From the School Leadership Team,
From Mr. Chant.
Principal.
Next week we welcome Mr. John Painter, Vice principal at Beaumaris PS who will join our leadership team for a four week internship in an Aspirant Principal program supported by the professional learning team at the Department of Education. John is an experienced school leader and we look forward to having him work at our school.
School Council election results.
Thank you to all the candidates who put up their hands to become/remain as a member of the School Council. Our School Council supports the direction of the school, provides advice and counsel to the Principal and ensures our continued improvement agenda is funded, facilitated and managed in line with legislation and compliance guidelines.
The successful candidates were;
- Maud Rocher Vagedes
- Craig Jacobs
- Charlie Porter
- Anne-Sophie Aguado
Thank you to all those who voted and thank you to the outgoing School Council members for their support, tireless work and leadership of the school over their time as Council members.
This week I was a member of a Principal selection panel at the regional office in Dandenong. This important work allowed me to reflect on my role, see what other school leaders are doing in their schools and support an important decision for a local school community.
Next Monday, 14th March is Labour day, a public holiday.
The last day of term 1 is Friday, 8th April. School finishes at 2.30pm, 1 hour earlier. Please make arrangements to collect your children early or contact TeamKids for after school care.
The first day of term 2 is Tuesday, 26th April as the day previous is ANZAC day (25th) and is a public holiday.
Next Tuesday the 15th of March we will be hosting the Division 1 Volleystars Interschool Competition. We will welcome schools from around the Caulfield District to compete as part of the Year 5/6 Lightening Premiership.
Next week I will be attending a French education professional learning forum in Canberrra, meeting the French Education Director, Consul and the French Ambassador. Later in the week our French program is being reviewed by Bruno Seweryn, the French Inspector. Madame Pommier and Mr. Borg will also attend this important series of learning opportunities and official engagements.
Miss Mindy Somers will be acting as the Principal during my time in Canberra.
Year 6 jackets have arrived and they look fabulous.
Chris Chant
From Mr. Borg.
Assistant Principal.
Teaching and Learning
Evidence-based literacy research stresses the importance of explicit and sequential literacy teaching from the beginning. Therefore, our intervention team is currently trialling the use of decodable books to teach our youngest learners and those that require some additional support on how to read. The team of five teachers recently attended a professional development session that focused on synthetic phonics through the Little Learners Love Literacy organisation. There have been some promising results from other states regarding student achievement that have approached the teaching of phonemic awareness and phonics for spelling and reading through this approach.
National and international assessments indicate that about one quarter of Australian students achieve literacy results at or below the minimum standards. This is a real concern for confidence and further learning and why we are dedicated to giving children the best possible chance of developing into fluent readers, writers and spellers.
We will keep you updated with our trial toward the end of the first semester.
Broden Borg