Leadership Report
Written by Ryan Ma on behalf of the leadership team
Dear Saltwater Families,
Welcome to Term 1, Week 4. It has been a wonderful start to the year, with students settling into their classrooms, building new friendships, and engaging positively in their learning. We are proud of the calm, focused routines being established across the school, and we thank our families for their ongoing support as we work together to ensure every child feels confident, connected, and ready to learn.
Also, Happy Lunar New Year to those who are celebrating, and best wishes to our families who are observing Ramadan.
Strengthening Partnerships Across Prep to Year 9, Meet and Greet Conferences
It was wonderful to see so many families engaging with our school community at our recent Meet-and-Greet events. Across Prep to Year 9. These conversations provided valuable time for students, parents and teachers to connect, build relationships, and establish shared goals for the year ahead.
These opportunities reinforced the importance of strong partnerships between home and school at every stage of learning. From our youngest learners through to our Year 9 students, open communication and collaboration enable us to better support each child’s academic growth, wellbeing, and sense of belonging.
Our staff remain committed to maintaining approachable, open communication with families throughout the year, including through our school communication platform. We encourage families to continue working closely with teachers so that, together, we can ensure all students are supported to achieve success.
We thank our community for their ongoing trust and partnership as we continue to build a connected and supportive learning environment for every student from Prep to Year 9.
Sun Smart
Our school has a 'No Hat, No Play' policy from mid-August to April. This month, several days have seen temperatures exceed 30 degrees, and more hot weather is forecast. We want to remind families that students should bring an appropriate school hat for outdoor play sessions. We understand this school uniform item is often lost. Please ensure that hats are clearly labelled with the student's name. There is usually a collection of hats in our lost property collection near the front office.
It is also an excellent idea for students to bring a water bottle to stay calm and hydrated. Please remind your child to apply sunscreen before leaving home and during the school day. We can provide sunscreen, but students must apply it independently.
NAPLAN
Our school has been busy preparing for the upcoming NAPLAN assessments, which will take place in Weeks 7, 8, or 9 this term. The Year Three, Five, Seven and Nine students have been working on some practise tests to familiarise them with the test structure and the types of questions they might encounter during the official testing days. We wish all our students the best of luck as they participate in the NAPLAN assessments.
Data-Driven Planning
One of the primary objectives in our annual implementation plan for this year is to enhance teachers' ability to consistently and rigorously utilise data for informing teaching and learning. Teams have started utilising formative data and are crafting specific plans to strengthen instructional practices and student achievement.
The past four Wednesdays have been crucial for our prep team as they collected valuable data to gauge the readiness of their students entering their first year of schooling. We are now beginning to analyse and synthesise the results through deep discussions to identify overall trends and areas to target throughout 2026.
Saltwater College's Goals and Priorities for 2026
The leadership team have worked with our staff to define our goals in our Annual Implementation Plan (AIP). As outlined within the AIP, our annual goals align with the School’s Strategic Plan (SSP), which guides the school's progress over four years.
Saltwater’s Annual Implementation Plan goals for 2026 are:
Priority Goal 1: Improve the learning growth and achievement of every student.
Priority Goal 2: Strengthen student engagement, wellbeing and agency in learning.
From our two priority goals above, we have developed two Key Improvement Strategies (KIS), which are summarised in the visual below.
Goal 1- KIS 1C
Deepen teacher capability in data literacy and assessment for responsive teaching, while catering to students at their point of need.
Goal 2 - KIS 2A
Strengthen teacher knowledge and capability to activate student voice and learning agency with students as partners in improving learning and wellbeing.
School's Privacy Policy- Annual privacy reminder for our school community
Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.
Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy, see policy link below, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.
We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Microsoft 365 and Google Classroom safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Microsoft 365 and Google Classroom, please contact the school.
Please see below the link to the Department of Education's Privacy Policy.
Schools' privacy policy | vic.gov.au
Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy
Below is the link to Saltwater P-9 College's Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy.
Thank you,
The Leadership Team