Welcome back to term 1!

Students have been back at school now for 11 days - and it feels like ages!! I've been getting used to getting up early, being organised with lunches and having things ready - and trying to get to sleep early each night. It can be a tough time for kids and families getting back into routines.

Here at school, students have been getting to know each other in new classes and developing great learning routines to help them work productively in class. Teachers have been focusing on setting students up for success; organising their classroom for maximum learning and ensuring that every student feels known and valued - and has a place in the class.

Students have been in temporary classes whilst we processed new enrolments and we can now finalise our 11 classes.

Our whole-school theme this year celebrates the Power of Joy! The power of happiness, satisfaction of a job well-done, of the thrill of learning something new and of the collective energy of a group working together!

We have named our classes after international words for joy - celebrating diverse cultures and languages.

Our youngest learners...

We have 42 Kindergarten students and they are settling in to school well. There is so much to learn in Kindy - from getting along with others and playing well to counting and reading and learning to write your name! Students are being supported to learn these things through play - look at how much PLAY can teach:

Learning Focus

We have 3 key focus areas for the year:

Deep thinking - in Reading, Maths & Inquiry
Student Agency and Attendance
Community Connections and Belonging

Deep thinking is about not stopping at surface level answers to questions. Teaching all students how to go deeper to critical thinking; to developing independence and more sophisticated thinking.

Student Agency is teaching students the skills and dispositions to take more charge of their learning - to know what they are learning and why; to know what "good" looks like; and to know how to improve. This heart graphic is a great overview of what student agency can mean:

Attendance is also so important. All of the research shows that students with the highest attendance rates have better academic outcomes, better social supports and better life-long skills! So - we're aiming to have students here (on time) every single day - unless they are really sick. We've started the year with 90% attendance - we're aiming for 95%!

Connecting with Community involves our whole school and wider community. Building support for learning and student agency across our school and into the broader "real world" of our local community. Building strong relationships across our school has proven to lift academic standards - so we will continue to strengthen opportunities to deepen these connections.

We are also working with the Centre for Relational Learning in New Mexico (USA). Our work here is focused on building learning through story, play, art and connecting. We aim to have students happy in learning, as well as stretched in high quality content.

Coming up...

Our Community Welcome BBQ has been pushed back until after Ramadan (Wednesday 2nd April 2:30-3:30pm). Instead, we are offering opportunities to come and see your child's classroom, meet the staff and get a feel for the learning happening:

Stage 1: Friday 28 February "Once Upon A Bag..." 2-3pm
Stage 2: Wednesday 5 March: Come and Read! 9am
Stage 3: Wednesday 5 March: Come and Read! 9am

We hope these opportunities give you an insight into your child's learning so far.

Playgroup runs every Wednesday morning 9:30-10:30 in our school hall. Offered by Cumberland Council - it's for any family with babies and toddlers who are not at school yet. It's free and fun!

P&C meeting is Monday 24 February 9:20am after GEPS-Fest. Everyone is welcome!

Meet our Student Wellbeing Officer