Principal's Report
From Christian's desk....
Parent Opinion Survey
A reminder, all families have the opportunity to complete DET’s Parent Opinion Survey. At this stage our school has only had a 13% response rate. To ensure we are provided with valid data we request families prioritise this exercise prior to its closure on Friday 13 November.
A thought to consider: all forms of feedback are valuable. Positive feedback provides us with affirmation of current practice. Improvement feedback provides us with an opportunity to reflect and make necessary adjustments. An imbalance in feedback leaves us uniformed.
To complete the Parent Opinion Survey, search your Compass landing page for the PARENT OPINION SURVEY 2020 item in My News, follow the links and access the survey with the provided log-in details.
Placement of staff and students into classes for 2021
Last Thursday our school leaders developed our 2021 staffing structures. Following that exercise, our staff will begin the task of allocating students to classes for 2021. As per the norm, our staffing allocations and final class structures will then be announced in late December.
As with our teaching teams, class groups are developed after careful consideration, balancing a range of issues and needs. Factors such as academic ability, behavioural challenges, friendships, and previous teachers are all taken into account to create balanced classes.
A valuable part of the process is stakeholder feedback:
- Students are given the opportunity to list friends they would like to be with for the following year. Our staff ensure that students are placed with at least one friend on that list.
- Parent perspective can also add information to support this process. If you have any valuable information, regarding the class placement for your child for 2021, that is above and beyond what the classroom teacher and leadership team already know of your child, you may wish to make an appointment with or email your child’s classroom teacher to share your thoughts. Please do so prior to Friday November 13th. Please note: parent input on the placement of their child with a nominated class teacher is not an aspect where parents have a choice.
The entire process is then completed by the current teachers and Leadership team.
I encourage families to trust our school’s judgement and, like I do, value our teachers as high calibre people who care first and foremost for our children. Ultimately, it is our current class teachers, as professionals, with all available information that are in the best position to place students in classes.
Further, I am sure that you would understand that it is not always possible to accommodate all requests and that an important part of any student’s journey through their schooling is the development of vital life skills. This includes meeting, getting to know and working with different personalities.
K-P Transition
Today we welcomed the first of our 2021 Prep students, as they began their first on-site transition sessions. The children came in with smiles and hardly a worry in the world! It was a lovely reminder that we are starting to return to some sort of normalcy.
Our 2021 cohort will continue small group sessions on Thursdays and Fridays for the next three weeks, prior to what we hope are whole class sessions closer to the end of term.
Tutors in schools
Following on from last week’s newsletter, this week schools received preliminary information on how the State Government’s tutoring program will roll out in schools.
All schools will receive funding to afford approximately 20% of the student population two to three, 45-minute small group tutoring sessions per week for 26 weeks. Our school has a pre-existing Learning Enhancement and Support program which will support this initiative wonderfully well.
Over the coming weeks our school will continue to identify students requiring additional tutoring and put in place logistical plans to support the program.
School Review
Next week we will be welcoming DET Nominees and guest Principals into our school as we begin our School Review.
The four-yearly review, undertaken by all government schools, will analyse our school’s performance against the goals and targets set in our 2017-2020 Strategic Plan. The process also involves setting out our next steps and drafting our 2021 – 2024 Strategic Plan.
Thank you in advance to our School Council President, Sian Jamison, for committing time and energy to these four days. Your involvement and input is very much appreciated and valued.
I will update the school community on the review outcomes via the Newsletter and more formally at School Council on Wednesday 18 November and 9 December; guests welcome.
COVID-19 Update: Year-level assemblies
Face-to-face year-level assemblies can be held for students and staff only, with no parents or other visitors permitted to attend.
Whole-school assemblies and other non-essential large gatherings must remain postponed or adapted.
COVID-19 Update: Year 6 – 7 Transition
Primary-to-secondary school transition activities can resume, but only in small groups. This may involve Year 6 students meeting Year 7 educators in the secondary school environment.
Groups are limited to no more than 10 people, and there is to be no mixing with other students at the school. Individual secondary schools will provide updates to families.
Further advice regarding transitions will be provided closer to the Statewide Transition Day on Tuesday 8 December.
Christian Holdsworth - Principal