Principal's Report
Flexible. Resilient. Positive. 2022
It has been another action packed fortnight here at Rangeview. We commemorated National Reconciliation Week starting with National Sorry Day on 26th May and finishing with Mabo Day on 3rd June. We discussed Mabo Day in assemblies, students participated in Reconciliation activities in classes and two of our teachers – Kirilee Bell and Chloe Tomkins – attended a campfire conversation at Antonio Park with other schools in the local area.
This term Rangeview was approached by two separate schools to meet with us and learn about our teaching and learning in mathematics. This is due to the excellent results we achieve in mathematics across the school, and the state-wide focus on mathematics for all schools in 2022. Mt Pleasant Road PS staff met with Lee Giddings and Ryan Evans last Thursday to discuss our recent work in numeracy teaching and also the extension work we do to lift our strongest mathematicians. Vicki Tzimos and Lisa O’Connor assisted in preparing our presentations for this visit.
Last week our Level 6 students attended a 5 day camp at The Summit in Trafalgar. Students participated in activities such as high wire, giant swing, abseiling, caving and snake handling. The activities culminated in a Monster Course where students competed in a ‘Tough Mudder’ style obstacle course – through mud. Despite near freezing conditions and almost constant rain, the students and staff were in excellent spirits for the duration of the camp and participated with an ‘all in’ attitude. A huge thanks go to the staff who attended; Lisa O’Connor, April Warfield, Josh Godwin, David Torr, Sam Carter, Kelly James, Kate Wallis, Liam Sommers and Mitch Clark. A special thanks to Mitch and Josh for organising such an amazing camp and to April Warfield for managing the medication.
During the camp week, the Level 5 students participated in a week of special activities including a Circus Incursion, a Planks Incursion and a school wide ‘Great Race’. Thanks to Melissa O’Brian for arranging much of this program for the students.
Annual Report 2021
At the beginning of each year, senior leadership in schools prepare the Annual Report for the school community. This report details the work of the school in the previous year and includes school context, performance data, strategic plan goals and achievements, and financial positioning.
In 2021 there was on-going professional learning for staff with a focus on Professional Learning Communities, the Workshop Model and Mathematics. As a result, student learning growth and achievement was above expected levels, particularly in Mathematics. Curriculum planning was aligned to the Victorian Curriculum in English and Mathematics and the whole school pedagogy 'the Workshop Instructional Model' became the agreed approach to teaching and learning for writing. The whole school Assessment Schedule was revised and refined which enabled greater whole school precision in tracking individual student progress. The integrated two-year planner was utilised to ensure all learning areas in the Victorian Curriculum were taught. A whole school inquiry focus on STEM enabled student involvement in real life problem solving experiences. A tiered model for student wellbeing support was further embedded which, through the use of targeted support programs, enabled deeper engagement and strengthened wellbeing for students and families and the building of a positive climate for learning. In 2021 the school went through a year of Review culminating in a new School Strategic Plan (SSP) for 2022-2025. Some standout results in our 2021 NAPLAN included our Year 3 writing and our Year 5 numeracy achievement results, and also our Year 5 student growth in both writing and numeracy. In all of these areas our Rangeview students performed well above 'like schools' students. We are also very proud of our Student Attitudes to School Survey results in the areas of School Connectedness and Respect for Diversity. We surpassed our goals in both of these domains.
Please see the full Annual Report on the schools website at https://rangeview.vic.edu.au/policies-documents/
Resilience and eSmart Day
Our whole school celebration day this term will be the Superhero Day which is for Resilience and eSmart. This event is running on the last day of term – Friday 24th June. We encourage students (and staff) to come in a costume as their hero – this could be Marvel or DC – or could be a cultural or historical hero. We are also encouraging students to consider our everyday heroes such as the emergency services personnel. We will have a police officer and a fire fighter present at the morning assembly. Students will have a chance to parade their costumes and then participate in buddy grades for the day doing Resilience and eSmart activities.
Open Afternoon
We are looking forward to our Open Afternoon on Wednesday 20th July. Classrooms will be open from 2.45pm across the school.
Amenities Upgrade
Plans are now underway for the replacement of the senior toilet block at Rangeview. This work will commence in the Term 2 holiday period and will take place over Term 3. The expected completion date is now the start of Term 4. The area to be cordoned off as the building site is the breezeway, the path behind the toilet block, the upper asphalt and the Munro Street entrance. There will be pedestrian access only into Munro street and through the lower pedestrian gate. Students will be using the junior toilet block and the gymnasium toilets for the duration of the build.
Whitehorse City Council - Crossing Supervisors
Whitehorse Council are currently recruiting a number of casual school crossing supervisors to assist in providing a safe environment for school-aged children and other pedestrians to cross the road. if there are any individuals interested in applying for the school crossing supervisor role, feel free to direct them to our website and apply at the below link.
Marika Ferguson
Principal