Principals Team Report

HELLO and WELCOME BACK to term Three. We hope that you and your family have had a restful break and have come back refreshed to start the second half of the year. It has been a delight being our on yard duty each morning and afternoon for us. Greeting families and students who are full of smiles and are enthusiastic to begin their day and hearing all the wonderful learning at the end of the day during pick up. 

Are you coming to school on time?

The number of students coming to school late is quickly creeping back up to an average of 100 each day.

SCHOOL STARTS AT 8.50a.m.

Each class starts the day with reading @ 9.00a.m.

Our reading block is broken up into the following structure:

Introduction: (2 - 5 minutes) - unpack the learning Intention and Success Criteria

Mini Lesson: (10 - 20 minutes) - Explicitly teaching and/or model a skill, behavior or reading strategy

Work time: (15 - 40 minutes) - Independent learning where students practice the skills of reading. This is conducted through Independent reading, and small group instruction.

Reflection: (5 - 10 min) - Feedback linking the learning to the learning intention and success criteria of that lesson.

If your child is 5 minutes late to school:

They miss the introduction of the lesson where they learn what and why they are learning a skill.

If your child is 10 minutes late to school:

They miss some of the mini lesson where they learn how to do the specific skill they require to help them learn.

If your child is 15 minutes late to school:

They miss all of the miss some of the mini lesson where they learn how to do the specific skill they require to help them learn.

If your child is more than 20 minutes late to school: 

They miss all of the teacher instruction and are not ready for learning of reading. They teacher is also then required to stop the learning of the other students to support your child to settle into the day.

Every minute you are late to school impacts the learning of your child and the learning of others. 

Face mask Recommendations:

As per the Department of Education;s recommendations, face masks should be worn when students who are aged eight and above, are in class. It would be greatly appreciated that parents are supportive of this recommendation as wearing masks is a simple step we can all take this winter to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases and ensure our schools are safe as possible. 

Is your child being safe online?

Our students are spending a great deal of their time accessing online content and interacting with others online. It is important to help your children safely navigate their digital world and educate them to avoid harmful online experiences at home.

This can be difficult to understand what parents can do to help their children at home. The eSafety Commissioner has 3 key strategies:

1. Be engaged, open and supportive
2. Set some rules
3. Use technology and get information

Click on the link below to get some valuable information on online safety basics.

New Child Safe Standards:

The Child Safe Standards commenced in Victoria in January 2016. After five years, we have seen how the Standards improve safety for children and young people. The new Child Safe Standards set out minimum requirements and outline the actions organisations must take to keep children and young people safe, They provide more clarity for organisations and are more consistent with Standards in the rest of Australia. We now have 11 Standards which include new requirements such as:

• involving families and communities in organisations efforts to keep children and young people safe 
• a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
• managing the risk of child abuse in online environments. 

As a result of the new standards, we have had to revise some of our current policies and created new ones. Please familiarise yourself with the following policies.

• Child safety responding and reporting obligations
• visitors Policy
• Complaints Policy
• Digital Learning Policy
• Child Safety Code of Conduct Policy
• Child safety Policy
•  Volunteers Policy
• Student welling and engagement Policy
• Yard Duty Supervision Policy

To view out updated Child Safe Policies please visit our school website.