A message from the Principal

Behind the Scenes

This past fortnight I can't help but reflect on the amount of work and collaborative problem solving that has been happening behind the scenes to bring everything together. There have been so many various events and activities happening, with so many people taking responsibility for bringing them to life, one could be forgiven for thinking that these things just happen. I can assure you they don't.

Some of the things that come to my mind that I have been observing to or hearing about from teachers in the past few weeks include:

* Coordination with the management from 'Love Your Sister' to ensure the event could go ahead and the whole school was ready to turn out, despite late changes to plans

* Coordination of the swimming program, starting in December last year, and collaborating with Aquanation to correct issues with buses, student groups and concerns etc.

* Preparing for student transition, finalising plans and activities

* Collaborating on class formation for 2020, taking into account parent and student requests, teacher observations, past teacher experience and, most importantly, student social and learning needs.

* Preparing, coordinating, managing and supervising Year 3 students on camp

* Planning for, ordering, collecting groceries, cooking, serving and cleaning up after barbecues for Prep transition and Carols.

* Building the stage and its components, coordinating the AV requirements for Carols

* Preparing for Graduation, including ticketing, preparing the auditorium and stage, collaborating with the parent committee and coordinating the evening with OSHC

* Planning and coordinating the Year 6 Big Day Out

.... the list is exhaustive. And all done at a time when classes continue as normal and teachers have been finishing off reports - no mean task given that I equate report writing time in teaching to events such as End of Financial Year for Accountants or the Christmas crush in retail.

We have received some lovely sentiments from parents acknowledging this work and the teachers always appreciate this. I wanted though to try and pull back the curtain a little bit because it occurs to me that apart from the obvious visual indicators, it may not occur to people the efforts that go on behind the scenes: the emails, playing phone tag with people who don't have to contend with only making a phone call during morning tea or lunch, trying to clarify how one instruction got translated into something else, putting together a schedule that works across all 21 classes.

In short, I've been so impressed with the efforts of our staff in working through all these scenarios without complaint or resistance and, in general, with great humour and a friendly nature.

Another example was a teacher registration presentation I enjoyed today. For all starting teachers, they are asked to complete a project to move from Provisional to Full teacher registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching. These always end up being mammoth efforts, with extraordinary levels of detail about the inquiry project the teacher has undertaken. Today, I couldn't help but be impressed and blown away by our newest teacher, Mr Somerville's presentation, the support of his mentor Mrs Trend, and the level of detail with which he could speak about the activities and progress of students he was focusing on. And not for the first time. It occurred to me that this project was easily equivalent to my University honours thesis and completed in an extremely professional and thorough way. There would be no way of knowing that as a teacher completes their everyday job, that in the background they're ploughing through all these extra responsibilities.

Sometimes making comments like this can become a rant about demanding respect, higher salaries, reduced workload etc. Today, this isn't my intention. But I would like to acknowledge and help bring awareness to the multiple layers of work and responsibilities going on for each of our staff members.

And it is true for our students, too. Next Friday, student portfolios will be going home with their reports. The report is a summary of what they have achieved and been challenged by throughout the year. It is valuable as a marker but can never represent everything they have tangled with cognitively and emotionally throughout the year. Hopefully the portfolios add a little more texture to this, revealing how they have developed over time in particular areas and giving both parents and students something tangible to compare past and current achievements. In 2020 we hope to refresh how we use portfolios so that they remain relevant and valued artefacts for both students and parents. Please, when you see a request for feedback on this topic, we would really love your input. But in the meantime, please look at the portfolio as a chance to discuss with your child what happens 'behind the scenes' for them. What are the aspects of their learning they're proud of? What have they struggled with? and, What do they hope to improve in the future?

Update: 2020 classes

We had intended to be able to publish the full list of year level teachers for 2020 today. Due to some very late changes and the recruitment processes we are subject to, we will now communicate this through a Compass newsfeed on Tuesday next week.

You may have heard some whispers, rumours or otherwise and some teachers moving year levels may have told their students today - I don't know what you may have heard so I can't confirm it to be true or not but all will be clear on Tuesday. I appreciate your patience.

Students will meet the teaching team for their year level on Wednesday December 11 and will meet their teacher in their 2020 class on Tuesday December 17.

Please remember that we cannot accommodate any late requests or changes to classes at this time or after they have been announced. I will occasionally have parents request a change after their child comes home upset about not having a specific friend in the class. It is simply not possible to do this. Teachers make every effort to ensure students will have one of their requested friends and will often try to encourage healthy friendships that may not yet have had a chance to develop. Please, exercise patience and trust at this time of year and during these processes. We all want to do everything we can to ensure your child has a wonderful and successful year in 2020 and there are a lot of things that can be done to make this happen. Class formations are a very small factor in the overall plan for how to make this happen.

Decanting arrangements

Next year, with the building project set to begin as early as December 21st this year, there will be the need for alternative locations for some classes until we are able to move into our new building. During Terms 1 and 2, the following arrangements are in place:

* Year 1 students will be taught in the current Indonesian room and Junior library in the Smart Building.

* Year 2 students will be spread across classrooms next to administration, in the OSHC room and the resource room next to OSHC.

* Indonesian will be taught in the Year 6 area, sharing the space up there.

* Some minor works will be completed in the Prep area to add an extra classroom

* Access through the lower carpark will be blocked throughout the project.

OBAN ORACLE

Issue 20 · 06 Dec 2019

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