Principal
Aaron Cox
Principal
Building Works and Site Update – Connected with Community
I attended a site meeting on Tuesday 21st February expecting to be given approximate dates for completion or at least access to equipment. Unfortunately, I will need to wait a further two weeks before I have more information on this front.
The new services at the front of the school will be delivered faster than planned. I would expect in the coming weeks a concrete pad will be installed near our front gates and the temporary fence can then be reduced to this specific area which would significantly increase the space at the front of the school for student and parent use.
Head Lice, Flu, Covid and Gastro – Thrive in a Team Culture
Rampant health issues are throughout the school at the moment. The only way to break the cycle is for parents that know their child is sick is to keep them home. We need our teachers in front of students every day or at least as often as possible when it is within our power to do so.
NAPLAN is fast Approaching – We are here for the Students
NAPLAN will be in March and online this year. One of my biggest criticisms of the old NAPLAN was how late in the year we got access to data. I am hopeful that this will now change with the tests being conducted in March. Here at Kingswood, we pride ourselves on not going overboard about these tests. Sure, we all like good results but not at the expense of any student mental health and wellbeing. I say every year our students are much, much more than these test results. They are artists, poets, sportpersons, philosophers, comedians, etc. Please do not put any pressure on your children because we definitely won’t be. Treat test days as any other day.
Professional Development Opportunities for Staff – Lead the Way
Staff were very enthusiastic about their curriculum day on the 10th of February, where they worked with Riss from Ozlit.
Josh Velez has been nominated to become a Master Trainer in Literacy and Sarah Joseph has been nominated as a Master Numeracy trainer.
Our Kingston Network has raised the bar in terms of our professional development and we are teaming with Moorabbin Primary School. Together we will visit each others schools and act as critical friends to drive further improvement in 2023. I am very excited to have such a great critical friend for our school.
SAKG Program – Connected to Community
Congratulations to Sonia and Bianca for being selected as the only school across Australia for Coles, Curtis Stone and Stephanie Alexander herself to do an event in March. This is the highest level of praise given to our program over the past 10 years. As we get further information, I am sure Sonia will be the first to let the community know.
School Council – Thrive in a Team Culture
Dorit Patterson, Kirsten Cooper, Victoria Lemmer, Megan Franklyn and Sharon Lomas have all been successfully returned to School Council in the first round of nominations. During the second round we successfully accepted nominations from Jamie Pi, Kylie Duffy and Andrew Yeo. Congratulations to these new members and the School Council looks forward to working with our new parent members. Both David Cugley (Rotary) and Bryan Elliott (past president) have both agreed to remain on as community members for the next 12 months.
I would like to take this opportunity to also thank our departing school council members; Russell Keys, Dwayne Donsen and Analese Boland (although I’m hoping she may still put in a new nomination).
Russell has had two stints in school council and was instrumental in pushing politicians to look at our facilities, the Fathering Project and the running track.
Dwayne was the man of the moment last year stepping into the Parent Association Presidency and injecting a different energy to the role. Dwayne was the first male president in a very long time, if not ever. I think we’d all agree Parent Association last year was a huge success.
Analese has served Kingswood well in both sub committees and council. She turned up to all the additional meetings last year and humorously expressed what we were all thinking during difficult times.
School Council – Reporting to Parents
We will hold our 'Reporting to Parents' night at Kingswood Primary School on 21st March at 6.00pm.
School Yearbook 2022
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Danielle D’Souza for her ‘one man show’ at bringing about last year’s Yearbook in record time to be published just before years end. It cannot be understated the work involved, especially considering she had to herd teachers and whip us into shape to meet very specific dates. Congratulations Danielle, take a bow.