Thank you

Next week marks our final week of Term Three! What a productive term it has been. Thank you so much to the Launch community for your warmth and support as I have gotten to know everyone and settled in. It is an absolute joy to come to school each day.

Staffing Update

At the conclusion of this term Mrs Heather Taylor will be leaving her role as classroom teacher at our school. Mrs. Taylor has taught at Launching Place Primary School since 1987. Imagine all the lives she has positively influenced! Heather has worn many hats at LPPS, Art teacher, classroom teacher, intervention and much more. She is a well-respected teacher who is kind, calm and passionate about doing her very best for her students. Mrs. Taylor will be dearly missed by our students, staff and families. She reports she is looking forward to some travel opportunities and will maintain contact with our school and others in the district though work as a casual relief teacher.

Mrs. Emily Rae is returning to our school having taken almost a year family leave to have her first son, Fletcher. Many of our students and families will already know Mrs. Rae, as she too has taught at our school for many years. It is a pleasure to welcome Emily back to LPPS.

School review

Our review concluded on Tuesday 6th September following our Parent Forum and several days of fieldwork involving discussions with students and staff and observations of teaching and curriculum planning.

From the review some areas were identified as our priorities moving forward:

Optimise further learning growth for all students in Literacy and Numeracy by building teacher capacity to collaboratively use assessment to plan an increasingly personalised learning program for our students, building a culture of high expectations.
Empower all students to become confident and self-regulating learners by embedding a whole-school approach to student agency, building student capacity to set challenging learning goals, enhancing feedback to improve student motivation and enhance communication with families around learning programs, student learning goals and student progress.

These big ideas will now be developed into a clear, sequential plan for the next four years, with feedback on the goals and actions being sort from students, parents and staff. Very exciting times ahead for LPPS!

Professional Practice Day

Thank you so much to our community for your support in allowing our Professional Practice Day to take place this past Monday. I certainly understand the challenges when schools/childcares are closed for the day. Monday allowed our staff to take some valued time to design and organise your child’s learning for Term Four. Just a reminder that we also have our Curriculum Day coming up on Friday 16th September. Our staff will be participating in a learning program around trauma-informed classroom practice and student wellbeing.

SunSmart – Hats

All students will need to be wearing a sun smart hat as we once again enter the period of higher UV levels. Even though the weather can be still cold on some days the UV levels can still be damaging so all children must adhere to the school policy. While we are always encouraging children to spend more time outside, exposure to sunlight is the main cause of melanoma and a cause of skin cancer. Acknowledging that Australia has the world’s highest incidence of melanoma, our School Council policy is for students to be Sunsmart from the start of spring. As a Sunsmart school we expect our students to wear a hat between September 1st and April 30th each year; having reminded children to dust off their Sunsmart school hats so they are ready to be worn from Monday 12th September onwards to protect against UV and the sun. So please remind them to slap on a hat!

Planning for 2023

If your child/ren will not be at Launching Place PS in 2023, please send written notification to the office as soon as possible. If you know of someone who is interested in attending our school and are yet to apply for enrolment, please encourage them to contact the office immediately.

Last Day of Term – Thursday 15th September

Following our Year 4/5/6 campers returning on Wednesday, Thursday 15th September is the last day of Term 3 for our students. I would like to remind parents that students will be dismissed at 2:30pm.

Our Junior School Council are organising a ‘Socks and Scrunchies’ Day for Thursday. Each student is asked to bring a gold coin donation to go towards our plant fund, which will allow us to fill our awesome new courtyard area with lots of great plants. So break out your favourite pair of crazy socks and if you like chuck some scrunchies in your hair for a great last day of Term Three!

Head Student Gardener

This week we appointed Liam W as our Head Student Gardener. Liam presented a clear, well-thought and realistic vision for the redevelopment of the vegetable garden area. Congratulations Liam on your appointment. We can't wait to see what you achieve. Big thank you to Emil (School Captain) and Paul (Education Support) for sitting on our selection panel.

Laura Caddy

Principal

Birthdays

A child’s birthday is a very special occasion and every fortnight we will share this celebration. Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrated their special day for July.

September