Principal's Message
This is the third edition of our new digital newsletter. We would love to know what you think! Please take two minutes to complete a very brief feedback survey by clicking here.
Digital Wellbeing
Young people are increasingly engaged with digital technology and online interaction. Our school recently added 45 new laptops and 30 new iPads to our existing sets, and will further increase the number of devices in our school this year to support digital skill development in our students. One of the priorities identified in our new school improvement plan is digital wellbeing. To support our work in this area, we have partnered with ‘Safe on Social’, giving us access to cybersafety and digital wellbeing experts and resources.
In coming newsletters, we will be sharing valuable information to keep you aware of emerging trends and provide you with a toolkit to support conversations around online issues with your children at home. In doing so, we aim to partner with you to provide support for your child’s digital wellbeing whether they are at home or at school.
On Wednesday 9 June, Kirra Pendergast, lead consultant and CEO of ‘Safe on Social’ will visit Ben Venue to provide an information session to parents & carers. I have heard Kirra speak and very strongly recommend that all parents and carers with children in Years 3-6 (or even younger) attend. Please note, this session is notfor under 18s.
I will provide more information closer to the time, but please save this date.
Understanding our students and the impact of our work
This term, all class teachers have been learning how to integrate an assessment tool, Essential Assessment, into their strategies for measuring student learning in mathematics. I will be providing further information on how this data will be used to inform planning and better target the learning needs of all student in the near future.
In addition to a range of internal assessment strategies used by teachers, our school engages with opportunities to use external assessment measures to validate our judgments of student learning and measure the impact of our teaching. To this end, we will again be part of the Check-in Assessments. These proved very useful to teachers last year due to the rapidly available data on each student’s achievement, and will be used with Years 4 and 6 next term, with the possibility of other years participating later in 2021.
In order to help us form a picture of student wellbeing, students in Years 4-6 will also participate in the Tell Them From Me survey, beginning this week (see Deputy Principal's message for further detail). This survey measures a range of factors that contribute to emotional wellbeing, sense of belonging and academic engagement. The responses of our students in previous years have informed our new school improvement plan.
NAPLAN will also be conducted for students in Years 3 and 5 during 11-21 May. This mandatory external data will complement our internal measurement to support ongoing adjustment of teaching and learning.
P&C
The Ben Venue P&C held their AGM on Wednesday 3 March. I wish to extend my thanks to the outgoing executive and thank the P&C for their support of our teachers and students throughout a challenging 2020. Thank you in particular to;
Jodie Andrews (President)
Tanya Sciffer (Vice president)
Melody Parkes (Secretary)
Michelle Peak (Treasurer)
Congratulations to new P&C executive:
Melody Parkes (President)
Katrina Mulready (Vice president)
Jodie Andrews (Secretary)
Emma Briggs (Treasurer)
P&C meeting dates for the remainder of 2021 are listed below. Meetings will commence at 6:30pm and will be held in the Ben Venue library.
Term 2 – 5 May, 2 June
Term 3 – 4 August, 1 September
Term 4 – 3 November, 1 December
Casual teacher shortage
It is unavoidable that from time to time, teachers may need to take leave due to family commitments or illness. It is also important that teachers engage in professional learning and collaboration in order to continually improve teaching and learning. In these cases, casual teachers may be employed to continue the learning program for the class. Unfortunately, a state-wide casual teacher shortage is impacting on our ability to consistently replace class teachers. Therefore, in some cases, classes may be split across the stage or school.
This is a problem for all schools in Armidale and indeed the state. While we make every effort to maintain continuity and consistency in each class’s learning program, there are days when there simply are no casual teachers available to cover our classes.
Cam Pryce
Relieving Principal