Dear Families

As a community we have much to celebrate in terms of our school and our collective achievements. Our teachers continue to guide and support our students in and outside of the classroom and our students have made significant gains as a result. Congratulations to our Netballers who have made it through to the finals and thank -you to Mrs.Keenan for her leadership and guidance in all things sport!

Our Jungle Disco was a huge success on Friday night and all the monies raised will go towards supporting our production – Kismet In Storyland. A HUGE thank-you to our PCA team and all our parents/carers and staff who attended on the night in support of the event.

Professional Practice Day July 10th – First Day Back Term 3:

Professional Practice days provide teachers with release from their scheduled duties (all duties which would have been otherwise scheduled, including teaching) to focus on the improved delivery of high quality teaching and learning. The Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022, approved by the Fair Work Commission, provided teachers with three professional practice days in 2022, two professional practice days in 2023 and one professional practice day in 2024 and beyond.

The work undertaken on these days will be consistent with Departmental and school priorities and selected from the following areas:

planning
preparation
assessment of student learning
collaboration
curriculum development
relevant professional development
peer observation including feedback and reflection

Our teachers will engage in their second Professional Practice Day for the school year, first day back Term 3, Monday July 10th. This day is a Student Free Day, approved by our School Council. Their Care will operate on the day and there will be no school for students on Monday July 10th, 2023.

Student Reports/3 Way Conferences and Student Portfolios:

Our teachers have been diligently writing student reports and these are now in the final stages of being proofread. This year our report format has a general comment with additional skills included. Student Portfolios are an important part of the student reporting process as they reflect the skills and comments that are in the individual students’ report. In effect the Student Portfolio is the evidence that supports the report.

Our prep students will have the traditional parent/teacher discussions whilst our Year 1-6 students will engage in 3 Way Conferences. The 3 Way Conferences provide an opportunity for students to articulate their learnings and understandings. If parents wish to discuss additional areas that they do not wish their child to be present for parents can always schedule another meeting with our teachers to chat, either over the telephone or in person.

The date for our Parent/Teacher/ 3 Way Conferences is set for Wednesday 12th July at the following time:

2:30-8:00pm Classroom Teachers

3:30-8:00 Specialists Teachers

School Improvement Teams:

Our school has the following school improvement teams: Student Voice and Agency, Wellbeing, Literacy, Numeracy. These teams work to drive the goals set out in our Annual Implementation Plan. In the last month our Student Voice and Agency team presented to staff their action plan and goals. In addition the team provided our teachers with ideas for strengthening student voice and agency in the classroom. The next level of work for this team is to document specific actions that cohorts will commit to back in the classroom to strengthen students voice and agency. This will look different at each year level.

Our Literacy team supported our teachers to unpack the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS). There are 10 high impact teaching instructional practices that are internationally recognised as some of the most reliable teaching strategies for delivering learning outcomes. They include Setting Goals, Structuring Lessons, Explicit Teaching, Worked Examples, Collaborative Learning, Multiple Exposures, Questioning, Feedback, Metacognitive Strategies, Differentiated Teaching. Teams were asked to commit to an instructional HIT strategy and deliver this within their classrooms/cohorts.

Building Works – Roof Update:

We are now at stage 3 with our building works. The plan is that stage 3 (our final stage) will be completed by June 30th and that our students and staff will then move back into Building A for our first week back Term 3. Their Care is scheduled to move back into Building A on July 4th (this will take place over the school holiday break). Our Art room and Japanese room along with our year 3 C classroom will all be back in their respective classrooms/spaces. Our Library will also return to its original set up.

In addition, our administration area will then move back into Building A. Our staff and students have worked under some challenging conditions due to our roof works and I would like to acknowledge their support and flexibility whilst the works have continued.

Literacy Consultant and focus:

Our literacy consultant continues to work with our teachers focussing on data and then supporting teachers to implement reading instructional strategies that are appropriate to where students are at (according to the data presented). Teachers have been exposed to modelling by the consultant in the area of Guided Reading, Literature Circles, Conferences, Reciprocal Teaching and Strategy Groups. It is energizing to see this work translated back into classrooms with our students.

Tutor Learning Initiative:

For the first semester our focus was on reading. The program supported our year 2 and 3 students. A total of 48 students went through the program during semester 1. Moving into second semester the focus will be on number, specifically place value and problem solving. The cohort we will focus on in semester 2 will depend on the data that we collect across cohorts/year levels.

School Production Update:

Our production of ‘Kismet in Storyland!’ is in full swing and it is lovely to watch the excitement build amongst our students, staff and now community. The scripts have been completed and our Lead Actors have been cast! Congratulations to Macy, Ava, Chanel and Jax from Grade 6, Max from Grade 5 and Henry, Xavier and Amara from Grade 4 who have all received lead roles. Many more roles will be being cast before the end of term.

Beginning next term, our staff and students will be working fervently to bring this magical story to life. A huge thank-you to Mrs Bodily for her leadership and vision.

Warmest Regards,

Kathy Cvitkovic

Acting Principal

‘Building the foundations for success and happiness’.

SWPB