In my travels around the school this week I had the pleasure of observing a range of lessons and sessions throughout the school. When in 1B I saw that the students were spending time with Mrs Lord learning about doubling and addition.

Teaching doubling is an important building block in mathematics for students in the early years of school. Children who are good at maths have committed a lot of what they know, including number facts, to their long term memory. This happens via increased opportunities to practice and apply these skills either by memorisation on repetition.

So, the more number facts a child has committed to long-term memory, the more they free up their working memory to perform more complex mathematics. If your child can recall the doubles of numbers below ten, they are more likely to learn the following:

Near doubles: if you know that 6 + 6 = 12, you can more confidently work out that 6 + 7 = 13.
Adjusted doubles: to work out 6 + 8, change it to 7 + 7 and use your doubles. Doubles, near doubles and adjusted doubles account for the majority of addition facts to 20.
Double 10, 20, 30 etc. and 100, 200, 300 etc. This is exciting as the love using bigger numbers ( when they are ready)
2x table: same as your doubles!
Partitioning: if they know their doubles confidently off-by-heart, they can double any number by partitioning. Double 24? Well, double 20, double 4, then put it back together.

In this Principal's Message you can read about:

Teacher Professional Learning
Curriculum Days and Public Holidays
Hair Up Reminder and Gastro
Attendance
NAPLAN
Fundraising
Multiplication Madness Challenge Update
Secondary School Open Days

1. Staff Professional Learning

Apart from our extensive school based professional learning program our staff is often participating in professional learning outside of school.

To carry on with the maths theme from above I thought I would share the following:

Ms Zara: is completing the Victorian Academy of Teaching Excellence Program to advance her professional knowledge of teaching and learning with a focus on mathematics. Zara is also our Numeracy Leader this year.

Added to this Mr Steven is in the final stages of completing his Masters in Inclusion. I look forward to celebrating this as he has worked extremely hard the bast 2 years to complete this to a high standard.

All of our Team Leaders are participating in the PLC Initiative training.

A small team went to visit Moriac PS to begin our exploration into the Sounds Write program that focusses on Phonics to support reading and spelling.

2. Curriculum Days and Public Holidays

A reminder that MONDAY 13th of March is the Labour Day Public Holiday School will be closed.

Curriculum Day dates :

24th April and 10th of July 2023

3. Hair Up rule and Gastro concerns

A reminder that we are expecting all students with shoulder length hair or longer to have their hair tied daily to assist in the prevention of headlice spreading. It is importnat that all families comply. Teachers will be sensible about how to approach this and remind students and parents discreetly and through the diary or email. We ask that parents and carers are proactive in supporting this necessary measure.

Gastro symptoms have been prevelant this week. We are doing our best to curtail spread at school by increasing ventilation recommending regular hand washing and seeking extra support from our cleaners to do some extra cleans in some hotspots. Please monitor your children over the next few days and if there are any symptoms please err on the side of caution to maximise their health and the health of others.

Interestingly enough we had a breakout at the same time last year and from reports across the system Gastro hs been a significant issue across many Victorian Schools this week.

4. Attendance

Thank you to all families for their efforts in maximising attendance for their children. We have shown some improvement compared to last term but still need to be mindful of maximising attendance where possible e.g although it must have been an amazing experience, the post Ed Sheerin absenteeism was significant.

You may have received an email to assist us in tidying up unexplained absences this year. Thank you for supporting the reduction in unexplained absences, it is important.

205 students still have 100% attendance.

4B and Mercury lead the way for March so far.

Please ensure you read the ADMIN Section for instructions about how to upload an absence on Compass

5. NAPLAN

NAPLAN for our year 3 and 5 students is just around the corner. NAPLAN is an important tool for our school to understand the strengths and areas to improve for our school. It also enables us to delve deeply into the learning strengths and gaps of individual students when we receive the data after the VCAA processes the testing.

We have been supporting the students with connecting to the test conditions over the past few weeks as it can be a daunting exercise to go in without some idea of how it works.

Rachael Curtain and the year 3 and 5 teams have been organising many things behind the scenes, including the technology required for the test period.

The message to the students is that NAPLAN is one way to help us as a school to discover their strengths and areas for improvement that will be cross checked with the information the teacher gathers from their work and other assessments we use at the school. Please reach out if you need any support around NAPLAN

6. Fundraising

Hopefully you have seen the Compass posts about an upcoming raffle and Hot Cross Bun drive. Here is a summary from the Fundraising Team

We are currently seeking donations for Easter Hampers from families. Raffle tickets will go on sale towards the end of March.

Hampers will be drawn on Wednesday the 5th of April. Tickets will be available through School24.

Hot Cross Bun orders went on sale on Thursday the 9th of March.

Hot Cross Buns will be available for collection on Wednesday the 5th of April between 2pm and 4pm.

Please see Compass for more details.

7. Multiplication Madness Tables Challenge Year 3 - 6

Thank you to our year 3 -6 students for participating in the Multiplication Madness Challenge. With the Help of Callum Yates and Max Devlin I am collating the data to get back to the students before the 24th March round two.

The students are practicing at school but are encouraged to continue to practice at home as well.

I am looking forward to seeing improvement across the board.

Students can prepare in a variety of ways:

Using Mathletics or Essential Assessment
Use an old school approach and learn by rote (writing out your tables 1- 10 times tables up to 10 to reflect the decimal system. (We don't do 12s anymore that relates to feet and inches etc)
Practice Speed Grids (there are many online)
Use flash cards.

It is important to remember that if you know ONE fact you get 3 for FREE e.g

If you know 6x2 = 12

Freebie 2x6 = 12

Freebie 12/6=2

Freebie 12/2=6

Thank you for taking the time to read the newsletter and enjoy the weekend. a special mention to Skye Quirk, Zac Walter and Arlo Ryan and Archie Uytendaal who were spotted in the community helping others on the way home from school. We have a very kind and positive student body at our school - if there are an moments you'd like to share please send them through.

Remember to reach out if you need! barwon.heads.ps@education.vic.gov.au

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