Principal's Report

Dear Families,

I sincerely hope that all in our community are continuing to do well. Our wonderful learning community at Kismet Park continues to make headway this term with improving outcomes for all our students.

In the last fortnight our students across the school have experienced lots of different learnings and experiences. Our prep students participated in a fun Fire Incursion on our site, our year 1 and 2 have students completed the intensive swimming program and our year 3-6 students had an opportunity to take part in the Regional Athletics. Our performing arts club together with our performing arts captains took part in the Sunbury Arts Festival. The feedback from our students and teachers was that they had an absolute ball.

Mrs. Ciara Stewart: Our Assistant Principal (Acting) Ciara has been absent over the past week and a bit due to undergoing minor surgery. She has had the surgery and is home recovering well. Ciara will return to us on 7th of November, fully rested and looking fabulous, I am sure.

Our school has been well supported in Ciara’s absence with our Leadership Team stepping up to ensure that our students and their families continue to be well supported. In addition, our Chaplain Ms Nicky Gallus continues to do a fabulous job in responding to and supporting families and our children.

Prep Enrolments and our Meet and Greet chats: We continue to accept prep students. If you have a child in pre school or a child that is turning 5 before 30th April, 2022 please phone our office for an enrolment form and an appointment with me so that I can meet your child.

I have had the pleasure of meeting many of our 2023 prep students and their families in our Meet and Greet chats. These chats provide an opportunity for us to start the connection with our new students and their families.

Often students see the principal as someone they only see when things go wrong, and I wanted to reassure our new prep students that this is not the case at our school. At our school my office is open to all and I love the opportunity to be able to see the work students are producing, to have a general chat with students about their passions and strengths. I look forward to more Meet and Greet chats with our new prep students in the coming days.

Presentation by Dr. Ashleigh Moreland on supporting student wellbeing: Last night Dr Ashleigh Moreland presented to our parents/carers a session on the ways in which we can practically support our children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Ashleigh did a brilliant job to present strategies and a tool box for all parents/carers to be able to use to support social, emotional, behavioural and intellectual development.

Some key points that I took away from the session included our children’s’ need for:

Certainty, Variety, Significance and Connection. Within these elements Ashleigh described some ways we could support children in these areas, things we could do to ensure children experienced these concepts that create a sense of safety and belonging therefore support children to regulate.

Certainty: routine, consistency, predictability
Significance: 1:1 time, being missed, active listening, praise
Variety: different shows, different games, different friends
Connection: 1:1 time, presence.

Thank-you to all who made time to attend either online or on our site last night. I am sure that our parents/carers walked away with lots of practical ideas and tools to try with their children. Thank-you to Dr Ashleigh Moreland for her thorough and engaging presentation.

Out of School Hours Care – Our new provider Their Care:

The process for our tender regarding our OSHC provider has now concluded. After a rigorous process the School Council has selected Their Care as our new OSHC provider.

Their Care will begin with us in 2023. In the coming week I will communicate with our community the details regarding Parent/Carer Information sessions and key dates for the holiday program over the Christmas period.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank EXTEND for their service to our community and for the ways in which they are continuing to support our school as we transition to our new provider. I appreciate the collegiality and support so that our families and children can continue to receive the best possible care and support.

Curriculum Day: A friendly reminder to all in our community that Monday 31st October is a Curriculum Day, this means there is no school for our students. EXTEND will operate on the day for all families who require the service.

On the Curriculum Day our teachers will be reviewing student work samples, assessing portfolios, and moderating student writing samples. Moderation involves teachers working collaboratively to support each other to assess student work so that there is common agreement between what achievement looks like. This work supports consistency of marking across all year levels. Our ES staff will work to support our teachers in various ways on the day.

Forward Planning and Grade Structures for 2023: We have begun the process of forward planning and looking at grade structures, numbers and staffing for the 2023 school year. In doing so I invite all parent/carers who know their child/children will NOT be returning to our school please phone our office on 9744-4566 and let us know please. This will assist us with plans for our grades and staffing profile.

In addition, I now invite parents/carers who have additional information that we may not be aware of that may affect your child's class placement next year please put the details in writing and forward directly to my email at katarina.cvitkovic@education.vic.gov.au with subject header ATTENTION KATHY by Friday November 4th. Please note that any emails that come through after the 4th November date will not be considered due to the flow on effect that late changes will have on our process.

Please note that this is not a teacher/class selection process but an opportunity to provide us with information that may assist with your child's social and academic groupings. Please note that whilst all information will be carefully considered case by case, we cannot guarantee that all requests will be met.

I am thanking all our families in advance for your patience and understanding as we undertake this extensive process.

I am sending all in our community my warmest wishes and I hope that our families managed to find time to enjoy the sunshine that has come our way over the last few days.

Warmest Regards,

Kathy Cvitkovic

Principal (Acting)

‘Building the foundations for success and happiness’.