From the Principal

Week 6

Dear Monty South Community,

Congratulations to all our Prep students on their participation in the Welcome Ceremony and Assembly. It was a wonderful occasion to officially welcome them into our Monty South community and the beginning of their fulltime education. I know how important this occasion is in the life of a student and one which will be able to look back and reminisce as they progress through school. It was wonderful to see so many parents and family members attend this occasion. Thank you to all staff for their tremendous effort in ensuring that this event was so successful. Thank you to Tara for coordinating it and to Uncle Ian for leading the school at such an important event. I hope that you were all able to hear Monique, who was sharing the history behind the smoking ceremony.

It was wonderful to see such a great turnout to our 3 Way Conferences two weeks ago, we had a 95.15% attendance over the three days, inclusive of the SSG (Student Support Group) meetings held over two weeks. The conferences were about discussing your child’s goals for this semester and allowing you a brief opportunity to discuss your child with their teacher. I asked all teaching staff to provide all parents with an introductory letter prior to the conferences for you to get a glimpse into who they are and, on how the classroom and the cohorts were going to work this year. If you were unable to attend the 3 Way Conference or the SSG meetings, I have asked all staff to contact you so that you are given another opportunity to meet, as only by working together can we make a difference.

I would like to thank the P&F on their huge coordinating effort for the upcoming Fete. I know this will be a wonderful school community event, so I hope to see many of you there, please tell your friends and your family. Don’t forget that this is one of the big fundraisers for the pre-school and the school and proceeds will go towards both sites. The P&F still have a few volunteer spots to fill, so if you can spare an hour on the day, please put your name down. 

Every year our Year 3 and 5 students participate in NAPLAN. This year NAPLAN has been changed across the country to be administered early in the year. In that way ACARA can have the results to each system earlier in the year and hence we can make use of the results. Although, NAPLAN should never be a surprise in terms of student performance, it gives us a good indication of how our students are tracking for the year. NAPLAN will commence on the 15 March and will conclude on Monday 27 March. If your child is in Year 5, please make sure that you have helped them to download the Lockdown Browser. Instructions were posted on how to do this on Compass on the 28 February. If you are having difficulties, please let your child’s teacher know. 

On a personal note, I would like to thank all parents who reached out to me with messages of condolences on the passing of my dad last week. The last three weeks have been very challenging but the support that I have received from my staff and the school community is immeasurable.  Thank you. 

Keyla Jeffers,

Principal