since its introduction last term ago, 100% of students have made significant progress, and over 60% making well above expected progress.  This equates to almost six months growth in just 12 weeks.  Having seen such rapid growth in our students last term, we introduced a similar model into our Senior school classes this term to assist them to maintain the significant progress their students have been making this year.  Our Middle School classes are already working in smaller groups and seeing similar rates of progress to the Junior School.

 

We have also had a terrific response from parents providing Literacy Support each morning.  Thank you so very much to the many parents that have come in and helped small groups of students develop their fluency and automaticity in literacy.  We truly appreciate your help.  If you would like to join in, please click the link on Sentral – Junior School Literacy Support.  All parents are welcome.  If you would like to help out in other year levels, please let the office know.

 

Wellbeing

 

Just like in literacy and numeracy, we gather evidence of student wellbeing.  We use a tool known as SAEBRS (Social, Academic, Emotional, Behaviour Risk Survey) to monitor individual wellbeing and identify students who may need extra social or emotional support.  This data is gathered every semester and analysed by our wellbeing team. 

 

Some of the responses our team make to this data include:

  • Encouraging students to come to Colouring Club or Games Club in afternoon recesses each day.

  • Creating specifically designed targeted recess activities and games for small groups to build opportunities for friendship building.

  • Inviting small groups of students to attend focused recess groups to further strengthen their social skills.

  • Having our ES team keep an extra eye on certain students in the yard each recess.

  • Working alongside identified students in class to build resilience in their learning and the social aspect of classroom life.

  • Providing individual and small group counselling sessions to help students develop emotional awareness.

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These are just a few of things that our wellbeing team are doing.  Please feel free to chat with our Wellbeing Team leader, Miss Shannen May, about our approach and what supports we might provide your child.

 

Another set of data we collect is Incident Data.  We keep track of every incident of behaviour that does not meet our school values, from disrespectful language and mild classroom disruption to physical contact, aggression and property damage.  We identify incidents as major and minor, we also track the students involved and the follow up from the teachers.  This evidence informs our approach as a school.  We use this data to develop our SWPBS lesson plans.  Each week we spend time in our SWPBS lessons teaching students strategies and responses that build positive behaviours.

 

For example, we have seen an increase in physical contact this year.  The incident reports have shown us when and where these have been happening, who has been involved and why they have occurred.  The data suggests that in, most occasions, students are playing rough games and these sometimes get out of hand.  On other occasions, students use their bodies rather than their words to try and get what they want, taking something from another student or pushing into line, rather than asking first.  On the rare occasion that the physical contact has been aggression based, we are able to respond accordingly.

 

In response to this, we will have been focusing our Term 3 SWPBS lessons on supporting students to use their words rather than their bodies.  We have been looking at ways to ask to join games and borrow equipment, how to say “No” politely and assertively and how to accept “No” as an answer.  We have explored the impact of physical responses on people and shown how we often feel nervous around people who behave in unpredictable ways.  These are just some of the lessons we have completed so far, others will be developed for Term 4 as we continue to monitor the data and see the change in behaviour in response to each lesson.  

 

We have also noticed an increase in inappropriate and disrespectful language from some students.  In response to this, we have modified our Sentral settings so anytime a student uses disrespectful language, it is logged on Sentral and parents automatically receive a notification of what was said and the sanction that was applied as a consequence for the student.  If you do, unfortunately, receive one of these notifications, we ask that you speak to your child at home about the importance of respectful language and follow up with your child's teacher if you have further concerns.  The use of respectful language is also forming a part of our SWPBS lessons as we move to Term 4.

 

If you would like to suggest anything else we could highlight in these lessons, you can make a suggestion online here: https://shorturl.at/Gh2my

 

2026 Enrolments

We are looking to finalise our planning for 2026 very soon.  If you, or anyone you know, have a child looking to enrol at Kilsyth Primary School for next year it would be very helpful if you could please contact the office on 9725 4320 as soon as possible.  We know some current families have younger siblings who are looking to enrol, however have not yet completed the paperwork.  

 

I am always happy to meet with any family who would like a tour or more information regarding how our school operates.  I would love to speak with you in person about our approaches here at KPS.  To book a meeting, or a tour, simply go to: https://linktr.ee/danielgooding .

 

All the best

Daniel