From the Principal
Professional Learning Communities Training
As part of our ongoing professional learning we have a number of our staff are currently completing a Department of Education approved course called ‘Professional Learning Communities’ (PLC).
We are very excited to have our Professional Learning Communities leaders, alongside Ben and myself, involved in this course. As we learn more about this initiative, we will share the key ideas and findings with the rest of staff to ensure.
Professional learning communities are an approach to school improvement where groups of teachers work collaboratively at the school level to improve student outcomes.
Professional learning community schools start from a simple idea: students learn more when their teachers work together.
Building a PLC is a proven way for schools to increase student learning by creating a culture that is:
· focussed on continuous improvement by linking the learning needs of students with the professional learning and practice of teachers
· committed to professionalism
· fuelled by collaborative expertise.
The 10 principles of effective PLCs
Found in all effective PLCs are 10 principles that bring together the best available research on school improvement:
1. Student learning focus: School improvement starts with an unwavering focus on student learning.
2. Collective responsibility: For every child to achieve, every adult must take responsibility for their learning.
3. Instructional leadership: Effective school leaders focus on teaching and learning.
4. Collective efficacy: Teachers make better instructional decisions together.
5. Adult learning: Teachers learn best with others, on the job.
6. Privileged time: Effective schools provide time and forums for teacher conversations about student learning.
7. Continuous improvement: Effective teams improve through recurring cycles of diagnosing student learning needs, and planning, implementing and evaluating teaching responses to them.
8. Evidence driven: Effective professional learning and practice are evidence-based and data-driven.
9. System focus: The most effective school leaders contribute to the success of other schools.
10. Integrated regional support: Schools in improving systems are supported by teams of experts who know the communities they work in.
We would like to thank all our staff for their ongoing commitment to professional learning and always wanting to develop and improve their practice and the educational outcomes of their students.
This is another example of what makes Camelot Rise such a wonderful school!
NAPLAN 2023
From 2023, NAPLAN will be held earlier in the year to give teachers and parents important information about a student's skills and capability sooner, so that more targeted support
can be delivered to improve literacy and numeracy skills throughout the year.
The NAPLAN assessment period is from Wednesday 15th March to Monday 27th March.
At Camelot Rise PS we aim to complete the NAPLAN testing between Wednesday 15th to Friday 17th March. Any students that are absent on these dates will have the opportunity to complete their NAPLAN assessments during the week of March 20th to March 27th.
For additional information about NAPLAN please refer to the website below.
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/naplan/Pages/parents/index.aspx
Why do students do NAPLAN?
NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.
As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.
NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.
NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.
NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.
The Mind Masters
We are thrilled to announce that our students from Year 3 to Year 6 will be participating in three online workshops titled ‘The Mind Masters’.
The Mind Masters program has been developed, delivered and tested in Australian schools by The National Theatre for Children (NTC), alongside a team of clinical psychologists.
The Mind Masters is a Mental Health and Wellness program aimed to build a holistic approach to child and adolescent wellbeing. Our students will be introduced to basic mindfulness and positive mindset practises in a way that is simple, approachable, relatable and fun.
The Mind Masters is a unique, Australia wide, in-school education program to build student mental health, wellbeing & resilience, and guide school communities towards long-term, positive mental health outcomes.
The program is a multi-faceted interactive experience including year-round livestream education events, alongside an e-learning wellness toolkit for students, teachers, and families.
The three sessions are:
Topic 1: Mindset
Why Your Mind Matters
The difference between a fixed and growth mindset, and why it matters
Topic 2: Stress
What is Stress?
A toolkit of practical ideas to understand and help cope with stress
Topic 3: Resilience
How to Build Resilience
The importance of challenges, how language changes outlook, and the power of YET
We are thrilled that our students have the opportunity to participate in these rich learning experiences.
GRIP Leadership
On Tuesday 28th March our Year 5 & 6 Student Leaders will be attending the GRIP Leadership Conference
The GRIP Student Leadership Conference is unique in that it concentrates specifically on training student leaders for their role as School leaders. The style, topics, and content of this conference all focus on what the students can do right now.
The goal is that our student leaders will leave the conference with a clear vision, a solid understanding and dozens of ideas for their time as a leader.
Thanks to Mrs Newstead and Mrs Yoong for organising this wonderful learning opportunity for our Year 6 Student Leaders.
Primary - Grip Leadership Student Leadership Training Organisation
Basketball and netball court upgrade
On Tuesday 14th March we anticipate that the works will commence on our basketball and netball courts. This involves pulling up the existing synthetic grass, levelling the concrete / asphalt underneath and installing new synthetic grass.
During these works security fencing will be around the basketball and netball courts, and no one will be able to use this area. These works will take approximately 3 – 4 weeks.
As part of these works we are also having new basketball rings and backboards installed.
The money for the new rings and backboards was raised as part of our Slime Run last year. This was a wonderful initiative of the Junior School Council.
It will look great when it is finished!
Split systems in hall
We are still waiting on the installation of four split systems in our hall. These units will provide much needed heating and cooling for our school community.
Curriculum Day Tuesday 14th March
This is a professional learning day for our staff. Students are not required at school on this day.
Our staff will be working with Julie Shepherd (Year 2 Teacher) who will be leading our staff through highly effective strategies in the teaching of Writing.
We thank Julie for leading this professional development session for our staff.
Camp Australia is offering an Out of School Hours service on this day from 7.00am – 6.30pm. Bookings can be made via the Camp Australia website.
Twilight Sports
We encourage as many families as possible to attend the upcoming Twilight Sports night, which is being held on Thursday, 30th March commencing at 4:30pm for a 5:00pm start at Capital Reserve 85-95 Capital Avenue, Glen Waverley.
Please read Compass feeds for additional information about this event.
It was great to see so many people attend this event last year and we look forward to seeing you again this year.
Annual Report to School Council
The Annual Report to the school community will be presented on Thursday, 16th March at 6.30pm (in the Conference Room) just prior to our School Council meeting that commences at 7.00pm. All community members are invited to attend the Annual Report to the School Community.
Ben Heys, our Assistant Principal, and I will be presenting the Annual Report.
The Annual Report is designed to add value in a number of ways:
Keeping the school community informed:
The annual report provides a means for the school council to inform the community of what has been achieved and how the school is performing. Providing information about schools helps the community hold schools, the system and government accountable for improving student outcomes.
Contributing to system accountability and meeting legislative requirements:
Public accountability for improving student outcomes and for the use of public money is mandated in the Education and Training Reform Act (2006), where school councils are required to prepare and publish an annual report.
Relationship between the planning and annual reporting processes:
The development of the annual report is an opportunity to reflect on the school’s achievements and use this as a basis for future planning.
It is great to reflect on the results we have achieved as a school and celebrate our successes whilst carefully planning to ensure our results continue to improve.
Matthew Coney and Ben Heys