Principal's message

Welcome back to term 2!

Already we are well into the second term of school and students are back into routines of learning. It is almost May - the weather has begun to change and we are well into the year now. Some families are observing the holy month of Ramadan and we wish you well. Many students are showing their growth and resilience in the classroom, stretching themselves to go deeper and try harder.

We paused this week to recognise ANZAC Day in a beautiful service run by Ms Melhem and Ms Ryan. Students were reminded of the ANZAC message and what they can do to promote peace and acknowledge the peace in our country. We were pleased to have Ms Alice O'Connor join us from the Granville RSL Sub Branch. We also awarded Shibika S the Frank Ashton BEM Memorial ANZAC award to recognise her qualities of mateship, community spirit and the ability to get on with a range of people in her community.

Teachers are learners too!

On School Development Day this term, staff learnt about Trauma-informed practice as a way to better understand our students and families. We will continue this learning throughout the year and build our skills in this area.

We also stepped out into our local community to learn more about the library and the new Granville Art Gallery! We had a tour of the gallery and then did an art-making workshop. We also looked at the new library space and the programs on offer. If you haven't been down there - it's a great space to pop in to - it's free and fun!

Leading change

Mrs Delvecchio and I were asked to run a training course for assistant principals across NSW schools on leading literacy change in schools. We presented in at Surry Hill this week and shared our school's journey, including our focus on daily Guided Reading; setting goals in reading and writing; taking students in small groups to really work with them at their level; ensuring that all aspects of the literacy block are included each day; how to link literacy to a theme or Big Idea; how to listen to the value of student voice to keep getting better at teaching; how we work with teachers every 3 weeks to track and monitor student learning; and the ways that we report to parents in Learning Conversations. It was a proud day to share some of our strengths with others and to reflect on how far we've come in raising the quality of teaching to even greater heights.

Mothers day is Sunday 9th May

Our P&C have organised a Mothers Day Stall for next Thursday 6 May. More information will come. This is an opportunity for students to buy a gift for their mother, or aunt or grandma to show their appreciation. Thank you to the team who are busily making this happen.

NAPLAN moves for Eid

This year, NAPLAN is due to occur at the same time as Eid. Our school is one of a hundred schools who have been given leeway to move NAPLAN a few days because of Eid. NAPLAN is due to start Tuesday 11 May. We will use the Friday 14th May as well as Monday 10 May to complete these assessments so that all students give it their best go. More information will come home about these assessments - which are for Year 3 and 5.

Thank you for our Iftar meal!

To the parents who prepared food for our staff to share an Iftar together last night - we really appreciate your generosity. Teachers enjoyed a range of yummy food and were spoiled by the cooking skills of families! Thank you to the P&C for organising this event. Hopefully next year we are out of the land of restrictions and may host a whole-school Iftar.