From the Principal

Welcome back to school for Term 3. We hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable school holiday break and are ready for a great term. It has been terrific to hear holiday stories and to see the students reconnecting with their peers and teachers over the week. 

This term our foundation students will celebrate 100 days at school, Grade 4 and 6 students have camp to look forward to, we have a whole school cyber safety incursion, and our mini-Olympics whole school fun day in a few weeks. 

Over the holiday break the garden area outside the gym was refurbished, termly maintenance of the oval was completed, and new lights were installed in the foyer of the gym. Also thank you to Darren Pendergast (Elsie 1S dad) for his time and expertise installing a veggie garden irrigation system. 

School Review

In August our school will participate in the Department of Education School review process. All Victorian Schools have a cycle of strategic planning and review every four years.  Our last review was completed in 2020.  During terms 1 and 2 our school leaders and staff worked on our self-assessment as part of the review, this included analysing data in Literacy, Numeracy, Attitudes to school survey, parent opinion and staff opinion data. From the data we identified enablers and barriers for the targets which had been set. An external reviewer, our school education improvement leader (SEIL), School Council President and two challenge partners will work with us to offer independent and expert advice on our progress and will be able to identify the most effective strategies for us to continue to improve into the future. 

PhOrMes Professional Development

We are fortunate to have Shane Pearson who will be presenting at our curriculum day to staff on Friday 13th September.  The day will involve Shane introducing PhOrMes to staff as part of our professional development in literacy. PhOrMeS provides schools with high-quality literacy curriculum materials that cover decoding, spelling and vocabulary. PhOrMes stands for Phonology, Orthography, Morphology, Etymology and Semantics. 

Parent, Caregiver and Guardian Opinion Survey

The 2024 Parent, Caregiver and Guardian Opinion Survey will be available to complete online from Monday 29 July to Friday 30 August 2024. The survey seeks feedback on school climate, community engagement in learning and teaching practices for student engagement and outcomes.  Further information will be sent out next week. 

Foundation (Prep) Enrolments 2025 – due Friday 26th July

Enrolments for 2025 are still open for foundation/prep students. To our current families with a child/children commencing Prep in 2025, please ensure you fill out the enrolment form and return to the office by the due date, 26th July.  If you know of any friends wanting to enrol their child for Prep 2025, please share this information with them.

Level Crossing Removal update

A reminder that the Warrigal Road level crossing will be closed from 9pm Sunday 14 July until Friday 26 July 2024.  Use of Balcombe or Parkers Road is recommended for school traffic.  Como Parade West continues to have single lane northbound traffic only. 

Kind regards

Leanne Bradney