Principal Report

Here we are at the end of another successful term. We have jammed in an absolute heap into this short nine week term. Whether it was our intensive swimming program for our One/Two cohort or the winter edition of the inter-school sport competition for our Five/Six students, it has been huge and everyone is ready for a well deserved break.

This week we said farewell to Ashlee Naylor who is off on family leave after the break. We wish her all of the best with the new little addition to her family and look forward to meeting the little one at some stage next semester. In the same breath, we are pleased to announce that Michelle Apollonio will be joining Emma Hill in Semester Two on Monday and Tuesday to teach our wonderful Prep C class. For those who do not know Michelle, she returned to Abers this term after some time away and has been supporting our tutoring program and classes across the school. Her experience and expertise will be a tremendous asset to the foundation team next semester. 

In classrooms, the learning has also moved full steam ahead. With outstanding learning growth observed right across our school. Some key highlights from Semester One include:

• Our Foundation to Year Two students have accelerated their literacy achievement with their active engagement in the UFLI literacy program, that focusses on phonics, spelling and handwriting amongst a range of other benefits to their learning in literacy. 
• Students across Three/Four have been building their skills in fluent multiplicative thinking by practising a range of mental strategies for their number facts (AKA times tables).
• In Five/Six, students have continue to enhance their capacity to be independent self-directed learners through their engagement in the Maths Pathways program and their application of their knowledge building reading through writing.
• Term Two's focus on Sustainability across the school has continued to build an awareness of the importance of caring for our environment including being mindful of waste, recycling products to become useful again, understanding the value of clean water and renewable energy sources. 

This is only just a small slice of the amazing learning that our students have engaged in this year, so far. Our staff have been engaged in just as much learning too this semester. Utilising the latest and most profound research evidence to build their capacity to create safe and supportive learning environments and design curriculum that impacts learning and wellbeing.

It is also time for an update on our long awaited playground. Sadly this process is taking far longer that initially anticipated with the current stage being out of the school's hands. The application to undergo the capital works on the new playground has been with our Department of Education (DE) and the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) since the beginning of the year, with progress on approval slowly progressing through the detailed processes for projects that are close to $100,000. It is the role of the DE and VSBA to review a large number of elements behind the scenes to ensure that schools are in the position to invest in certain capital works. I am hoping to have some good news early next term. 

In this special School Council (SC) Edition of the Newsletter, we will be hearing from Bec (SC President), Olivia (Fundraising sub-committee convenor) and Ben (sub-committee convenor),  Team Kids and updates on Important Dates.

We hope everyone across the community has a wonderful adn restful winter break! 

Nathan