From the Principal, 

Diana Ellis

As we come to the end of the term, I would like to say thankyou to all of you, for another great term. Although we have hit the cold and dark Winter months, we have continued to achieve a lot with the help of parent support.

Behind the scenes our School Council and Parents and Friends continue to work hard towards our school priorities. We also appreciate the many parents who volunteer their time for camps, excursions and sporting events as well as regular help in the canteen and in classrooms. Your support is highly valued and you are helping to give our students the best possible opportunities. 

Relief teachers

Of late, there have been some concerns expressed about the amount of relief teachers in classes or about the number of classes being split and students being placed in other classes for the day. We understand your concerns however this is a situation we simply cannot control. State-wide, schools are struggling with high levels of staff absences due to illness and across the state, schools are having difficulty accessing teachers. 

Mobile phones

We continue to have a number of students bringing mobile phones to school but not hand them in at the office. The Department of Education has a policy relating to the use of mobile phones, as do we. I have included  a summary of the DET Policy below.

• Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours.
• For the purpose of this policy, a mobile phone is a telephone with access to a cellular (telecommunication) system, with or without a physical connection to a network.
• Exceptions to the policy may be applied if certain conditions are met. Exceptions can be granted by the principal, or by a teacher. Exceptions must be documented.
• Where students bring a mobile phone to school, the school must provide secure storage.
• Schools are required to develop a local policy on students using mobile phones, which must include how this ministerial policy will be implemented and may include other personal devices in addition to mobile phones.
• Schools will manage non-compliance with their local mobile phone policy in accordance with their existing student engagement polices.

If you need to discuss this requirement, please call me to have a chat.

Sushi Day

Yesterday we had Sushi Day. A big thank you to Jen and helpers for organising and executing such a big logistical event and also a big shout out to the Marks Family IGA for being the providers of the Sushi. We had many happy customers.

Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

Over the last month our teachers have spent a lot of time and effort in assessing students, checking  progress against the curriculum and writing mid-year progress reports. Our teacher judgements are based on ongoing observations, student conferences, moderation of work samples, one on one and small group teaching as well as formal assessment tools.  Many factors are taken into account when making these judgements. A comment that we often hear from parents is “that is not what we see at home". It is important that you consider how different the dynamics are at school compared to home. Children are in a class group of 20 -25 students and can often be influenced by peers. Students who are quite confident at home can be less confident in a big group. 

Thankyou to all of the parents that were able to engage with class teachers to discuss student progress. If you have not yet made an appointment, we urge you to have a discussion early next term. If at any point you have any concerns or questions about your child’s social, emotional or academic progress, please do not hesitate to contact the teacher for clarification or more information.

End of term

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day of term. Students will be dismissed at 2.30pm,

Curriculum Day

The first day of next term is a Curriculum Day. Students return to school on Tuesday July 11.

Principal

Diana Ellis