From the Principal 

Dear Families,

Learning: On Monday I sat in on our Education Support (ES) meeting via MSTeams and heard about the work students are producing and submitting. Our ES team speak so passionately about their students they work with and share ideas to support all students. James Field (Disability & Inclusion Coordinator) and Kristy Hannan-Cuthbertson, continually work with this team to support them and then the children in the classroom and at home.

Principal Conference: Last Thursday I attended the State Principals Conference via a virtual presentation. I also had my three children at home remote learning simultaneously while my wife was at her school supporting families and students. Like you and all of us, managing and juggling these competing priorities is tough! I want to acknowledge and thank you, as families and parents and workers and carers and all the other roles you simultaneously do in these times. Thank you! 

Emotional Intelligence: Have you ever watched or listened to a song or performance and had emotions elicited from the words or performance??? As part of the Prin. Conference, Dr Ben Palmer from GENOS International challenged us to reflect on our emotional intelligence (EI) as leaders and as people. This has been an area I am passionate about developing in people and myself. Several of our middle leaders have been involved in this process this year and have found it extremely rewarding and beneficial at work and personally. I encourage you to research a bit about EI as an employee, an employer and as a parent. Dr Palmer highlighted that having high levels of EI certainly helps in developing strong relationships in work, school and through life. 

Announcements: we seem to be in this time of ‘announcements’ from COVID to sport and many other areas in society. I will try not to make announcements but communicate school related information as clearly and as simply as I can. Some of the information may not be want we want to hear but is important.

 It has now been officially confirmed by DET that Grades Foundation - 2 will Return to Onsite learning from this Friday. (10th September)

There is no indication yet as to when grades 3 - 6 will return, but I will of course contact all families via email when this happens.

Optimism: As many of you know, I try to be optimistic especially in these times. I can have negative thoughts and emotions and I can also choose to flip my thinking. I have had many conversations with friends and parents about their children and their learning and it usually dives into a negative conversation about what they are missing out on. I acknowledge that and agree but also ask what new skills they have learnt that they may not have had the opportunity? 

I look at my Year 8 daughter who has had basically 2 years of remote secondary school and I see a young learner taking control of her future. I see her get organised, turn up on time, do more, self-start and ask for help (although Year 8 maths is hard!!!) and then persevere through these times. I know she will be a great learner later in life with these skills in place now. I reflect back to my university days and there wasn’t a teacher or my parents over my shoulder reminding me to hand in work. And if I didn’t submit it, I had to deal with the consequences. 

I watch my Year 6 daughter in her final year of school and I want her to enjoy being one of the ‘big kids’ but I see her wanting to get to Secondary School, branch out and make new friends. I also see her independence growing, taking charge of HER learning, struggling (in a good way) with the tasks but enjoying the challenges

I watch my Year 3 son navigate all the new technology and be organised for his learning. Yes, he turns up in his Oodie but he is motivated to learn and is growing. While he may be missing on the direct feedback and instructions in a typical class, his relationships with his sisters has strengthened. I also got to watch him teach himself a front flip and then a backflip on the trampoline. I admire his persistence and determination to succeed. I would have missed this moment if not for Covid! 

Challenge: When you have a minute can I ask you to quietly reflect on the positives that our last 18 months has enabled. What things have you seen, done, experienced with your children that you may not have been able to do in ‘normal’ circumstances? 

Book Week: Thanks to those who dressed up in the spirit of Book Week! I wonder how many parents got involved too? Hopefully we can have a dress up day next term at school!

YarraMe: In response to current COVID19 restrictions with Melbourne metropolitan and regional schools in remote learning mode, YarraMe School has a Parent Help Desk for parents and carers to assist in supporting children with complex needs who are learning from home. 

YarraMe's Help Desk http://www.yarrame.vic.edu.au/help-desk.html  can assist with:

•          understanding a child's behaviour 

•          providing personalised one to one telephone consultation with a special education teacher

•          discussion of a pathway for the family to seek formal diagnosis of learning disabilities

•          discussion about behavioural support strategies

•          advice on setting up learning environments

•          providing targeted resources

•          referral to external services. 

The purpose of this service is to provide parents and carers with the opportunity to discuss your child's behaviours, which may be impeding their ability to learn at home.

The Help Desk can also help parents and carers to successfully navigate potential intervention pathways for their child. There’s no cost associated with these services. I’ve attached a flyer in the newsletter too. 

Curriculum Day: Andy McNeilly had a great day of learning for staff planned on the last day of this term that we already postponed and have had to postpone again. Curriculum days are essential for staff development and consistency of practice. After the next lot of announcements from the Government, we will reschedule for Term 4 at some stage.

Camps & Excursions: We will be postponing things until we have clarity but I want to remind you that staff work very hard at rescheduling these opportunities so the kids do not miss out…they may just have to wait. Thanks to staff for your flexibility and perseverance on this too!

Playgrounds: Kristy and I have been working very hard with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) in regard to the Inclusive Schools Playground (up near the Bike shed) and then also the remediation works in the North West Corner of our playground.  Some of our Middle School leaders have been surveying students about playground designs and I will feed that back into the VSBA design process. Andy McNeilly and I have been meeting with the Middle School Leaders via MSTeams to progress discussions. They are aware that the space and design and the final outcome may or may not be EXACTLY what they discuss but their student voice is being heard and recognised in this process.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine.

Scott McCumber

Principal