Principal Report

Dear families,

A warm welcome back to school for 2021. I hope your summer travel plans have not been disrupted too much and you and your loved ones have managed to find some fun and relaxation.

We are excited about the return of the children this week. After an emotional goodbye to our 2020 grade 6 students we welcome nearly 70 prep students to the school. We also have some new families in year 1, 2, and 34. I hope you love our school as much as we do.

CONGRATULATIONS

I feel like our biggest news is the safe welcome of Mrs Harrison's baby Levi and Ms Saffin's baby Kodi during the holiday period. I am pleased to say they are all doing very well.

STAFFING

There are some big changes to run through. Firstly, we have several new teachers and support staff. Many were here for the transition day in December but there are a few that have joined us during the break.

Ellie Stait joins the prep team from Tinternvale PS, Ben Pedley joins us as a graduate teacher in year 2, Katie Smith will join the 34 team from Selby PS and Elyce Munnecke will return from family leave and join Emily Murcott in the 56 team. Emily Murcott joins in a leading teacher role from Mullum PS and will focus on Wellbeing Literacy across the school. Mary Moore will change to a curriculum focus as the Assistant Principal.

We also welcome back Ash Wilson and Kate Warner from family leave as they share a specialist role this year. Ash will be starting the year teaching P-2 Global Studies and French, with Kate teaching G3-6 Performing Arts. Kate has a school production planned for those students in semester 1. In semester 2 they will switch grades with P-2 participating in a performance with Kate and Ash will cover Global Studies with G3-6. The students in G3-6 will be taking part in Spanish as their language using DuoLingo to build their skills.

We also welcome Joy Smith from Lilydale Primary School to our ES support staff.

A big grant arrived for us at the end of the year for us to support two staff members to learn to be Science / STEM teachers over two years. During the two years, they will learn how to coach other teachers to build their capacity in Science / STEM skills. Belinda Granger will be taking part in the program, with the role being recently advertised for the second person. We are close to finalising the process for this role and hope to have someone in place soon. We envisage this person taking on a dual STEAM role with Belinda this year.

Emma McCann was going to participate in our tutoring program this year but has found a position at Wattle Glen PS for 12 months. I wish her well and hope that she enjoys the experience. We will start the search for her replacement next week and we hope to be a position to start tutoring by week 4 of this term. We have decided to support tutoring beyond the 6 months that the program has been advertised as, and will tutor children for the whole of 2021.

STARTING ON THURSDAY

map 2021.JPG

The students will go to the rooms that they attended for transition day back in December. I have attached a map. The prep students will be able to enter through our new entrance in Cheriton Drive. It is not quite finished but it is usable. The grade 1 students will line up in the quad.

Remember to label all clothes and items and bring along snacks, lunch and water bottles. Wendy will be in touch about when the canteen will be open. It is looking like Monday. The first-term students need a hat to go outside as well as a healthy coating of sunscreen. A new addition would be hand sanitiser....although we do have it in every classroom.

COVID

Things have relaxed a little. Masks only need to be worn if physical distancing is an issue. Parents are still restricted to 15 mins at school unless as Principal permission has been given. The office will be your first point of call if you need anything. Things like the uniform shop are now being opened and dates are in the calendar. More groups events for the students are planned and all of our camps and sporting days are booked in for 2021.

AROUND THE SCHOOL

We have completed lots of work around the school.

A new fence near the milk bar
Basketball court repaired
Dangerous trees around the school removed

Outdoor class spaces created recycling the trees

Three classrooms with new carpet
Old gym equipment removed and a new large-screen added to the gym
All of our rooms now have TVs
Reception is being painted and refreshed this week
The portables have been refreshed and painted
The Boorai has new class furniture for preps and the gallery spaces will be painted this term
A new entrance has been created for the Boorai. This will ease the 'kiss n go' congestion we had in this area. New signage will be order this week for that area.

LASTLY

We have a new addition to the school. A border collie called Coco. We hope that in time with the right training she will be able to be used a wellbeing dog for children in school. Over the next 6 months, she will be at school from time to time to help her integrate into school life. Like everyone new to a school, she is very curious and needs to learn some of our school routines. She will always be on a lead and always be under supervision around children until she is ready to do her job. We created a school dog policy and wellbeing dog policy last October. We will update the school website and add the documents.

Best wishes for the start of school.

Craig Bradley - Principal