Caulfield Primary School Newsletter

Principal's News

As always, we have enjoyed a really busy and engaging fortnight around the school. I am often reminded (by the actions of our students and staff) at what a privileged position we are in to work in education at Caulfield Primary School. Over the last week, I have really enjoyed working with our Year 5/6 students as we complete our Attitudes to School Survey, their ability to unpack and critically evaluate some of the questions and respond in such a considered and mature manner made me incredibly proud. 

Weather permitting, we are due to hold an assembly on Monday morning, if this provides an opportunity to pop into the school please feel welcomed.  

 

Coffee Van

 

A reminder that we have a coffee van in attendance on the 21st June, come and join us for a quick coffee to begin the day, whether that be a time for a chat with other families or an opportunity to catch up informally with some of our staff. Please come and join us from 7:45am onwards on the 21st June. 

 

Leading Literacy

Last Friday, Miss Ryan, Mrs Newman and I attended our second workshop of the Leading Literacy program delivered by the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. As key pillar of our 2024 Annual Implementation Plan, the school has committed time and resources to revising our literacy program and undertaking a rigorous, evidence-based suite of professional learning. Workshop 2 saw us exploring vocabulary. Leaning on the seminal work of Overturf, Montgomery and Smith, ‘Research Reveals the Right Approach’ we explored the tiered approach of language acquisition and vocabulary. Key takeaways included: 

  • Students will be asked to read more than 180,000 words throughout their P-Yr 12 education. 
  • Recognising that language and vocabulary is a gradual process with students beginning school with many tier 1 words in their toolkit, schools then provide opportunities to develop tier 2 words and domain specific tier 3 words as language and vocabulary is explicitly taught in the classroom. 
  • Vocabulary and word understanding becomes a continuum of word knowledge. 
  • Students develop confidence with vocabulary when experiencing and exploring this on multiple occasions. 
  • Asking students to define and look up words in the dictionary does not support vocabulary or word meaning. 
  • When students learning words, they build patterns and networks of meaning called ‘word schemas’. 
  • Engaging younger readers in various types of vocabulary activities builds their experiences and increases their word schemas. 
  • Opportunities to participate in rich oral language discussion with adults and peers supports vocabulary. 
  • Students will learn words via direct, explicit instruction. 
  • Students require word learning strategies to become independent readers. 

As a team of English teachers and school leaders, we are really enjoying the opportunity of contextualising this professional learning and applying this to our bilingual environment. The professional discussions that we are participating in always leaves me really motivated to come back to our school and continue to explore our approach to literacy instruction with real rigor and fidelity. 

 

Reconciliation Week

This past weekend, on Sunday 26 May 2024, we marked National Sorry Day. On this day each year we as a nation remember the grief, suffering and injustice experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, whom we now know as the Stolen Generations. The first National Sorry Day was held 26 years ago, commemorating one year after the Bringing them Home Report (1997) was tabled in federal parliament. It’s a day of empathy and listening, confronting the trauma and loss that was created by government policies and actions – the reverberations of which are still felt acutely today – and of looking to redress the wrongs that persist.

By recognising National Sorry Day and taking meaningful actions in our communities and in our work whenever we can, we make a path towards understanding and healing, and contribute to a more compassionate, equal and respectful Victoria. Importantly, National Sorry Day leads into National Reconciliation Week (Monday 27 May to Monday 3 June 2024). This year’s theme, ‘Now more than ever’, reminds us that the shared fight for justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will – and must – continue. At Caulfield Primary School, we continue to work towards promoting equality and revisit and renew our Reconciliation Action Plan in August each year. 

 

Stay Well This Winter

 

Symptoms of influenza (flu) can hit very quickly and may last several weeks. Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and others from getting the flu.

Parents, staff, carers and students are encouraged to practice prevention measures, including:

  • washing and sanitising hands regularly
  • avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
  • covering nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing · staying home if unwell and consulting a general practitioner (GP) or Nurse-on-call as required
  • staying up to date with flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Flu vaccinations

 

Flu vaccinations can be booked through GPs and pharmacies, many of which can also provide COVID-19 vaccinations. Flu vaccination is recommended for everyone aged 6 months and over. Some people are more at risk of complications from flu and are eligible for free vaccination as part of the National Immunisation Program.

 

COVID-19 Booster

 

The 2024 COVID-19 booster dose is available for everyone aged 18 and above. Getting your booster dose remains the best way to prevent severe illness or hospitalisation, especially in people aged over 65 and those at higher risk of severe illness.

Children aged between 5 and 17 years who are at risk of severe illness can also receive a 2024 booster dose. You can get your next dose at your local pharmacy or GP. To find one near you, refer to the vaccine clinic finder.

For more information about preventing flu, and immunisation, refer to: 

Better Health Channel influenza flu immunisation fact sheet · Getting vaccinated against influenza.

 

Open Day

 

Our next Open Day is scheduled for June 15th with school tours running at 9:30am and 11:00am. We are continuing to see strong interest in our school with a steady stream of 2025 enrolments. Our Open Day will once again be supported by our PFC and this provides a great opportunity to support our school. Within your local network, could you please encourage prospective families to attend our Open Day and/or support our sausage sizzle and cake stall on the day. 

 

Learning Difficulties Including Dyslexia

 

I had a great opportunity on Tuesday night to deliver some professional learning for the Department of Education on Learning Difficulties and Dyslexia, I am always full of praise and admiration for teaching staff in our system who have taken it upon themselves to upskill their understanding of literacy challenges including dyslexia, Impairmentin Numeracy (aka dyscalculia), and difficulties with written expression (aka dysgraphia). This work is done during the middle of a heavy block of teaching, assessment and report writing. Together on Tuesday evening we dispelled some of the myths around dyslexia including: 

  • there is no relationship between dyslexia and a student’s general intelligence, or their level of effort in learning to read
  • it’s important to get away from the long-held and incorrect view of students with dyslexia as being “lazy” or “not trying hard enough”
  • people with dyslexia do not see letters backwards
  • dyslexia is as common in women as it is in men
  • students with dyslexia are not more creative or artistic on average than any other student, though they may tend to gravitate toward subjects that have less of a literacy component

We addressed the importance of the Big Six in literacy focussed on:

  • Oral language and early literacy experiences: these are the experiences students have before they get to school.
  • Phonemic awareness: the ability to identify and manipulate sounds (phonemes) within words. 
  • Phonics: An understanding of the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and the letters that represent them (graphemes).
  • Vocabulary: Decoding is of no use if those words have no meaning: vocabulary is a key component of comprehension. 
  • Fluency: This is the point at which component skills become so integrated and automatic that maximum cognitive energy is available to focus on meaning.
  • Comprehension: Engagement with text at a deep level: purposeful, recognising or understanding the purpose of the text, and actively engaging with text.

School Saving Bonus

 

You may have seen the recent announcement of the School Saving Bonus, as part of the Victorian Budget 2024/25. We are sharing more information about how families will be able to access and use this support. This one-off support will include $400 for each eligible student to help families cover the costs of school uniforms and activities in 2025. It will be available to parents and carers of every child enrolled in a Victorian government school in 2025. Cash will not be paid directly to individuals or families. Instead, families will receive the bonus as credits on their school accounts that will help meet the costs of your children’s activities and uniforms. The School Saving Bonus support will be in addition to existing and continuing means-tested supports for camps, sports, excursions and uniforms.

 

Maintenance Upgrade

 

The school was recently provided with a planned maintenance program allotment of funding to support maintenance requirements in the school. This provision of money totalling $366,325 will allow the school to work with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) to address priority 1 and 2 maintenance work in the school including: 

  • Site infrastructure – Repairing boundary wall on Cedar Street
  • Upgrade Switchboards
  • Revarnishing damaged surfaces 
  • Providing surface protecting to timber 
  • Repairing corrosion and repainting metal surfaces 
  • Inspecting roof cladding and water penetration in building

I look forward to keeping you informed of the updates as we progress further with this work.

 

After School Supervision

 

A reminder that the only supervision that is provided beyond 3:45pm is by Team Kids. Supervision beyond 3:45pm must be directly led by a family member or parent. This must occur with a visible presence maintained at all times. We ask that parents allow our Team Kids staff to directly monitor the students under their supervision and not be extended to supervise students not booked into this service.  

 

Over the week ahead, Miharu and I are beginning to look at our teacher judgement data and the implications of this on student learning in our classrooms. Our School Council meet on Tuesday evening for the final meeting of Term 2. Our Principal Team attend the Bayside Peninsula Principal Forum on Wednesday and our School Improvement Team meet with our Senior Education Improvement Leader on Thursday afternoon. I look forward to seeing you around the school over the week ahead. Friday is always better when your footy team wins on Thursday evening - Go Blues! 

 

I look forward to seeing you around the school. 

 

My Thanks, 

 

Edward Strain

Principal