From the Principal

2019 Semester 1 Reports and Portfolios

Student Reports will be sent home this Thursday. I am sure that you will enjoy reading your child’s report and celebrating the progress they have made.  Together the reports and portfolios provide clear information about your child’s progress against the Victorian Curriculum Standards. Parent Teacher Meetings will be held in the second week of Term 2, with the extended evening on Tuesday night, for most grades. The Parent Portal to book interview times will open on the First day of Term 3, which is the Curriculum Day. 

 Division and Regional Cross Country Update

Recently 21 students from Years 4 – 6 participated in the Division Cross Country event.  This is the greatest number of participants we have had. Five of these students made it through to the next level - the Regional Final. A cold, windy and wet day greeted our runners at Yarra Valley Race Course last Tuesday. We are very proud of the students who represented the school and congratulate them on their efforts and success. In particular, I would like to mention Adele, from Year 4, who will take part in the State Finals next term.

Principal Conference

Last week government school principals attended the 2019 EDUCATION STATE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE. Bron and I attended and we had the opportunity to select the key note speakers we wished to hear. The two most interesting and informative sessions I attended were:

Engaging Students with Mathematics – Dr Catherine Attard

Drawing on her extensive research into the influences on student engagement with mathematics, Catherine spoke about the pedagogy, theories and practices to actively engage students with mathematics. She gave research based strategies, approaches and actions which we could apply in our schools to engage students with mathematics, and what engagement looks like in the classroom.

One of her key messages was that it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that students are engaged when they appear to be busy working and are on task.  True engagement is much deeper. It is ‘in task’ behaviour, where all three dimensions of engagement; cognitive (understanding of maths concepts and applications), operative (actively participating in discussions and activities), and affective (genuinely valuing and enjoying maths), come together. 

This leads to students valuing and enjoying school mathematics and seeing connections between the mathematics they do at school and the mathematics they use in their lives outside school. Put simply, engagement occurs when students are thinking hard, working hard, and feeling good about learning mathematics.

Global Engagement and Leading Student Development – Professor Fazal Rizvi

Global shifts relating to migration, citizenship and technology mean that students from migrant backgrounds are more connected with the social and political developments in their country of origin than ever before.  When people migrate they no longer leave their country of birth behind forever, but connect via communication applications e.g. FaceTime with family and friends, and through You Tube, social media and television. They also travel back ‘home’ frequently and for long periods of time. This means that the students we teach are strongly connected to more than one country.

In this workshop, Fazal explored some of the pedagogic implications of this trend towards global engagement in today’s classrooms, including challenges and opportunities for teaching practice. We were given a number of vignettes where teachers and young people shared their own stories of working in a culturally diverse and globally connected world.

Organisation for 2020

We have been busy in recent weeks conducting tours for prospective parents of children enrolling in 2020. The school’s enrolment boundary can be found on the Find My School Website. I encourage existing parents who have a child commencing in Prep in 2020 to collect the enrolment forms from the office or download them from the web and submit these with the accompanying documentation as soon as possible. This will assist with our planning and preparation for 2020.

End of Term Arrangements

Term 2 concludes on Friday 28 June at 2.30pm.  OSHC will be available from this time. There will be a Curriculum Day on the first day of Term 3. I hope that our students have time to relax and enjoy time with their families.  We have been very proud of all that they have accomplished so far this year. 

Student Initiative with Fundraising

Over the last few weeks the JSC have been planning a Casual Clothes Day to raise funds to establish a Lego Club. The purpose of the day and the format was determined by the students. The students were very enthusiastic and very generous with their time to plan, organise and prepare for the day. Thank you to the parents who sent along lego pieces or money.  The Lego Club will be run at lunchtimes and will start some time next term.