Principal's Report

At the time of writing, we are immersed in all manner of exciting matters for the month of May. This time of year is perhaps one of the most engaging with a vast array of extracurricular activities occurring in and around the school. We continue to update our website calendar on a regular basis, and I very much encourage parents to view this area first if they seek to confirm arrangements.

Some of the emerging events are the following:

Easter Colouring Competition 

We were delighted many of our students chose to participate in the Easter Colouring Competition conducted by the State Member for Kew, Ms Jessica Wilson. On this occasion, Ezra in Year 1AB and Madeleine in Year 4ME were the winners from our school and were invited to meet with Ms Wilson, each receiving a wonderful Easter hamper. This was an exciting experience for these students along with others from other schools.

Boroondara Writers in Schools Program

We have been delighted to be part of this program for 2023. The program is targeted at Years 5 & 6 and offers the opportunity for students to develop their creative writing skills through workshops delivered by published authors. On Monday and Tuesday this week we were delighted to have Mark Wilson in attendance. Mark is one of Australia’s most successful author / illustrators of children’s literature. He currently has seventeen books in print in Australia and the USA. His picture books have won many awards including two Whitely Awards for Childrens’ Literature, two Wilderness Society Awards and five CBCA Notable Picture Book Awards. Our school has copies of many of Mark’s titles and his presentation and engagement with our students was exceptional. We look forward to sharing more of his impact in the coming weeks.

Literacy Development and Curriculum at Chatham

The progress and work of my staff in this area continues to inspire and keep us highly motivated. Whilst much of the provision in this area at all levels is based upon the Victorian Curriculum, we are also aware of sound and convincing research emerging in this area. This has ramifications for our curriculum enhancement in reading, writing and spelling, and the resources we continue to review and secure. Additionally, we have a comprehensive assessment program at our school that is highly documented, scheduled and refined. We continue to involve emerging and reliable assessment instruments to review student outcomes, but also to establish point of need for effective teaching and learning. Importantly, the data that is derived from such instruments is recorded and analysed on a regular basis. Currently Mr Zac Barry, Ms Sarah Medland and Ms Kirstie Briggs are involved in leading Professional Learning Teams to progress our vision and goals in this area.

House Cross-Country and District Cross Country – Thursday 4th May 2023

With support from the City of Boroondara we were able to conduct our House Cross-Country yesterday at Canterbury Oval. On this occasion our students in Years 4-6 were involved with our nine and ten-year-old students completing two kilometres and older age groups completing three kilometres. It was fabulous to see many parents and grandparents in attendance to encourage our students. It was wonderful to see the effort and commitment made by our students. Again, I convey our appreciation for the work of Ms Georgina Kirwan and Mr Zac Barry in organising and preparing our students for this event. On this occasion we congratulate Corbett as winners with 60 points, followed by Nugent with 49 points, McEvoy with 46 points and Fenton with 34 points.

The first ten students in the male and female cohort at each level proceed to the District Cross-Country event on Thursday 11th May. This event will be held at Anderson’s Park in Hawthorn. Parents are most welcome to attend.

SEA Sex Education Sessions – Year 5

This program in Health and Human Development will continue to be provided to students in Year 5 on the 3rd, 10th and 17th May 2023. These providers are well known to our staff and parents. This program is based on the provision of the Victorian Curriculum from Years Preparatory to Year 10, is age appropriate and delivered by qualified, highly-experienced and specifically trained educators.

Interschool Sport – Years 5 & 6

Despite the acute shortage of teachers in some schools in every sector – Government, Catholic and Independent we are delighted that this program continues to occur for our students. This generally occurs on Friday mornings with eight sessions in the program. Currently our District provision in this area covers Australian Rules Football, Netball, Softball and Soccer. Again, we encourage our students to wear the Chatham Sports Uniform to such events. The reports that are provided by these students at school assembly on Monday also provide a wonderful opportunity for cleverly crafted speeches and public speaking.

Year 2 Excursion to Como House

We look forward to this traditional event occurring for our students in Year 2 on Friday 26th May. This is a magnificent experience and complements greatly the ‘Then and Now’ inquiry concept, and therein the Level 2 Victorian Curriculum in relation to History and Geography.  Our students are involved in a full-day program with professional facilitators who provide a variety of activities, including a tour of the mansion, involvement in old fashioned games on the lawn, learning how to wash clothes the old-fashioned way and a treasure hunt, amongst other pursuits. Again, we look forward to our students, staff and parents who are involved in this excursion dressing up for this superb opportunity.

Capital Works Program

This is continuing at an accelerated rate now that much of the significant structural works have been completed. Realistically we expect that the project will be completed by the end of Term 2 and therein Friday 23rd June. At this stage we are expecting that the Old Music Room will be demolished anytime on a weekend from Saturday 13th May 2023. Shortly, we will be considering the plans for this area with direction and resourcing provided by the Victorian School Building Authority and thereafter consultation with our School Council and members of the Building and Grounds Committee. 

Library Development

The value of our School Library and its resources cannot be overstated in our school. Recently the School Council have engaged architects from Williamsboag to plan an update of our facility in this important area. These plans and the works that follow will be funded from the Library Tax Deductible Building Fund. Currently part of this area is being used for our Office Administration whilst the works are being undertaken. Once the capital works are completed, we expect the temporary walls and fittings to be removed so that we can proceed with this project. Currently the Library Working Party of School Council is progressing this matter and has received useful and insightful feedback from parents, volunteers and staff about the scope and vision for this facility. Currently our students access the School Library with their teachers for one hour per week and at other times including lunch periods. 

Again, this project has only been able to proceed as a result of the Tax-Deductible Building Fund supported over a number of years by our parents.

Nevertheless, we are very aware that the $60,000 or so available in this fund will be soon expended given our plans for this important area. I remind parents that a Tax-Deductible contribution can be made at any time and this may be timely given that the current financial year ends on 30th June 2023.

Visual Arts Centre

We are highly enamoured with the wonderful experiences that continue to occur with our Visual Arts Program and the developments in this light and creative space. We continue to have some magnificent displays of student work around the school, and this so enlivens our spaces. We are delighted that the School Council allocated $5,000 at the meeting held last Thursday to further resource this important space. Apart from funding additional resources for the clay and ceramics area, Ms Jess Wilson will also use these funds to enable appropriate storage of some of our valuable art supplies.

Preparatory Information Evening – Thursday 4th May

This was conducted last night in our Visual Arts Centre. We were delighted that together with our Preparatory teachers in Mrs Corinne Robinson and Ms Kirstie Briggs we were also joined by our Assistant Principal, Ms Georgina Kirwan, Mr Zac Barry in his role of Mathematics Leader, and our Specialist teachers in Ms Jess Wilson and Mr James Rampant. Ms Briggs also provided information in relation to some of our developments in the English area.

Please be advised that there are new requirements for Preparatory enrolments for all schools. Enrolments must be received by the school before 28th July 2023.

Kitchen Garden Precinct

This area continues to develop with an undertaking by our School Council last week to allocate further funds to the development of this area. This next stage will involve the purchase of a number of new wicking bed crates, seats around the trees in place, wire and planter boxes, and amongst other matters - funds for additional plumbing. We look forward to progressing this project with plans to be discussed at our next Building and Grounds Committee meeting to be held at 5:00pm on Tuesday 9th May. Mr Ashley Davies is the Convenor of our Buildings and Grounds Committee of School Council.

Parent-Teacher Discussions

Please be advised that whilst Student Mid-Year Reports are expected to be distributed the week beginning Monday 19th June, Parent-Teacher Discussions will be conducted on Monday 10th July and Tuesday 11th July 2023. More important information about how these are to be conducted will be provided later in the School Term.

School Funding and Parent Contributions

The financial contributions made by our parents are utterly crucial at any time in a school, but even more so as we endeavour to develop, create and provide exceptional learning opportunities for our students. If you have not made these contributions at this stage, I would implore you to do so, or if necessary, contact our Business Manager at dimitra.ouliaris@education.vic.gov.au to discuss possible payment plans.