From The Principal's Desk
Dear Parents and Carers,
We can’t believe how quickly the term has passed. It seems like only yesterday school started and here we are farewelling Term 1. It was a very busy term, with athletics & swimming, sporting schools, Sovereign Hill excursions and the school cross country.
We hope you have the opportunity to take a break and enjoy spending time with your family over Easter and we will see you back for the start of term 2 on Monday 19th April.
BSSA Athletics
Wednesday last week approximately 40 students participated in the interschool athletics. The students had been prepared by Mr Storey and Mrs O’Brien during lunchtimes and represented the school with pride.
SCHOOL COUNCIL 2021 & AGM
On Monday 15th March we conducted our Annual General meeting and elected our School Council President and Vice President.
I am pleased to announce that Aileen Shearer-Cox will be our School Council President for another year and Daniel Cook will be our Vice President for 2021. I look forward to working with both Aileen and Daniel in making our school the best it can be for our students.
ANZAC DAY
Sunday 25th April is Anzac day. In 2021 we can only send 5 representatives to the ANZAC Day march along Sturt Street.
Ms Kat Mennan will be organising this with our school leaders.
Early next term we have our school photos on Tuesdsay 27th of April. Students should have received their forms and notification from MSP via Compass.
GASTRO
Unfortunately there has been a bit of gastro going around recently. I have attached a link with information recommended by the department below.
DETENTIONS REPLACED BY
REFLECTIONS
The Wellbeing team have been working through a process of trialling reflections in replacement of detentions.
This process has changed in the following ways:
· Reflections take place in the Chinese room and not the front office area.
· Reflections are where students fill out a reflection sheet with assistance from a staff member instead of writing lines.
· The Compass message will be titled “Behaviour reflections” instead of detentions.
The intention is to continue to support students who are making poor choices in the classroom or the yard but to also reinforce that there are consequences for poor choices.
We recently reviewed the data on the number of detentions given. It was pleasing to note that despite our student population going up the number of reflections/detentions has gone down. The average in 2019 was 4.5 students per day and this term it was 2.6 per day.
PORTABLE NEWS AND STADIUM UPDATE
We have had the stadium handover date delayed until May 12th. This is mainly due to the landscape works not being completed until then. During the holidays we will have the turf grass set and the synthetic grass also put down on the soccer pitch. The playground is believed to be going in on the 12th April which is just before we get back and will really show the students what this area will become.
We have also been informed that the school will be getting another portable next term to cope with the increase in numbers. The location of the portable will go next to the current one we have and allow us to use for our tutoring program for now and increase class numbers in 2022.
Drone video of the stadium progress below!
PARENT TEACHER INTTERVIEWS
On Wednesday 21st April we plan to hold our Parent Teacher Interviews from 2.00pm—6.00pm. School will finish early on this day at 1.30pm and bookings are now open.
Teachers have created an individual leaning plan (ILP) on your child that will be accessible to you on Compass by the 1st April. The ILP will highlight the goals your child is working on in class and how they are progressing. If you do not have your Compass password to view this report please contact the office.
You will also receive your portfolio on the last day of the term. The portfolio is designed to not only showcase your child’s work, but also to assess and report on your child’s learning.
Tasks and activities included in the portfolio are specifically chosen by the teachers to cover Literacy and Numeracy learning and will be assessed using the Victorian Curriculum where applicable.
Each term your child will reflect on their own learning as well as the values on which our school community is built.
On behalf of the school I hope you get to enjoy the Easter break and we look forward to seeing you all on April 19th ready for Term 2.
Scott and Stephanie