Caulfield Primary School Newsletter

Principal's News

The last fortnight around the school was really exciting, there is so much happening and a great buzz in our classrooms. A particular highlight for our school was having our Senior Education Improvement Leader (SEIL), Kevin Murphy visit our Prep and Year 1/2 classrooms this time last week. Kevin and I were looking at our implementation of a consistent approach to the statewide reading approach. An expectation that 25 minutes of systematic synthetic phonics is taught daily as an element of the big 6 of literacy teaching. This year we have implemented SoundsWrite as our evidence based approach to phonics instruction and it was a real highlight to see this consistently in place in all Prep and Year 1/2 English classrooms. We have students decoding, writing and sharing, many of whom doing so in their first few weeks of their first year of school. I am really proud of our students and the enthusiasm of our teaching staff to support these changes. 

 

Principal Network Conference:

Over the last two days, Miharu and I have attended our network principal conference providing the opportunity to engage in some research and presentations reflecting the Victorian education priorities. The key priorities for all schools at the moment is the implementation of the Victorian Teaching and Learning model, the science of learning and understanding how students learn and implementing strategies and evidence based approaches to teaching and learning. Highlights and presentations included a keynote address from Dr Lorraine Hammond, Dr Nathaniel Swain, Emina McLean and a focus on cognitive load theory and the delivery of a high quality, knowledge rich curriculum. 

 

Clubs and Activities: 

 

From Monday - Friday, we have some great activities offered throughout the school. These activities are designed to provide some structured opportunities for our students to engage in play and social-emotional learning. Many of our staff volunteer their lunch breaks to offer these clubs and activities. We also continue to engage with out of school hours providers to offer Tennis coaching, Coding and Soccer clinics throughout the week. 

 

Labour Day Public Holiday and Pupil Free Day

Please be reminded that the weekend after next weekend is a long weekend for all students at CPS.  Monday 10th March is the Labour Day Public Holiday. In addition to this the school is holding a student free day and Friday 14th March. Students do not attend school on both of these days. Our Out of School Hours Care Program (Team Kids) will be running on Friday 14th March. 

 

Student Leadership Badge Presentation: 

This Monday (3rd March), we will be presenting our student leaders with their leadership badges.  We are excited to have Mr David Southwick, State Member of Parliament for Caulfield, attend the event and hand out leadership certificates to our student leaders.  This special assembly will begin at 9:05am. 

 

Parent Information Session: 

Thank you to our Prep - Year 2 families who joined us on Monday afternoon for our Parent Information session. It was great to have so many families in attendance. An additional session will be run this coming Monday for our Year 3-6 families beginning at 3:45pm in the library. We would welcome any parents and families to attend. 

 

School Council Elections 2025

At the close of Nominations, the following nominated candidates have been duly declared elected.

 

Parent Membership Category:

  1. Rachel MacEwan

  2. Daniel Shaw

  3. Libby Herman

  4. James Macky

  5. Asami Onda (Department of Education Member)

We are also seeking one further parent to fill a 12 month casual vacancy due to a change after the nomination period. Could you please email me directly if you are interested or would like further information. I would like to welcome and to thank our new, and returning members, whose official school council duties commence on Tuesday 18th March. 

 

Professional Learning: 

On Wednesday afternoon, we were joined by Meg Durham working with staff with a focus on adult wellbeing. Meg has a Master of Education in Student Wellbeing, Certificate in Positive Psychology and promotes positive change in education supporting school communities to prioritise their own wellbeing to help manage the complexities of the work. We will work with Meg on two further opportunities this year. 

 

Enjoy a great weekend and I look forward to starting the week off with you on Monday. 

 

My Thanks,

 

Edward Strain 

Principal