Leadership News
Principal's Piece
My Christian School
While the reasoning provided by parents for choosing Bayside Christian College differs, it is not as varied as you may think. The reason parents provide in simple terms can be expressed as: Values, Community, Care and Learning. In other words, parents and guardians choose Bayside because of its christian values, community spirit, care of students and academic programs.
What parents may not be fully aware of, is that it is our commitment to providing an authentic Christian learning experience that sits at the core of the College. It is from this core that our Christian values, community spirit, care of students and academic programs find their expression and fulfilment.
It is in this distinctly Christian learning environment that all students are encouraged to thrive and excel. It is in this distinctly Christian learning environment that is under threat from legislators who either fail, or choose not to seek to understand that removing the Christian core removes the very substance that makes Bayside the place that people and students love.
One of the ways that parents can help us tell our story to governments is via the MyChristianSchool website. The platform enables all parents (Christian and non-Christian alike) to share their positive stories of being members of Christian schools like Bayside.
The goal is to have 50,000 stories by the end of the year. Stories that can be activated to respond quickly to challenges faced by our Christians school sector. This is particularly important with the Australian Law Review Commission report due at the end of the year that will inform a religious discrimination bill expected in early 2024. Real stories from real parents play a critical role in influencing legislative decision making and we need your continued help.
Blessings,
Mr Andrew Manning
Principal
Notices from the Deputy
Parent Conferences
Partnership is valued at Bayside and working together to benefit your children's education is of paramount importance. With this in mind, the Semester Two Parent-teacher (Primary) and Parent-student-teacher (Secondary) conferences will be held in person on Tuesday 21 August 3:40 pm to 7 pm and online on Wednesday 22 August 9am to 7 pm. Information will be sent to families in the week beginning 14 August. If you do not receive your booking information by Wednesday 16 August, please contact reception.
Book Week
Each year the College, and particularly the Primary school celebrates Book Week. It is a chance to inspire students to engage with books and the joy of reading. This year we celebrate from Monday 28th August to Friday 1st September. Special events include Multi-age book activities, the annual Book Costume Parade and Reading Hour in the library.
The Happy Families website has also published some articles on celebrating books and reading all year round for both Primary and Secondary students. Click here to login to our school account first. The password is happybcc. Click here for the link to the article/s.
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students With Disabilities (NCCD)
The NCCD is an annual data collection from the Australian government, in which the College is required to provide information about the number of students for whom the curriculum and programs of the College are adjusted or modified to enable students to access the curriculum. Students are not identified in any way. The annual census day iwas Friday 4 August. Parents are not required to do anything; this data is provided as part of the requirement of our Government funding. This funding is used in a variety of ways to support students. For more information, please refer to the Parent Fact Sheet.
Jeans for Genes Day
Thankyou to all who dressed in their best denim and brought a donation to support Jeans for Genes Day. The College raised $607 for this worthwhile cause. Donations go to the Children's Medical Research Institute to support research into treating and curing diseases that 1 in 20 children suffer, such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, autism, or one of the other 6000 genetic disorders.
When our students take part in Jeans for Genes Day, they are not just raising vital funds for the researchers; they are showing empathy for others, and making kids with genetic diseases feel more accepted and included within the school community.
My Christian School Website
Bayside Christian College values the genuine faith of its staff. However, the Australian Law Reform Commission has released a consultation paper which would prevent schools like ours from choosing staff for their active lived faith. My Christian Schools website has been launched in association with the Australian Association of Christian Schools because it's time they heard from some actual parents—like you!
If you value the contribution of Christian staff and teachers, this is your opportunity to have your voice heard. Please visit MyChristianSchool.au and send a message to your MP about the difference Christian teachers and staff make in our school.
Blessings,
Mrs Toni Steinbergs
DeputyPrincipal
Head of Teaching and Learning
Why does the learning gap often get wider?
Last week our Deputy Principal Toni Steinbergs touched on our NAPLAN results that have just been released. One of the challenges of the changes made to NAPLAN this year has been that growth data for students has not been provided. Fortunately, our school’s internal data management system Edapt has helped us get this crucial data.
The reason why growth data is so important is that it helps teachers ensure that students are making 12 months of growth in their learning in a calendar year. Yes, the focus of the tests are literacy and numeracy based, but it does provide some helpful insights. If a student does not make this 12 months of growth across a calendar year, then they are effectively opening gaps in their learning as the next year’s work often assumes they know things and have skills they don’t have. When this happens over multiple years of students not making their 12 months of learning growth, those gaps widen between their peers. This gap often means that teachers are no longer able to deliver the regular teaching program with support measures, but often the entire concept itself may be outside of their zone of development at that time.
The following article ‘One in five secondary students has not mastered basic skills - How do schools help them to catch up?’ highlights trends in Australian in the gaps in key skills. It states:
One in five secondary students has not mastered basic skills - How do schools help them to catch up?
“between Years 7 and 9, the percentage of students who are at or below the national minimum standards for reading grows from 1 in 5 to 1 in 4.”
Fortunately at Bayside, there are several programs and key initiatives in place that mitigate a drop of learning and the widening of learning gaps. Some of these initiatives include:
- The Maths Pathways program that moves away from linear approaches to Mathematics with more explicit and targeted small group teaching provided.
- The STEP program providing explicit instruction at students point of need to ensure they are able to access the curriculum and make satisfactory learning progress
- The English Language intervention program and tutoring programs in Mathematics
- The use of school wide data analysis to monitor the progress of each individual student including longitudinal tracking.
- Extension and enrichment opportunities provided to all students to improve engagement that are accessible to all students, not just those in a chosen class or stream as done in many schools.
- The introduction of Social and Emotional wellbeing data collection and analysis to monitor the impact of wellbeing on a students learning progress.
- The continued investment into our high quality Learning Support team and program
If you wish to discuss the article further, or have concerns with your child’s learning progress, I encourage you to reach out and email joel.williamson@baysidecc.vic.edu.au or your respective Head of School to discuss the specifics of your child’s situation further.