Welcome back students and staff

From Principal Steve Meade

Dear Parents and Carers,

A warm welcome back to all our students and families for the new school year. It has been terrific to catch up with students, to see them settle quickly and enjoying the first week back at school for 2020. It is a time for building positive relationships and setting clear expectations - two essential ingredients for a culture with high levels of learning. 

A special warm welcome to our Prep students and families as well as other new students and families joining Brighton Primary School for the first time this year. We hope this will be the start of an incredibly positive and rewarding learning journey for them all.

We also warmly welcome new staff to the school, Zoe Picton - Teaching & Learning Specialist and grade 4 teacher, Emma Devries - grade 6 teacher and grade level learning leader, Kylie Crebbin - grade 5 teacher and grade level learning leader, Danielle Palombi - Prep teacher, Laureen Lansdown - art teacher and Matilda Cameron - Integration Aide. In addition, we welcome back Tessa Woodgate - grade 1 teacher and grade level learning leader - after 12 months leave from BPS.

Our first two professional learning (curriculum) days on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th January were focused on the introduction of professional learning communities (PLCs) - working together collaboratively to maximise learning for all students (and teachers). The Professional Learning Community model promotes collaborative dialogue and action research among teacher teams around student learning. The three big concepts of PLCs are:

A focus on learning

Developing a culture of collaboration, and 

A focus on student learning results

Our P-6 teachers will specifically focus on reading this year through the use of the Professional Learning Community model. I have included two websites that outline the purpose of PLCs in greater detail if you are interested in learning more: All Things PLC and Professional Learning Communities.

We will conduct our third professional learning (curriculum) day for teachers - no school for students - on Friday 14th February 2020. On this day, teachers will receive training on how to use and administer our new reading assessment toolkits - Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. 

In addition to building positive relationships with students, teachers have been preparing Grade Level information evenings to run the week of 10th February to 13th February. 

Two weeks after during the week of 24th February to 27th February there will be an opportunity for families to meet individually with classroom teachers for Pastoral Care interviews. This is a chance for you to share any important information with the classroom teacher to maximise learning for your child. Booking times can be made through Compass. 

Our assemblies this year will be held on Friday from 3:00 - 3:30 pm in the gym. Due to the extremely hot weather last Friday, disappointingly we were unable to hold our usual first assembly. Instead, our first assembly will be conducted this Friday 7th February from 3:00 - 3:30 pm. Parents are welcome to attend our assemblies. 

We look forward to working in partnership with parents and carers this year to ensure high levels of learning for all our students.

Steve