Principal's Ponderings

Term Two Reflections

Term Two has been a very full term for teachers,  students and parents.  Our students have been involved in a variety of fabulous learning activities including: Planks Incursion, Year 3/4 camp to Phillip Island, Lightning Premiership Sport competition, Whole School Working Bee, Bring  a Special Friend on Open Day, Book Week, National Simultaneous Story Time, Cross Country, Mothers Day Pampering afternoon and many classroom activities.     Families and Parents are thanked for their involvement in many of these activities and for the their support and encouragement of all of our students and teachers.  

Our Parents and Friends Association have again been busy with hot lunches, meal tree, Loch Foodies luncheons, Mothers' Day Stall, Book Fair, Food and Wine festival stall and more. As a group these parents give generously of their time and really provide many opportunities for our school which help to build such a positive culture and supportive environment for us all. I would like to sincerely thank these parents for their contributions and encourage more of you to join in the activities as many hands make light work.  Everyone benefits and everyone should share in the load, even if it is just helping with one event or activity. 

Loch Primary School is very proud of the rich curriculum offerings it provides to students and we make every effort to ensure that students are exposed to a wide range of events, activities and learning opportunities. For a small rural school our students are indeed very lucky to be able to participate in specialist subjects on a weekly basis including Physical Education, Visual Art, Music/ Performing Arts and Digital technology. Within the classroom programs, students also learn science, health, literacy, numeracy and take an integrated approach to humanities and STEM. Over the past 18 months we have also been participating in the Respectful Relationships initiative and have been a partner school with Inverloch Primary School in the roll out of this important work.  Teachers have been involved in training about respectful relationships and have been implementing specific lessons with students.   Please read the Respectful Relationships page in this newsletter for more detailed information about the curriculum and topics being presented.

Professional Development

Term Two has seen our teachers involved in some intensive professional development.  I am very proud of the learning journey our school is on and even prouder of our teachers and their dedication to ensuring they are delivering effective teaching and learning for all of our students.  In our investigations of education research and evidence based instruction we have worked with Dr Lorraine Hammond and developed and implemented Explicit Instruction. We have also worked with Ron Yoshimoto to ensure our staff knowledge of linguistics is high enabling them to teach all students how the English language works.  

We have been very privileged and lucky to have these master presenters agree to travel to South Gippsland and provide this training.  We have opened up the training for teachers from outside of our school to share in the training.  Both Dr Hammond and Ron Yoshimoto were in high demand and this helped us to offset the cost of bringing these sought after trainers to a rural location.  

I would like to emphasise to parents that our teachers are so very lucky to have been exposed to this training and we should be celebrating the work that they are involved in.  Our students are  greatly benefited and already teachers are commenting on the learning gains they are seeing in their classes.  In order to undertake this training we are restricted by when these presenters are available to travel to us in amongst their very busy schedules.  

This term Dr Lorraine Hammond attended Loch Primary School at the beginning of term and delivered "Lets Decode" training to our teachers in the P- 3 classes.  This training took place at school and involved students. We did have 2 Casual Relief Teachers (CRT's) at Loch on this day to enable the day to run smoothly. This day also involved a Planks incursion which was a big hit with students.

Our new teachers Miss Jelbart and Miss Shaw also attended a day of training on Learning Difficulties including Dyslexia which was extremely worthwhile and informative and CRT's covered the classes while they attended.

To make the most of Ron Yoshimoto's visit and training we had five teachers attend the 5 day training progam; Mark Hunter, Sarah Shaw, Rachael Geerts, Tracey King and Sarah Coolidge. During this week of training we employed CRT's to cover classes and enable this vital professional development to take place. 

From a students point of view having their teacher away for this week was challenging. As it is at anytime when routine is changed.  Teachers do have time away from their classes each term for professional development, for special meetings,  for Report Writing Days, when they are ill or need to care for a family member or when they take Long Service Leave.  Having CRT's in a school is a regular occurrence in every school.   

During these times we make every effort to keep our CRT's consistent to reduce disruptions and changes for students.  It is however inevitable that there will be days or series of days when a CRT is teaching a class and students and staff are required to be resilient, flexible and adaptable.   

It is a timely reminder of just how skilled, compassionate and loved our staff are when students and parents miss them so much when they are absent.  The benefits of the intensive training our staff have undertaken far outweighs the need for CRT's and changes to timetables for short periods of time.   

Feedback opportunities

This year we are working on developing our feedback processes. Feedback involves how teachers give feedback to students, teachers giving feedback to each other, teachers giving feedback to parents, Student giving feedback to their teachers and parents providing feedback to our school.  There will be opportunities for everyone involved our school to participate in  and share feedback.  This week I will be inviting  small groups of Year 5 & 6 students to have lunch with me and to share their feedback. I look forward to sharing this feedback in our next newsletter.

Staying up to date

Be sure to read the 'Important Information for Parents' page to make sure you know what is going on at school.  Information can be found in our newsletter, on COMPASS and on our school face book and instagram pages - are you following us?

Car Parking

As of Term Three, the school bus will be relocating to the staff car park.  This will enable a 'Kiss and Go' zone to be created on Victoria Road.  This means that children will be boarding and exiting the bus from the safety of the staff car park and a safer pick up and drop off zone will be available for parent use at  the front of the school.  I would like to remind all parents that the staff car park is not for parent use unless you require access to the disabled car park.   Parents are able to park on Victoria Road or on Roy Street.  As the weather clears and becomes warmer I encourage you to park at the Sunny Side Park end of Loch Village and walk to school.  

Student Reports

Teacher have been busy finalising student reports over the past few weeks.  Please be aware that your child's teacher take a great deal of time and effort to complete accurate assessments and to report on achievements.  Reports will be published and uploaded to COMPASS on Thursday afternoon.   Please log into COMPASS to access your child's report.  Parent teacher conferences will open on COMPASS shortly for Term  Three bookings and parents are encouraged to attend these conferences to meet and discuss their child's progress.  If you are  unable to attend a conference please contact your child's teacher to make alternative arrangements.

Farewells

At the end of this term we will say farewell to Mrs Spence. Mrs Spence has been at Loch Primary School since 2015 and eagerly took on the challenge of shifting from secondary teaching to primary teaching. Her time here has been busy as she has participated in many professional learning opportunities and been involved in coordinating and leading many of our special events and activities.   She has taken a variety of roles including PE & health teacher, maths specialist, learning coach and french teacher.  She has made significant contributions to our school and her high energy levels, quick witted sense of humour and dedication to our school will be very much missed by students, parents and staff.  We wish her the very best for her future.

Final Week of Term Two

On Wednesday this week all classes will be involved in a Virtual Reality incursion session to conclude their units of study of Australian Indigenous Culture. Students will wear virtual reality goggles and explore indigenous culture lead by a facilitator from EG Incursions.  On Thursday we are heading to Leongatha Cinema as a whole school to watch "Secret Life of Pets 2".   This movie will kick off our narrative and script writing units.  Please check COMPASS for details and to provide your consent.  Friday is our last day of Term two and our final assembly is scheduled for 1.30pm and official dismissal is 2.30pm.  On behalf of all of our teaching team, we wish everyone a safe and restful holiday break.

Positive Affirmations

I have been hobbling around with a bung foot this term after a fall in a ditch on the oval.    It has certainly slowed me down! There have been many parents and students who have been very kind offering to help and assisting me when possible and I thank them for their generosity and kindness. 

We have a really wonderful community who work together with a common focus of wanting the best for all of our children.  It is important to keep this focus forefront and to remind ourselves of the role we each play in creating a positive culture and community in our school.  Whenever groups of people gather there are always differences of opinion and individuals who are unhappy with decisions or happenings.  It is how we go about expressing our opinion that either helps to build a positive culture or creates negativity and nastiness and breaks the focus on children.  If you find yourself unhappy or feeling unsettled about decisions or events at school please do come and see me.  I would much prefer that you walk through my open door for a respectful chat rather than hear about gossip and your unhappiness from other sources.  Remember that your children are always watching and your behaviour is a model that they will copy.   You always have a choice with how to respond to situations and events.  Life is too short to be bitter or resentful. Always choose kindness.

Ms Tracey King

Principal