A message from the Principal

Welcome back to term 3! We are now into the second half of the school year and it has been great to be back at school this week and to see everyone refreshed and with enthusiasm for the semester ahead.

As you may know, I took the last three weeks of last term as Long Service Leave and enjoyed a wonderful time in the UK catching up with family and friends for the first time since before the pandemic began. I also managed to fit in two weeks in Spain and am now raring to go for the challenges ahead!

With the halfway point of the year reached, it is a great time to take stock, reflect and set goals for the rest of the year. 

Whilst this is true for the school as a whole, it also applies to each individual child's learning and we are seeking the support and input of parents and carers into this important process. 

By now you would have received (and hopefully spent time reading and understanding) your child's school reports from terms 1 and 2. Reporting student progress to parents is a major focus for our teachers this year - not only have they completed the standard Semester One reports via Compass, which provided you with details of their performance against the 'progression points' of the Victorian Curriculum and a detailed comment on their social and emotional development, but they have also spent a lot of time on our new ongoing reporting model.

Our teachers have been busy regularly uploading samples of learning for each child in Reading, Writing, Maths, Art, Performing Arts and Italian. By now, your child will have an emerging portfolio of their work in class, demonstrating their progress through photos, videos, audio recordings and written comments. Teachers (and sometimes the students themselves) have reflected on the learning that has taken place, highlighting the key points and setting out the next steps. 

I am so impressed by the standard of these Seesaw samples. They demonstrate the skill and professionalism of our teaching staff - their deep knowledge of their students, the curriculum and the learning process. They show the high standard of teaching and learning that takes place in our classrooms each day. Importantly, they show a commitment to teachers always improving their practice and doing the best for SKiPPS students and families. I am so proud of our team - they are exceptional.

We strongly believe that this 'ongoing' reporting has the potential to provide a powerful insight into the learning that your child is doing and allows you to understand their strengths and targets in a way that was simply impossible using traditional forms of reporting.

Our teachers have put huge amounts of time and effort into these Seesaw portfolios and I have a couple of requests to make of our parents and carers;

• If you have not yet done this, please login to Seesaw and take some time to view your child's learning and to listen to the reflections and comments made. Teachers are able to see when a work sample has been 'seen' by parents and we are really keen that you get involved with this process. If you have mislaid your login details and instructions on how to access Seesaw, please email your child's teacher and they can provide these to you quickly and easily. 

• It would be wonderful if you were able to provide positive feedback to the teachers on these reports. As this way of reporting is brand new, it would make their hard work worthwhile and reassure us we are on the right track to hear if you have found the Seesaw samples useful to understand your child's learning. A quick email or chat in the school yard about the work samples would be much appreciated.

During week 3 of term, (July 25th - 29th) we will also be running Parent-Teacher interviews. You will shortly receive an email from Compass to let you know that bookings are open and we ask that you log in and make an appointment to meet with your child's teacher.

The focus of these meetings will be on your child's learning during the first half of the year and their goals for the second half. Teachers will be directly accessing Seesaw during the meetings to help illustrate their points and to clearly demonstrate the upcoming goals and the ways that you can support their progress at home. We ask parents and carers to have looked over the Seesaw portfolio prior to meeting to make the most of the interview time.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and feedback on things and please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to discuss things further.

Neil Scott

Principal