Lest We Forget

Welcome to week 6 of Term 4, can’t quite believe where the time is going. All students across our school have now resumed full-time face-to-face learning and we have been delighted in how they have returned. I will discuss some highlights in more depth below, however I do want to share some thanks from the beginning. 

Thank you to our students, who showed great resilience to learn from home through this period. Thank you to our staff, who showed amazing creativity in how they taught our students and connected so effectively with families. Thank you to our parents and carers, who showed great courage in balancing parenting, working, and supporting ‘remote and flexible’ learning.

Return to Onsite Learning

Joni Mitchell once sung ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,’ and I think that reflects so much of what we have been through over the past 18 months. Maybe we took for granted the sounds of learning occurring and students playing together outside; it is such a relief to hear those familiar sounds back in our school now. What have been the highlights for me? There have been a few:

• Watching our youngest students enter and exit independently and confidently each day. Our students were well prepared to return to school and our families have supported them incredibly well.
• Visiting classrooms and seeing our students settle back into learning routines like they never left. I shouldn’t be surprised, because we have seen them do it before, but our kids have made it look easy.
• Being around our staff each day. I feel fortunate to work each day with a great group of people; it was really quiet without them on site, and I have really appreciated having everyone back.
• The guidance and subsequent restrictions for the return to school have been incredibly important in keeping us safe and well. I’ve been so pleased with the cooperation and understanding from our community. I need to send a huge thank you to our office and administration team, as they have led the way with so much of both implementing and monitoring this guidance.

The focus for us on the return to school is student wellbeing. The health and safety of our students is of paramount importance to us. We will take the time to assess student learning growth from the period prior to shifting to ‘remote and flexible’ learning and tailor our teaching and learning program to the individual point of need of each of our students. The transition back to school has been a successful one and we look forward to continuing this momentum across the remainder of this school year.

Class Structure at SSPS

Towards the end of every school year, we organise learning environments and class structures for the following school year. The configuration of these is governed by:

• Department funding, which is based on student enrolments and therefore determines the number of classes allowed, 
• Number of students in each class based on The Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2017.

For 2022 the following structure will be in place:

Foundation - 3 classes

Year 1 - 2 classes

Year 2 - 2 classes

Year 3/4 - 3 multi-age classes

Year 5 - 2 classes

Year 6 - 2 classes

Of course, we are all very excited about the new building project which will begin at the end of Term 1 2022. As the project will mean demolishing Block A (Admin & current Yr 3 and 4 classes) in two stages and replacing it with a new building, it will be necessary to relocate the classes normally in Block A to other areas in the school. To minimise the disruption to the students and their new classes we have decided that all classes will begin the new school year in the classroom they will be in for the full year.

Class Planning for 2022

It is rapidly approaching the time of year when teachers start the formal process of student placement for the following year. However, in reality student placement decisions are shaped during the entire year as teachers observe and listen to students and parents/carers in relation to their wellbeing and learning needs.

Student placement decisions are not made lightly, as we recognise the importance of creating an optimum learning environment.  It is an extremely complex process to ensure that we have a balance and appropriate spread of ability, gender and social dynamics to promote learning and support all our students.

Unfortunately, this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic opportunities for students to interact together in person have been limited.

Classroom teachers and specialist teachers are very well-aware of friendship groups and the dynamics within the classes which either enhance or impede the classroom climate. Teachers will use their extensive knowledge of how students interact and relate to each other when placing students.

We want to reassure all families that the teachers will be ensuring each student is placed in a class with other students with whom they are familiar (but perhaps not best friends with) and are able to build positive relationships to assist with their continued learning. All students are given the opportunity to nominate a selection of friends that they would be happy to be with next year. This process reinforces our values of building relationships and resilience in our students.

We will be retaining our practice of accepting written information from parents regarding any specific learning needs which need to be taken into consideration when placing their child. However, we are not able to take requests for children to be placed together based on friendships or requests for certain teachers as there will be some staffing changes for 2022 as there are in any given year.

Some issues for parents to consider when thinking about making a request include:

• Younger children have fluctuating friendship groups. This is a perfectly normal developmental stage so a request for a particular ‘friend’ may become less important over time—especially over the Christmas holidays.
• How will a request support our shared work on building resilience in our students?

Teachers are sensitive to students with friendship concerns, and we ask that you trust your child’s teacher along with past teachers and specialists to make the correct decision on their behalf.

Should you wish to alert us to other learning related concerns, please put this in an email to myself helen.freeman@education.vic.gov.au by Friday 19th November 2021. Emails received after this date cannot be accepted due to the commencement of our process. Please remember and accept that, whilst parent concerns are noted, there is no guarantee that these concerns can be accommodated through the class placement process.

We also wish to remind families that in the lead up to the end of the year, through our transition sessions during Term 4, students will have opportunities to mix and interact with other students in their year level, but in a different class.

The SSPS staff would like to thank you in advance for your trust in our professionalism and our ability to create the best learning environment for your child and all our students.