Principal's Report
Welcome to Term 3!
I hope everyone had a good break and found time to enjoy with family and friends.
I would like to start this report by welcoming our new students. We have had 31 new enrolments this term from Prep right through to Grade 6. I am sure our new students and their families will become an important part of the DPS family.
For the first five weeks of this term we have three teachers on Long Service Leave. Julia Bay (3B) is on leave and being replaced by Marissa Curtolo, Andrew Johnson (6J) is being replace by Laura Kroussoratis and Martin Spinks (PE) is replaced by Gareth Dutlow.
NAIDOC Week was during the holidays. We celebrated and had some special activites and events in the last week of Term 2 to acknowledge National NAIDOC Week.
Teachers ran a special curriculum around our Indigenous community and they incorporated NAIDOC themes throughout the week. The Victorian Curriculum has embedded Indigenous learning throughout the year, beyond NAIDOC week. On August 18th this year we have a curriculum day. On that day all staff are participating in profesional learning regarding cultural understandings of our Indigenous communities in Australia.
Throughout NAIDOC week celebrqations were held across Australia to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.
BELL TIMES
9am School commences
9am - 11am Teaching and Learning time
11am Recess (Snack is eaten indoors)
11.30am - 1.30pm Teaching and Learning time
1.30 - 2.15pm Lunch (eaten indoors)
2.15pm - 3.15pm Teaching and Learning time
3.15pm Dismissal
We ask that students don't arrive at school before 8.45am. Some students are still entering the yard well before 8:30am and we urge you to monitor this as these students are unsupervised and our duty of care to families has not commenced. Our playground is open from 8:30am each day.
We have Before School Care (and After School Care) provided by Village OSHC (Out of School Hours Care). To register please call Village OSHC 1300366437 or email support@villageoshc.com.au
ATTENDANCE
Since the start of this year we have noticed an increase in students absence rates. We are now making this a focus as we attempt to increase attendance. When away children miss their education but they also miss routines and being part of the social fabric and development others benefit from regular attendance.
So please do all you can to make sure your child/ren attends school regularly and don't have days off unless they are genuinely sick. Obviously children do get sick, and we don't want students at school if they're unwell. We all know that sometimes children put it on and pretend to be sick at times. This occurs in all schools everywhere for various reasons. I assure you if a student presents unwell at school we will call immediately.
We are looking forward to another successful term here at DPS. Remember DPS is YOUR school and we invite you to be as involved as you wish. Please don't hesitate to call me if you have questions or concerns as we are here to do the best we can to support you and your child in their education. Together we are better!
REVIEW
Every four years schools go through a full review. The school review aims to create a self-sustaining cycle of continuous improvement, where all schools are supported by the system on a needs basis, to strengthen improved student outcomes.
During the last term we have completed a pre review self assessment. This included analysing student achievement data as well as student, staff and parent opinion survey data as we developed an understanding of the strengths and challenges at DPS. At the end of term the review panel met with our "Reviewer" who is a person elected by the department of education to come and oversee our review process. Trudy Thomson is an experienced reviewer, an ex Principal in a number of schools in Victoria and overseas.
In the next four weeks we will have a series of review days. On these days we will have a panel of experts at our school. The panel includes our Reviewer (Trudy Thomson), our Senior Education Instructional Leader (Carolyn Elliot), two Principals (Kim Shipley - Deepdene PS and Lesley Foster - Heatherwood School), our School Council President (Kelvin Wong) and our leadership team (Carly Epskamp, Niky Corfios, Brent Granger, Kelly Soccio and myself. Over the course of the review students will be interviewed, classrooms observed and a thorough investigation of our student achievement data and school policies.
Following the review we will then work on developing a new Strategic Plan. This is a four year plan that will guide our school for the next four years. It will include a range of goals and targets to work towards. When it is time for our next review, we will reflect on the goals and targets set and see which ones were met or not and what enabelled us to achieve these goals or what barriers prevented them from being achieved.
It is a complex and thorough investigation into all things DPS.
Significant Review Dates are as follows:
Thursday July 13 - Final review (preparation) team meeting
Monday July 17 - Review validation day
Monday July 24 - Review field day
Wednesday August 2 - Final review day
I would like to thank all of our staff and students who have participated in the pre review process. We have completed a range of surveys, discussion and collected various forms of evidence to inform the review panel. I am confident that our review will go well, we are very well prepared and proud of our achievements at DPS.
Regards
Jim Hill
Principal