Message from the Principal Team
Principals' Update
End of term approaches
And just like that we arrive at the final week of the term. I wish to thank all staff, students and families for their support in our return to onsite learning in 2022. The sense of community that has been demonstrated through adhering to rules around mask wearing, surveillance testing and quarantining, is a testament to our care for each other. This has also helped to ensure that COVID cases in our community have remained relatively low and disruption to school operations has been kept to a minimum. I hope that the last week of term is as safe and productive for us all.
Ramadan Mubarak
Our very best wishes to everyone who is celebrating the holy month of Ramadan which begins this Saturday..
Celebrate Autism in April
Saturday 2nd April marks World Autism Awareness day and begins a month long series of events celebrating autistic people and their contribution to society. We know and acknowledge that autistic students face barriers to their education and more must be done to ensure true inclusion in our education system. The Department of Education has created an Autism Education Strategy which forms part of the plan for Disability Inclusion in schools which is currently being rolled out across Victoria. The plan is based around three main goals.
• Focussing on what a child can achieve, rather than what they can’t.
• Providing more opportunities and supports for students to promote their own strengths, interests and learning needs.
• Providing more targeted funding and resources to schools so they can better plan and adjust for the learning needs of all students.
More information about the Autism Education Strategy can be found through this infographic or through this plain language document.
We will be exploring ways to learn more about Autism within the classroom throughout the month and if you are interested in learning more about Autism yourself, you can check out Amaze.org who do wonderful work in this space, or the ICAN network who run mentorship programs with young autistic people in schools and workplaces led by the inimitable Chris Varney.
School Review Update
A big thank you to the staff, students, parents and carers who gave their time on Tuesday to our fieldwork review day. The review panel was again impressed with the passion and engagement of our school community. The final review day will take place next Monday 4th of April. On this day the panel will devise draft goals and key actions for the school strategic plan over the next four years. I will update the community about these goals as soon as I am able.
Easter Egg Guess
Imagine winning all these eggs! Can you guess the magic number?
Enter our fundraising competition to guess how many eggs are in the jar. The comp opens tomorrow at recess (Friday 24th) and ends at assembly on Friday April 1st. $1 per guess. The jars will be on display at the office and SRC representatives will let you know how to enter at tomorrow’s assembly. The first correct guess will win the jar, with a runner-up prize for any matching guesses. One jar for Foundation to Year 2 and one jar for Years 3 to 6. Money raised goes to our school. Good luck!
Keith McNeill & Jane Bilby