Principal's Report

Principal - Brea Terris 

Assistant Principal -Anthea Mathers 

Dear Families,

Well this time last week as we started our Curriculum Day we weren't expecting to be back at Remote and Flexible Learning so quickly. 

The announcements made by Dan Andrews last Sunday moved us back into this space as of yesterday. The staff worked tirelessly on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for the term. We learnt a lot from our Term Two  experiences and have put these things into practice this term. 

It was hard to say goodbye to our students on Monday afternoon, knowing that it may be six weeks before we see them in the school again. The staff are all very confident that  even through these hard times we will achieve great things. 

I would like to thank all the families for their support in moving back into Remote and Flexible learning. This time we had systems set up and were able to distribute resources to students on Monday before they were dismissed. We know how challenging this time can be for families, we encourage you to reach out to a staff member if we can support you in anyway. 

If you require a hard copy pack this time around please contact your child's teacher or the office to organise one.  These will only be available if you have requested one from 11am-1pm on Fridays. We hope that knowing numbers of families who require them will support us in preparing them. 

Mrs Logie will be joining the 3/4 team for some of this term. Mrs Mahney is taking some leave due to health reasons. We wish Mrs Mahney a speedy recovery. 

Assembly

Next week we will upload our assembly to Google Classrooms and Dojo. 

Attendance during Remote Learning 

In alignment with DET policy student attendance will continue to be documented during remote learning. All students will be expected to confirm daily attendance via joining a daily Webex check in, notifying their teacher through a Dojo message or messaging on Google Classrooms. 

If students are unwell, we ask that parents/carers notify staff of this so it can be added to our daily attendance. If we haven’t been notified by 9:30am, it will be marked as unexplained absence. If you have more than one child and only one device, students can be marked present by attending the eldest sibling’s morning roll call Webex. 

Onsite Attendance 

We understand that some families may require access to Onsite attendance for children. There are a clear set of guidelines from the Department of Education and Training around this. 

If you require Onsite attendance at school we ask that you contact the office and speak to myself or Anthea. If you are eligible an Onsite Attendance form needs to be submitted to Brea.Terris@education.vic.gov.au

This form needs to be submitted by 3pm on a Thursday afternoon for the following week. This  allows us to plan for staff supervision. Most of our staff are working remotely. 

ESS Building Update

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has impacted the Echuca Specialist School move to the new school. Most of the new furniture is still overseas and the final sign off hasn't been completed. 

At this stage it is looking like the move will happen in Term 4. It has been lovely seeing the students and staff begin to transition over to the site this week. These transition sessions will continue to happen for the remainder of the term.  

We are very much looking forward to having the ESS on-site. 

Curriculum Day

Last Friday we held our Curriculum Day on Literacy and the School Review. We had a fabulous day and enjoyed working through some new resources to support our reading model. The afternoon session supported the School Review. We hope to still complete the review this term, but will wait for further notice due to COVID-19. 

Foundation 2021 Enrolments

All enrolment documents are available to download from our website. You may also contact the school and we can send the information to you via email or the post. 

If you know of any families who are interested in enrolling, please ask them to contact the school. Thank you to our families who are getting the good word out in the community about our school, word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising and consequently, we are fielding an increased number of inquiries about our school.

Unfortunately, until the Health Advice changes, we are unable to do school tours. 

School Wide Positive Behaviour 

Next week's value is: Respect 

Next week's behaviour focus is: I will follow staff and parent instructions.

SWPB Update: 

We have recently completed our SWPB TFI across the school. We scored 77% overall and are now eligible to move to the next level of SWPB training. We needed a minimum of 70% to progress which is a pleasing outcome. Out of this exercise, we found 100% of all students and staff who were randomly chosen were able to recite all our school values. Additionally, all students who were interviewed had received Wally Stickers for demonstrating positive behaviours since the beginning of that week. This was an area that our staff have been focusing on working towards a ratio of 6 positives to 1 correction. 

Our students are working hard to establish a safe, inclusive and engaging school culture by demonstrating positive behaviours. Furthermore, our staff are doing a great job of acknowledging our students for this.   

Lunch Orders 

Lunch orders will stop again for the remainder of this term. 

Wishing everyone an enjoyable and safe  weekend. 

Brea and Anthea