Principal's Report

The 'Third Teacher'

Over the last few weeks I have had so many students coming to my office to share their great learning progress. Producing personal best work, being proud of their achievements and really being able to articulate their learning growth has been so impressive.

This is a great time of the year to reflect on the learning growth of our students and acknowledge what has gone in to helping them make it.

Firstly, the commitment of parents at Kalinda to your children's learning is exceptional. Reading with your child, discussing their learning with them, engaging with the school and providing rich learning experiences throughout their lives sets our students up to be great learners.

Secondly, we have an extremely talented group of educators at Kalinda. Wonderful teachers and ES staff who are dedicated to teaching students at their point of need with challenging work that allows them to continually grow with their learning.

The other important factor that enhances this learning growth is the classroom environment. This is sometimes referred to as the Third Teacher (with parents and teachers being the first two teachers). What goes on the walls within the classroom environment is crucial to supporting learning, giving students prompts, strategies and processes to refer to whilst they are learning. This space should not just be busy, stimulating or fun, but strategically developed to support learning.

At Kalinda, we can see great examples of the Third Teacher in a variety of ways:

• Anchor Charts (posters with information, procedures and expectations that support learning).
• Bump it up Charts (charts with examples of how you could take your work to the next level).
• Learning Intentions (focusing students on what they are learning).
• Success Criteria  (a list outlining what must be achieved to be successful in their learning).

Next time you are in your child's classroom, take the time to have a look around and you will see the intentional nature of the displays and will be able to see how they help your child's learning.

Out of School Hours Care - change of provider

From the beginning of Term 1 2020 our Out of School Hours Care and School Holiday Programs will be delivered by a new provider. The new provider is 'Their Care'. Over the last month school leadership and School Council have been meeting with a range of providers and receiving proposals from them.

Their Care was chosen as we were most impressed with their service, their commitment to delivering outstanding care for our students and the training and support they provide for their staff.

We will be providing further information before the end of the year.

I would like to thank OSHC Club and all of their staff for their service over a number of years.

We are kind. We are resilient. We are respectful.