Belmore School Review

The final day of our school review took place on Wednesday when the review panel reassembled to analyse all the information and data collected from the school's pre-review self-evaluation, classroom observations and stakeholder focus group sessions as a means to formulate the strategic focus which will guide our school's direction over the next four years. While we acknowledged and celebrated the achievements we had made over the previous four years, the focus of our discussion was to identify and prioritise the goals and key improvement strategies which will support the development of our new Strategic Plan. It was an incredible day with collective agreement on the priorities we need to focus on to ensure our school continues to provide an outstanding learning environment for our very special students.

While I take this opportunity to thank our entire school community - staff, students and parents, for your extremely positive contribution to this process, I would especially like to thank our review panel for committing their time and expertise to collectively review where we are as a school in order to develop our strategic direction to implement for a successful future.

Carolyn Woodhouse - School Reviewer from Monash University
Irene Harding - Senior Education and Improvement Leader
Karen Overall - Principal
Jane Fincham - Assistant Principal of Glenroy Specialist School
Helen Tainsh - Speech Pathology Consultant
Brenton Carey - School Council President
Rose Ngai - Leading Teacher
Anet Elbaz - Engagement and Wellbeing Leader
Julie Nicholson - Business Manager
Kelly LaCombre - Classroom Teacher
Stephanie Cumming - Physiotherapist

Following approval of the Strategic Plan by the Department and Belmore School Council I will publish our new strategic goals and key improvement strategies in the newsletter and on the school website.

End of Year Organisation

While teaching and learning at Belmore School is always high on our priorities we are also currently organising to wind up the 2019 school year and prepare for the commencement of 2020.

As you will see in the dates to remember we have a range of important events occurring over the next few weeks.

Next Thursday 27th November we are holding our Secondary Learning Centre Graduation for our 2019 graduating students – Blake, Maddie, Sachin and Shayla. I would like to acknowledge our wonderful staff who are working tirelessly to ensure this celebration is a very special occasion for these students and their families.

Our volunteers’ morning tea will be held on Thursday 5th December which is International Volunteers Day. We are fortunate to have a number of loyal and committed volunteers who dedicate their time each week to come along and support our students and staff. Our morning tea is a small way we like to demonstrate our appreciation for the dedication and passion these special people bring to our school.

Our Primary Learning Centre Graduation, where we will celebrate the achievements of Ruby and Livian will be held on Friday 6th December.

On Wednesday 11 December our whole school will enjoy an end of year breakup with a trip to Wombat Bend in Templestowe.

Our Belmore School Presentation Assembly is a highlight of our school calendar to be held this year on Friday 13th December. All parents are invited and encouraged to come along to help us acknowledge and celebrate our student’s achievements throughout the year.

In conjunction with the organisation of these events our teachers and therapists are currently finalising their assessments and writing student end of year reports. These reports will be sent home with students on Monday 16th December. Formal SSG meetings will not be held at the end of the year but you are most welcome to contact your child’s class teacher if you would like additional information or clarification upon receipt of the report.

Curriculum Day

Just a reminder that next Wednesday 27th November is a curriculum day with all staff participating in professional learning. We appreciate parents and carers keeping your children home on this day to enable all school staff the time to focus on the development of their skills and expertise.

Christmas Raffle

Thank you to all our wonderful families who are donating an amazing variety of goods for our Christmas Raffle. We hope to develop a number of beautiful hampers which will be a lovely prize to win at the festive time of the year. Please send your donations in to school by Monday 2nd December and all sold raffle tickets by Friday 6th December. The raffle will be drawn at our Presentation Assembly on Friday 13th December.

Belmore School Newsletter

Issue 13 · 22 Nov 2019

In this issue