SKiPPS Newsletter

Important Notices

2021Transition

Earlier this week our Foundation transition formally began with our first ever remote parent information night and then our first transition session for our 2021 Prep students to come into school.

 

Restrictions meant that these groups were limited to ten children at a time but this actually proved a perfect way for the new students to get to know the school and their teachers in a quiet and calm environment. Further sessions will take place in the coming fortnight to give these children a positive start to their lives at SKiPPS.

 

In the coming week our transition process for all year levels will begin where teachers will work with the new composite year levels and understand the groupings and dynamics which will lead to the creation of our 2021 classes. This is a lengthy and careful process which sees a lot of time spent trying to get the right balances for next year.

 

During these sessions, different groupings will be used and final classes won't be locked in until the final week of the year. Students will meet with their new class and teacher on Thursday 17th December and 2021 class lists will be sent home on this date.

Student Reports

Something else that teachers are currently working busily on are our end of year student reports. After the disruption to learning of this year it is more important than ever that we gain a detailed understanding of the progress each child has made during 2020 and what potential 'gaps' they may have in their understanding. Our experience of remote learning is that there was a wide range of engagement and completion of assigned work and the usual ways that teachers assessed learning were much more difficult to rely upon.

 

These reports will contain our teacher's judgements of your child's academic performance against the Victorian Curriculum and will show their progress since last December.

 

Whilst the hard work of parents, students and school staff during remote learning meant that children continued to learn well, it is also the case that many children will not have made the progress expected of them had this been a 'normal' year. This is not a cause for panic but it also cannot be ignored.

 

In 2021 the Education Department is ensuring that each school has a clear focus on ensuring these children 'catch-up' and is providing us with substantial funding to provide additional tutoring to students where we feel this is necessary due to the impact of 2020.

 

You will receive your child's report in the final week of term and we ask that you read this carefully to understand how remote learning may have impacted on them. As always, if you have specific questions, please reach out to your child's teacher but we would ask you not to worry too much if their learning this year has not been a full 12 months growth. We will work together with you next year to address this.

 

Maths Talent Quest

Earlier this year, students at SKiPPS were given the opportunity to take part in the 'Maths Talent Quest' - an investigative competition run by the Mathematical Asssociation of Victoria. The MTQ challenges students at all year levels to identify a question of interest to them and then explore all of the Maths involved with this topic.

 

We were very proud to hear recently that a number of students were successful in achieving a 'Credit' or 'Distinction' award for their hard work. I would like to congratulate the following children;

  • Bella C (3/4T) 'Book Project Statistics'
  • Arindam G (3/4L) 'Mind Reading with Numbers'
  • Dylan Y (3/4T) 'My Dream Home'
  • Theo S (Foundation M) 'What is 5km?'
  • Aurelia A (1/2N) 'When am I likely to shoot hoops?'

Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series

We were also excited last week to get involved in the brand new Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series (VCES), a series of high-quality, funded extension activities across all areas of the curriculum for high-ability students from Prep to Year 12.

 

This program is a part of the new State Government 'Student Excellence Program' and saw us select 40 students from Year 3-6 to take part in an engaging and challenging online session run in conjunction with the Royal Botanic Gardens. Called 'Designed by Nature', this was a STEM-based program about biomimicry. 

 

The students involved loved this content and we look forward to participating in many more of these VCES sessions in the future.

 

Walkathon

This week has also seen us start our new COVIDsafe school walkathons. To aid social distancing and comply with restrictions, these have taken place in year levels rather than  as a whole-school and we have sadly been unable to invite parents to participate, volunteer and watch.

 

Nevertheless, the students have done as amazing job as ever of collecting sponsors and completing an incredible number of laps. On Tuesday of this week, we had our 5/6 classes participate and I was amazed to calculate that some children had run over 10 kilometres in the hour of the walkathon!

 

We now seek your support to help your child collect their sponsorship money and make payment to the school via Compass. All monies raised will go directly to supporting us to establish classroom libraries next year - a collection of rich, engaging books in each learning space to support our students' development in literacy.