The Kingswood Newsletter

Wellbeing and Community Engagement

Patrick Halpin 

Wellbeing and Community Engagement

Kingswood Family Night:

The Parent Club is busily preparing for our Family Night which will take place on March 17th from 4:30pm (apologies for the wrong time in the last newsletter).  This event will provide an opportunity for everybody to celebrate the Kingswood Community, so it would be fantastic to see you all there.

The Kingswood Kids Challenge

The Kingswood Kids Challenge is due to take place on Wednesday, March 22nd.  Years Prep, 1 and 2 will run between 9:15 and 10:15 and Years 3-6 will run between 11:15 and 12:15.  Each year has been assigned a different colour as follows:

  • Prep – Yellow
  • Year 1 – Purple
  • Year 2 – Blue
  • Year 3/4 – Green
  • Year 5/6 – Orange

Students, parents and staff are encouraged to be as creative with their colour(s) as possible.  We would love to see as many people as possible attend and help make it a fun, colourful and engaging experience.

Parent Club AGM

The Parent Club held their AGM on Thursday morning and elected their officers for this year, as follows:

President: Mel Ingliss & Jodie Wiggett

Vice President: Jen Linton

Secretary: Shathani Chandrasegran

Treasurer: Tracey Lees

Co-opted member for School Council: Karen Spencer

Social Media Coordinator: Dorit Patterson

Play Leaders

The Year 5 students attended PLAY Leader training on Tuesday this week.  They enjoyed playing lots of playground games and discussed ways of making them easier for younger students and more challenging for the older grades.  They also practised setting up some games considering safety aspects and providing visual supports to the students by using cones to mark the border of the play zone.  Year 1 students attended a session in the afternoon that was entirely facilitated by the students. 

Each PLAY Leader received a certificate at the end of the training and will meet next week to plan how the program will run at Kingswood.  We will keep you posted through the school newsletter.  If any parent is interested in joining us and helping us with the structure and set up, please let me know. 

Snapshot Surveys

I intend on seeking feedback from parents this year on lots of different programs, initiatives, events, etc. that are organised by the Kingswood School Community.  Our first survey was based on the Information Nights that was run by each Professional Learning Community in February.  It was published last week through Compass and received 41 respondents, 39 of whom attended at least one session. 

All five of the sessions were represented in the feedback (Prep: 10; Year 1: 8; Year 2: 8; Year 3/4: 14; Year 5/6: 10) with 100% of the respondents reporting that they would recommend the sessions to other parents and over 90% rating the information they received as a 4 or 5 (out of 5). 

While this is an exceptionally strong endorsement of the sessions, we are also very grateful to those parents who provided written feedback on how to improve.  The suggestions included:

  • Distributing the information booklets before or on the night so parents can make notes as the presentations are taking place.
  • Organising a babysitter so early in the evening can be challenging.  Perhaps the school could organise a play group for the children who are brought along.
  • Personal issues should be saved for a private meeting.
  • Some of the sessions went on too long and the space became hot and stuffy.  The chairs became uncomfortable after 30 minutes.
  • Separate session for the parents of Grade 6 students to address transition to high school.
  • Only one information session per night to avoid clashes.
  • Availability of a microphone so everybody can hear.
  • Technology needs to be tested to ensure the videos are of high quality and accessible during the presentation.
  • Teachers should avoid educational jargon so parents can understand.
  • More information on the clubs and camps.

All of the comments and suggestions will be considered when planning next year’s Information Sessions.  In support of the sessions, parents commented:

  • The sessions were very informative, thorough and interesting and provided a great opportunity for questions and comments.
  • The sessions provide a clearer outline of the programs than if it had just been sent home in a booklet.
  • The sessions allowed parents to see and hear from the other staff in the year level and the leadership and support teams.
  • The sessions serve as a good reminder that parents need to take responsibility for their children’s learning.
  • The video of the specialists was a great idea.
  • The sessions demonstrated the dedication of the teachers.
  • “Best sessions I have seen in my 7 years of attending info nights.”
  • Having the notes in Compass the next day was helpful.

I will be in touch with the 12 people who agreed to provide further feedback by phone/email over the next week or so.  If anybody else would like to provide feedback, please click on the link: https://goo.gl/forms/LwL6eixw7VCchVga2 or use the QR Code.

Our next survey is on the Parent Helper Sessions, which were run in Week 4 of the term.  If you attended one of the sessions, and would like to provide some feedback on improving the sessions, you can click here: https://goo.gl/forms/T2xsZD2BE1JJOOrF3 or use the QR Code.

Staff Announcements

The Kingswood Community would like to congratulate Maddison Campbell (Teacher, 5/6R) who was married last Saturday (March 4th).  We wish her and her husband all the very best in everything as they begin their married life together.

We would also like to wish Jen Bray (Integration Aide) the best of luck as she begins her maternity leave next week.  Jen has another son who is very excited about meeting his new sibling.

 

Please feel free to contact me by phoning the school office or by emailing halpin.patrick.p@edumail.vic.gov.au if you have any concerns, queries, questions or ideas regarding wellbeing and/or community engagement.