After an extremely positive start to 2021, the year has decided to throw us a curveball, with everyone once again placed into lockdown. We are so proud of our staff, students and parents, who took this news in their stride and ‘pivoted’ back to home learning and ‘pivoted’ back, once again, to school.

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, has been quoted as saying “Change is the only constant in life", and I think 2020-21 has proven this to be true!

Despite the challenges of the last week, Scoresby Primary School is moving full steam ahead with our agenda for the year.

Teaching Partners (DSSI)

Last week we welcomed Stephanie Koble and Tim Mulhall as our Teaching Partners for 2021. Teaching Partners are high-performing Leading Teachers who work in pairs across four schools to build teaching capability, with a focus on literacy. The initiative is of one-year duration.

Steph and Tim will be at SPS every second Wednesday and Thursday for the rest of the year; please make them feel welcome if you come across them in the school and in classrooms.

School Council Elections

We need five (5) Parent Councillors this year!

If you are interested and would like to find out more about being on School Council, please give me a call or drop into the office for a chat.

Listed below is the schedule for our School Council election process. Nomination forms can be collected at the office from this Friday.

Please note that nomination forms need to be returned to the office by Friday 26th February, 4:00pm.

There are five parent positions and two DET teacher positions to be filled at this election.

School Council Election Timeline:

Friday 19th February............Call for nominations
Friday 26th February............Nominations close
Tuesday 2nd March..............Distribution of ballot papers if an election is required
Tuesday 9th March...............4:00pm Close of ballot
Wednesday 10th March......Votes counted and declaration of poll
Wednesday 24th March......School Council AGM

Information regarding School Council will be posted to all families tomorrow.

Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP)

After a rough start to the program with accessing the online lessons, our 11 VHAP students have begun their additional learning in Maths and English. All children have been challenged in their thinking.

Our English students were asked ‘What would our world look like without the written word?’, which led to a fascinating discussion about how much the written word is part of our daily lives.

Our Maths students focused on understanding the laws of divisibility - developing rules and testing hypotheses.

It was wonderful to see SPS students showing initiative and taking the challenges set by the program to develop their knowledge.

Parent Helper Sessions

Our 2021 Classroom Helpers sessions for parents who would like to assist in the classrooms were held last week. The sessions focussed on what it means to be a classroom helper, the types of activities that are part of our literacy and numeracy program, the procedures involved in assisting, as well as relevant questions and prompts to support students and encourage them to extend their skills and strategies.

If you were unable to attend these sessions but would like to find out more about how you can help in the classroom, please see either Sue and Nic and we will run you through the sessions.

School Tours and 2022 Prep Enrolment

School tours for Prep 2022 will commence in the next few weeks. Please check Compass for more details as well as the school website for enrolment details.

WebEx Information Sessions

Thanks to all the parents who attended our Year Level Information Sessions via Webex last week. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact your child’s class teacher.

Our first Parent-Teacher Interviews for the year will be held later in Term 1 and teachers will be offering both face-to-face and online interview times. More details will come out through Compass.

Reminders

Breakfast Club will begin again (hopefully) on Wednesday 24th February at 8:15am
We have a No Dogs On School Premises policy. This does not include assistance or therapy dogs. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

SUE HARTLEY AND NICOLE RHEUMER

Scoresby Primary School Leaders

Happy Birthday To You!

Best wishes to these students who are celebrating their birthday: