Spring Gully Primary School - Be Awesome

Assistant Principal's Report

Welcome back to the 2023 school year! I look forward to working with all students and their families through the year ahead. 

Cyber Topic of the Week: A Modern Parent’s Guide to Kids’ Learning

If you're a parent of a primary school aged student, you might feel that the landscape is shifting under your feet. So much is changing in modern schools.  The link below provides access to a comprehensive guide that will help you find the best teacher-approved apps, games, and websites to support your child in each grade and the best advice to help you understand current trends in schools and how they affect your child. (Please note, there is quality information in this guide but it is from an American source.)

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/guide/essential-school-tools

 

School Photos

School Photo Day will be held on Wednesday 1st March. Further information, including how to order, will be circulated when we receive it from the photo company. 

 

Whole School Performance

Classes are currently working on a series of mini-performances which will be shared with the community next Friday 17th March at 9am in the Hub. This time has been chosen to negate a potential hot day. The performance is part of our Start-Up program and will run for approximately 40 mins. Parents are most welcome to attend. Check out the invitation on the Engagement and Wellbeing page. 

 

Medical Information       

I included information in the newsfeed last week relating to medical conditions and medications. If your child suffers from asthma, an allergy, anaphylaxis or any other health condition please ensure you have an Action Plan in place at school. Wendy will be able to assist you with this. 

 

Compass  - What can parents do on Compass?

  • Receive Newsfeeds: these are regularly used to communicate important information with families and as a means to circulate the school/class newsletter. 
  • Community Calendar: as events and important dates are set throughout the year they will be added to the Community Calendar. 
  • Attendance: view real time and historical attendance data & provide information about absences and late arrivals. 
  • Events: electronically provide permission and payment for excursions, sports days, incursions and camps. 
  • Achievements and Awards: receive notification from your child’s teacher about an achievement your child has been recognised for or an award they will be receiving on assembly. 
  • Learning Tasks: families will receive six classroom based Learning Tasks each semester and one Learning Task from each Specialist teacher throughout the year. These underpin our ‘progressive’ approach to formal reporting, providing families with information about their child’s progress regularly. 
  • Student Reports: issued at the end of each semester and are aimed at capturing your child’s overall progress at each point in time. Student reports are released to parents electronically via Compass in June and December. 
  • Parent/Teacher Conferences: book a meeting time with your child’s teacher in Term 1 and 3. 
  • Contacting staff: parents can email staff through Compass. 
  • Sick Bay: if your child is attended to in sickbay, an entry is made which triggers an alert to families. In more serious cases, parents/guardians are immediately contacted via phone call. 
  • Canteen: order a Thursday lunch order quickly and conveniently.  
  • Payments: pay for your child's book pack, netbook and other school related fees and levies at the beginning of the year.  

If you can not access Compass or have any difficulties, please contact myself or the office.

 

Katie Moss, Simone Fraser & Courtney Ireland - SGPS Allied Health Team

Our school is proud to have some awesome allied health professionals on our staff again in 2023. 

 

Katie Moss is an experienced Social Worker who is available to provide mental health and emotional support to students and families. Katie has expertise and experience in supporting families who may be struggling with issues relating to anxiety, poor mental health, trauma and navigating the NDIS, (to name a few). Katie's work days are Monday to Wednesday. 

 

Simone Fraser is a Speech Pathologist who works at our school on Tuesday each week. Simone's expertise in speech and language development enable her to provide valuable advice to teachers and families so that they can best support students to develop their oral language and broader literacy skills.  

 

Courtney Ireland is a Occupational Therapist who works fortnightly on a Thursday at our school. Courtney joined our staff in the second half of last year and was immediately in high demand. We are very pleased to have Courtney on board again this year to support students who may be having difficulties with everyday tasks.  

 

In addition to Katie, Simone and Courtney's roles, we also have an ongoing professional relationship with Kate Elizabeth, Play Therapist & Social Worker and Tara Byron, Psychologist. Kate works runs her practice from our school fortnightly and Tara completes assessments periodically at our request and when available.

 

We feel very fortunate to have such a strong multidisciplinary team in place in 2023 to work alongside our staff and with our students and their families.    

 

Learning Tasks – Term 1

Families will receive the following Learning Tasks in Term 1:

* Learning Task 1 – Mathematics.                               Friday 3rd March

* Learning Task 2 –Reading:                                         Friday 17th March

* Learning Task 3 – Writing:                                         Friday 31st March

* Specialist Learning Task:                                            Thursday 6th April

^^ Specialist teachers will provide a Learning Task to one teaching department per term.                

 

Prep families will receive one Literacy and one Mathematics Learning Task on dates which the team will communicate with Prep families. 

 

Head Lice

All schools have issues with head lice from time to time. Anyone can get head lice. People get head lice from direct hair-to-hair contact with another person who has head lice.

For more information from Victoria Health about the treatment and control of head lice, please follow this link: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/head-lice-nits 

The information on this website includes finding head lice, treating head lice, the life cycle of head lice, regulations and prevention. I encourage all parents to read this information, and to regularly check your child’s head.

 

SGPS Canteen

Families can place a lunch order each week via Compass. Our school has teamed up with local catering company, Fresh Five, to provide this service to our school community each Thursday. 

* Orders open at 3pm each Thursday 

* Orders close at 9am each Tuesday

* Lunch orders are delivered to students at 10:35am each Thursday.