Principal's Report
Welcome
Beginning of School Year Mass and Alumni Visit
It was wonderful to see so many parents and grandparents attend our Beginning of School Year Mass. We also welcomed our former students (Alumni) who attended the school between 1936 - 1980.
Those who attended the mass may remember Mary Lane, who celebrated her 90th birthday on the day, and was part of the first intake of the school when it opened in 1936! Mary mentioned many wonderful school memories, including how different the school looked back then. For example, did you know the church started off in the current 1/2 space before the current church was built?
Thanks to some of our Year 6 school leaders, who kindly took the former students on a mini-tour of the school. Some of the former students even shared some old photos and school memorabilia, including an old school report, which was of great interest to our year 6 students.
Flood Damage
Unfortunately, the recent storms and heavy rainfall have caused water damage throughout the school to some of our learning spaces and corridors with carpets, electrical works, painting and plaster to be repaired and replaced. We are working with our insurance company to repair the damage in the next few weeks. The worst affected area was the Year 1/2E learning space which has now been sectioned off and this homegroup been relocated to the LRC area for the remainder of the term whilst we await repairs to take place. We thank the teachers for assisting with the transition and the children for being so adaptable.
Year 5/6 Camp
The Year 5/6 children enjoyed themselves on their recent leadership camp at Camp Wyuna, Queenscliff. It is a lovely place to visit and provided the children with opportunities to develop their leadership skills as well as getting to know each other in their year levels.
Thanks to Annie McNaughton for organising the camp, our Year 5/6 teachers, Aidan Baynes and our parent volunteers - Flora Antonelli and Dom Fedele - for their support and giving up their own time to give the children such a wonderful experience.
School Education Board Meeting
It was wonderful to see so many new faces at our recent SEB meeting held on Tuesday 12th February.
This year, the SEB will focus of working with our parent community to develop whole school improvement using our recently created School Improvement Plan. The SIP is created by using feedback from last year’s NSIT school review and Insight SRC survey data received from students, staff and parents. This SIP will be the blueprint for the next three years. Each year we create an Annual Action Plan which will have short term goals to meet benchmarks across the five spheres:
Learning and Teaching
Education in Faith
Student Wellbeing
Leadership and Management
School Community
The focus of the SEB this year will be on developing and improving the results of the School Community sphere.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 5th March at 7pm. All welcome to attend.
Parent Feedback
Throughout this year we will be asking parents to complete a quick two-question ‘pulse check’ online survey to gain your feedback on certain aspects of the school and to address any issues or concerns you may have. It is aimed at increasing parent engagement, complementing the school’s recently developed ‘school-community partnerships’ improvement plan.
Objective
To include a survey in each issue of the school newsletter, starting from today, with the survey results published in the following school newsletter.
To achieve a survey participation rate of at least 70% of our parent community.
Background
Each year, St Raphael’s conducts an Insight SRC Parent Survey to gain insights and feedback from parents of children from Foundation through to Year 6. Of the range of topics included in the survey, St Raphael’s has typically received low scores in the ‘parent engagement’ topic.
Last year, St Raphael’s undertook the National School Improvement Tool to pinpoint where the school is on its improvement journey. It was conducted by external reviewers to provide an independent perspective on areas for whole school improvement.
The NSIT is comprised of nine key areas, which have since formed the basis of the school’s improvement plan. One of these key areas is ‘school-community partnerships’, recognising that student learning and wellbeing is enhanced by partnering with parents and families.
Benefits of parent engagement
Parent engagement recognises that both parents and teachers play an important role in children’s learning, development and wellbeing and that children generally do better when there are positive connections between the different spaces they learn in.
Schools benefit significantly through the effect of successful parent engagement on student learning outcomes. Benefits include improved connections with the community, improved school image within the community, and improved family and community satisfaction with the school.
Well-targeted and widespread parent and community participation can contribute to school improvement in a number of ways, including:
• Sending clear signals to students about the value of education
• Ensuring school decisions are broadly representative of the school community
• Ensuring school activities and actions are respectful and representative of local cultures
• Building mutual commitment by families to take action in the home that supports learning at school
• Enabling teachers and school leaders to access expertise and perspectives that support curriculum.
For more information please visit the Australian Government Education Department website: https://www.education.gov.au/parent-engagement-learning-0
Strategy
To incorporate an element of two-way communication in the school newsletter through the use of a survey. Surveys are effective in gathering real-time feedback and achieving mass, yet relevant, reach.
The survey would focus on a different topic in each newsletter. It is important that the question being asked is straightforward, easy to understand and takes just a few seconds to complete. It is aimed at providing the school with a pulse-check of parent sentiment regarding the specific topic being polled.
The survey results would be published in the following newsletter, which provides the school with an opportunity to follow up the poll with some research/information/ tips as it relates to the topic, to engage parents in the topic.
Survey #1: Connectedness to School
This week’s ‘pulse check’ focus is on the children’s Connectedness to School.
Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S7HR7V2
Survey QR Code:
Please complete this survey by Monday 4th March.
Cyber Safety Parent Information Night
No one cares more about your child's well-being and success than you do. In today's digital age, that means guiding them not just in the real world but in the virtual world as well. Teach your children to use technology in a healthy way and pick up the skills and habits that will make them successful digital citizens. From 2-year-olds who seem to understand the iPad better than you to teenagers who need some (but not too much) freedom, we’ll walk you through how to make technology work for your family at each stage of the journey.
On Wednesday 6th March from 6:30pm - 7:30pm in our school hall we have secured a guest speaker from the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, who will present a selection of advice based on formal research and our extensive work with schools, children and their parents.
The school has organised this event to support all parents across all year levels in our school to play an active role in their child’s digital world. This session includes detailed information on risks and opportunities afforded by technology for young people, with practical tips on how to stay safe.
Outcomes:
You will appreciate the risks and opportunities afforded by technology for young people
You will explore the latest research in screen/ online behaviours
You will learn how to emphasise the importance of open communication and connectedness in keeping young people safe, off and online
For more information please visit: https://connect.amf.org.au/detailed-workshop-descriptions/parenting-in-the-digital-world-adults/
We ask that a parent representative from each family attends this important session, regardless of the age of your child.
Please secure your ticket for this free parent information session by registering at:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parenting-in-a-digital-world-tickets-56836686058
A hard copy of the ICT Acceptable Use Policy has been sent home for all children and parents to sign and returned to school ASAP. We encourage you to take the time to sit and talk to your child about the issues discussed in this agreement to ensure they are safe and understand the consequences of inappropriate use of digital technology. We do enforce these rules throughout our school and see it as a great opportunity for family discussions and to set your own rules and parameters around technology use in the home.
This signed agreement will allow your child to use digital technology whilst at school. Failure to sign and return this agreement will exclude your child from using digital technology whilst at school.
A copy of the ICT Acceptable Use Policy can be downloaded here:
Please note that this Parenting in a Digital Age information session is suitable for parents and carers only and is not suitable for children to attend. The children participate in regular, appropriate discussions about this topic in their wellbeing lessons throughout the course of the year.
Staff Profile
This year we will be profiling a different staff member in each newsletter. This week we would like to profile one of our new staff members, Ms Linda Pham.
School Communication
Over the last few years, we have various protocols and platforms for communication and gaining feedback between school and home. Some of these avenues include Skoolbag, SurveyMonkey, Seesaw, Caremonkey, school website, email and online newsletters.
At times this can be quite confusing for parents so this year we will be streamlining our communication into the following categories:
Seesaw: Seesaw will be used to communicate all educational aspects of your child’s learning. This will include your child’s year level Term One Overview including the fortnightly Learning Intentions, information and timetables as well as the expectations for reading and maths home tasks. This can be found in the Inbox > Family Announcements section of Seesaw.
You will also receive a fortnightly personalised post of your child’s learning and include personalised feedback from your child’s teacher. It is anticipated that all parents will view your child’s work and then post your feedback to support and encourage your child’s learning.
Skoolbag: Skoolbag will only be used to transmit information about notifications, upcoming events and reminders to parents.
Caremonkey: Caremonkey will be used to store contact details, medical information and as a portal for all online permission notices.
Online Newsletter: Fortnightly online newsletter sent out every second Tuesday throughout the year. The newsletter features a Principal’s Report, RE News, Learning and Teaching Information, Student Wellbeing News, Parent News, Uniform Shop News, Community News and Upcoming Event Details.
School Website: The school website will be updated more regularly and is a portal for all school policies, upcoming events, enrolment information and school contact details.
Email: Email communication between teachers and parents must follow the St Raphael’s Parent Protocols Policy. Please take the time to read these expectations and guidelines for our parent community.
We would like to remind all parents to use emails to inform the teacher of any issues or information that you feel they should be aware of. If the matter is of a serious nature then please use the email to arrange a time to meet face-to-face with your child’s teacher. Email should not be used as a forum to resolve your concerns. Teachers have been instructed to respond to these emails with a simple request to meet face-to-face with you to discuss and resolve your concerns.
Please remember that teachers days are very busy teaching your children and after school hours are spent preparing and planning for the next day.
Having to read and then respond to lengthy emails is time-consuming and can distract them for their most important job - teaching, planning and preparing lessons for the benefit of your children.
SurveyMonkey: Use of surveys for parent feedback and opinions.
Upcoming Dates
Sacrament Commitment Mass & School Community Gathering
Please join us this Sunday 24th February for our whole school Sacrament Commitment Mass at 10:30am followed by our Vintage Car Show/ BBQ/ Picnic from 11:30am. Bring along your picnic rugs and enjoy our friendly school community. Sausage Sizzle and pizza Trucks will be serving food.
Twilight School - Tuesday 26th February (12pm - 6pm)
Children will commence at 12pm and conclude at 6pm.
For working parents, there will be Before School Care offered as normal from 7am – 9am with skeleton staff looking after your children from 9am.
The intention of this Twilight School is to offer our annual School Open Day tours at 3pm and 5pm for prospective parents to see the children in action and to accommodate working parents. There will also be additional tours on Thursday March 14th and Friday May 10th at 9:30am & 12pm.
Below is a flyer with these times and would appreciate if you could share these dates and times with friends, family, local kindergartens and neighbours.
