Principal's Report 

It has been another eventful fortnight at Rangeview. A huge congratulations to Mr Clark and Ms O'Connor for their incredible work to organise and run the whole school Cross Country last Friday! It was a wonderful success and I congratulate every student who gave it a go and ran for their house. 

Our Foundation students celebrated Harry Hatman with the annual parade on Friday 11th March. It was wonderful to see the Harry Hatman Hats and join our littlest students as the 'made some noise'. 

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

This year Rangeview is focusing on two main initiatives – Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and The Resilience Project. 

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are an approach to school improvement where groups of teachers work collaboratively at the school level to improve student outcomes.​

In 2022, Professional Learning Communities will be a major school focus with the introduction of designated PLC meeting time to allow teachers to interrogate students’ data, determine a teaching and learning focus and conduct mini inquiry projects using the FISO Improvement Cycle. By using the improvement cycle, schools engage in staged and continuous inquiry processes.

PLC teams have started to work towards a Term 1 mini enquiry. 

The Resilience Project

This year we are thrilled to be introducing The Resilience Project (TRP) into our school community and implement their wellbeing program throughout our classrooms.

TRP delivers emotionally engaging programs and provides evidence based, practical strategies to support positive mental health and build resilience. Teachers and students will engage weekly in lessons and activities around the key principles of Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness (GEM) to build resilience. Students will be provided with a journal to assist with these lessons.

Look out for our Gratitude Tree that is going up in the main foyer - thanks to Ms Gielings for designing the tree! Students from all levels will be making a leaf for the tree of Harmony Day this Friday to display their personal gratitude - what will your son/daughter be grateful for? 

To support what we’re doing in the classroom, during Term 2 we will invite families to attend a webinar to introduce the program and we will provide resources to assist families in their essential role of building positive mental health in their children.

COVID Update

Rapid Antigen Testing continues for all students and staff with kits being supplied by the department until at least the end of term. Positive case number have remained low at Rangeview and are declining. Masks are still required for levels 3 – 6 and teachers when inside (and not directly teaching). We expect this to remain in place until sufficient time has passed for families to have children under 12 double vaccinated – if they choose to. 

We suspect that the next change to current isolation requirements will be a removal of the household contacts 7 day isolation. This has not occurred in schools yet. 

Pupil Free Days

We will be looking to have a Curriculum Day (Pupil Free Day) in Term 2 with a dual focus on Student Behaviour Support and Teaching Numeracy with a games focus. 

We have engaged Glen Pearsall to deliver a ½ day of professional learning on classroom engagement and strategies to support students with diverse needs. Glen Pearsall is a leading secondary school teacher and an acclaimed presenter of professional development for classroom teachers across Australia. Glen has a particular interest in the development of young teachers and has also developed and delivered a program of renewal for mid-career teachers. His expertise is in high quality instructional practice, and the development of classroom cultures based on sound pedagogy and educational research. He has been a board member of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and has worked as a research fellow at the Australian Youth Research Centre. Glen is the author of the best-selling And Gladly Teach, Classroom Dynamics and co-author of Literature for Life and Work Right. His latest work on feedback, Fast and Effective Assessment, was published internationally by ASCD.

Our PMSS leaders - Vicki Tzimos and Lee Giddings - will be organising our mathematics professional learning and this will have curiosity / games focus. 

Harmony Day

Once each term we have a whole school celebration day. This term we will be celebrating Harmony Day on Friday 25th March. There will be a focus on cultural diversity and students will be working in buddy grades on activities and lessons that educate and celebrate our community’s cultural diversity. We encourage our students to come to school in a costume that represents their cultural heritage, or in the colour orange and we will have a whole school assembly to begin the day on the grassphalt. We have Aunty Irene an Aboriginal Elder, attending as our special guest and she will run an Acknowledgement of Country and a Smoking Ceremony. We invite families to attend this outside event. 

We will end the day with a whole school Bollywood dance workshop run by one of our talented parents – Palak Parikh. Parents are also welcome to come to the grassphalt to observe this celebration. 

CARPARK SAFETY

It is imperative that we keep our students safe. The school carpark is considered a road and students are not permitted to walk in the carpark at any time. Paths are provided so that no pedestrians need to be walking in the carpark.

We ask our families to support the children in their understanding of carpark safety by always using the paths and not walking the children through the carpark before and after school.

Marika Ferguson

Acting Principal