From The Principal

PRINCIPALS MESSAGE

The term is moving along quickly with our Foundation students commencing a full school week from next Monday. It is great to see them settling well into school life.

Warren Dawson has returned from leave to undertake an Inclusion Outreach Coach (0.5) role whilst Natasha McAuliffe is on Parental Leave. He will be onsite each Friday morning to support our school improvement work. Congratulations to Teacher Kaleesha Verdichizzi who had baby Luca in early February. We wish her all the best with a lovely new addition to her family.

A video will be published shortly so you can see who our new staff are. We also have several staff vacancies posted on DET’s recruitment online. Please contact me if you have any questions about these advertised positions.

During the first few weeks of school, classroom programs were based on our ‘Bright Beginnings’ curriculum. It’s designed to support students to establish a positive school routine, familiarise themselves with our buildings and grounds, get to know staff and students, revise whole school expectations and form respectful relationships.

Teachers in each Learning Community (LC) will shortly send home a Term One Overview and video that details relevant information about their particular LC and upcoming activities and events.

We are excited to have a dedicated Career Practitioner this year, with Sharon Miguel in the role. She will be work alongside Andrew McCarthy who has been engaged as an Industry Consultant to assist the development and expansion of vocational learning opportunities for our older students. I want to congratulate Sharon who was successful in gaining a Department of Education scholarship to undertake a ‘Graduate Certificate in Careers Education and Development’ this year that will support her work in this area.

Term one Student Support Group meetings are now underway and we appreciate the support of families, external support workers and allied health in attending these first meetings of the year. 

Our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan outlines our school's key goals for the year aligned to our four-year School Strategic Plan, and two Department priority areas of Learning and Wellbeing. Our school improvement work, that includes professional development, training, and Data Wise Professional Learning Community (PLC) inquiry cycles, will be focused on progressing achievement in the following areas; 

Goal 1: Learning – Support both those who need scaffolding and those who have thrived                  to continue to extend their learning, especially in numeracy.

             Wellbeing – Effectively mobilise available resources to support students’ wellbeing               and mental health, especially the most vulnerable.

Goal 2: To improve student learning outcomes in English, with a focus on communication.

Goal 3: To increase student engagement with their learning. 

Goal 4: To improve the resilience and wellbeing of students.

School Council Elections for 2023 are underway and as we received more nominations than vacancies in the parent category we will be conducting a ballot. Parents will receive ballot papers with instructions next Monday as the next step in the process.

Suzanne Armstrong 

Principal