Principal's Report
WE HAVE REACHED THE HALF WAY POINT OF TERM 2!
Well it may be hard to believe but we have now reached the half way mark of term 2! It has been such a great term with lots of great things happening around our school, such as sporting activities, excursions and events for across all year levels. As we head towards the end of term 2, teachers are busily assessing students and preparing student reports that both acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of our students. Reports will be available for parents to view in the last week of the term.
EDUCATION WEEK
This week is Education Week, with the theme for this year being Building Connections. To celebrate Education Week this week, we organised a variety of different activities that would promote the building and strengthening of connections amongst our school community. Unfortunately, due to the current COVID-19 situation in Melbourne, we have had to postpone our Grandparent’s afternoon tea as well as our Open Afternoon. These will be rescheduled as soon as the current situation improves and we are allowed to do so.
CURRICULUM DAY
On Tuesday, our staff team attended a professional learning session with all Yarra Valley schools on reading. During this session our staff discussed current reading practices at our school with a focus on reading conferences. It was a great opportunity for our staff to learn alongside colleagues from neighbouring schools and build on their knowledge of the teaching and learning of reading.
NEW COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
As was advised yesterday, new restrictions have been introduced in response to the current COVID-19 situation in Melbourne. Parents and adult visitors to our school are now required to wear a face mask at all times, and must also ensure social distancing requirements are adhered too while on the school grounds. We will keep you updated as these restrictions change over the coming weeks.
2022 FOUNDATION ENROLMENTS
It’s hard to believe but it is that time of year again! If you have a child who will be starting Prep in 2022 with us, please pop into the office to collect an enrolment pack ASAP as we have already begun planning for next year. We ask that these kindly be returned by the end of term.
UPCOMING PUBLIC HOLIDAY
A friendly reminder that Monday 14th June is a public holiday and students are not required at school on this day.
2021 NAPLAN
Congratulations to all of the students in Years 3 & 5 who completed the 2021 NAPLAN tests. It was wonderful that our students tried their best and completed the tests. The results of the NAPLAN tests will be available in term 4. We will send them home as soon as we have them. Thank you to all of our teachers and support staff for their organisation and preparation of the NAPLAN tests.
EMEREGENCY MANAGEMENT DRILL – OFFSITE EVACUATION
At some stage over the next couple of weeks, we will be having an offsite evacuation drill. It is a department requirement that we practice our emergency management drills at least once per term, as this practice helps us to refine our evacuation processes, and identify any issues that need addressing in the event that we should ever need to use them.
STUDENTS ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL SURVEY
Here at Launch, we value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction. Over the next few weeks, we are conducting a survey to find out what children in Years 4 to 6 think of our school. The 2021 Student Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist our school to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, bullying and life in general.
There are also some questions about student health and wellbeing. Understanding health and wellbeing needs is important to support students to learn and thrive at school. The Department is providing this addition to the core survey to allow schools to capture this information to support students. Our Students will be asked about resilience, community connections, mental health and physical activity. This year, the AtoSS is being conducted this week at Launch Primary.
SCHOOL FACEBOOK PAGE
In a further effort to promote a positive school community we are increasing the number of posts shared to our school Facebook page. Our Facebook page is for promoting a sense of community and will be used to provide families with information about events and activities and positive achievements within our school. The page won’t replace regular communication modes (such as Compass and the newsletter), rather, it will communicate through social media many of the interesting, exciting, fun and terrific learning activities of our students, giving you the chance to interact with “likes” and comments. Please search for Launching Place Primary School on Facebook, to like and follow our page.
SPOTLIGHT ON BEHAVIOUR
Over the next few weeks, we will be having a focus on student behaviour. Whilst our students have settled in well after the holiday break, we want to ensure that their levels of engagement and good behaviour choices are maintained throughout the term. We will be following up with parents on any repetitive and disruptive behaviours, so that we can work with you and support one other to ensure a productive and enjoyable learning environment for all students. If you ever have any concerns with about how your child is going at school, we encourage you to contact your teacher or myself to discuss further. We are here to help and our door is always open!!
Have a fantastic 2 weeks ahead!