From The Principal
Marion Coady
From The Principal
Marion Coady
We have passed the mid-point of Term 1. Towards the end of the term parents/caregivers will receive their child/ren’s interim Semester 1 achievement report. The opportunity to meet with your child/ren’s teachers will occur on Tuesday 11 April. Please mark this date in your calendar as we look forward to discussing your child’s progress.
This year we have reverted back to pre-COVID arrangements. This is seeing significant planning of curriculum based learning through excursion and camps. Interest in the proposed ski trip for the July school holidays has been high.
With respect to the Government’s banning of mobile phones during school hours, we continue to have improved engagement in class, between students and their teacher in class and between students at break times. You may have noticed that there is currently an awareness campaign focussed on the importance of phones being switched off at school. A dedicated website www.phonesoff.sa.gov.au provides information about the policy as well as frequently asked questions. I made the decision not to include smart watches being put in the Yondr pouches. Students are expected to have their smart watches set to ‘do not disturb’. Teachers have reported that more students are accessing their apps using smart watches. Should this continue, the update policy will require smart watches to be put in the pouch for the day. The review of our current policy will need to meet the requirements of the Department for Education and the Government. An update policy will be in place for the beginning of Term 3.
Thank you to the parents/caregivers who have worked with us in relation to clarifying student needs so that we make an informed decision.
The school values of respect, care and compassionand honesty are critical to ensuring a safe and productive learning environment. When people get together conflict can occur. This gets played out at times by:
None of these behaviours are appropriate for school. Name calling, demeaning comments and verbal abuse can have detrimental effects not only on the victim but also those who witness it.
Where students are involved in physical altercations the school will, at a minimum, suspend a student from school. This action is to give everyone involved an opportunity to reconsider their actions and responses as well as putting support in place.
It is important that we have accurate information about students on the school site as part of our duty of care and in case of an emergency such as a fire.
A reminder that students who are late for school need to sign in at Students Services. Students who need to leave school early also need to sign out through Student Services except Year 12 students. If parents/caregivers wish to contact their children during the day, please telephone 8270 4455 and select 1. Our staff will contact the subject teacher who will relay the message to your child/ren.
As a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) school, it is important that students remember to charge their devices before they bring them to school. This enables continuity of learning as resources are posted for students on Daymap or in Google classrooms.
Governing Council
On 21 February, the AGM for the Governing Council was held. The following are the members of the Governing Council:
Parents/Caregivers:
Kristy Chapman
Vikki Thornton
Amanda Ardill
Gabby Rutherford
Matt Sarre
Yvette Packer
Andrew Otto
Susi Tyler
David Hunter
Elle Millard
Deb Kelly
Loid Thotekat
Tahlia Van Dyke
Community Member:
Erin Thompson – Member for Davenport
Students:
Konon Kuboi
Reuben Visser
Harmony Wimalaratne
Caitlin Tyler
Staff Representative:
Cassie Dickeson
Lee Pope
Rachael Kuhl
Following the AGM the following office bearers were elected:
Chairperson: Matt Sarre
Deputy Chairperson: Kristy Chapman
Treasurer: Gabby Rutherford
Secretary: Rachael Kuhl
I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Wendy Looi-Penhall who has been on the Governing Council for five years and most recently the Chairperson. Also Stéphane Maurin who has been on the Governing Council and Finance Advisory Committee for two years
Student Free Day training
On Tuesday 14 March we had our first student free day for 2023. Staff undertook the second part of the Managing of Actual and Potential Aggression (MAPA) training. The training involved identification of risk and appropriate level of response. We continued with introducing one of the concepts to support a refocus on learning through brain breaks with staff providing a variety of activities that can be used to help students.
A workshop on differentiation occurred followed by curriculum teams implementing some of the suggestions staff identified relating to:
Differentiation can be thought of as ways teachers accommodate and modify what they do to support the range of student learning needs in their classes. We then took assessment tasks and looked at changes we needed to make to encompass the range of our students. Our next student free day is on Monday 1 May. The staff will continue professional learning related to the Berry Street Education Model.
School Buses on Friday 14 April
School buses will leave the school to coincide, for this term only, with a 2.15pm dismissal.