External School Review
The review team were blown away by the positive community and strong collaborative ways of working. Initial feedback highlighted a range of excellence and the passion and commitment staff demonstrated. It was a true reflection of the hard work and effort of staff, students and community, and demonstrates what we can achieve together. Strengths focused on our collaborative staff teams, positive whole-school culture with an emphasis on 'be kind', planning for continuous improvement, quality and continuous review of teaching and learning, rich data use, knowledge and support of each child and exemplary performance development reflections and feedback. Listening to and using feedback at all school levels (teacher-staff-students-leaders-community) is a core part of our strategic plan beliefs and a strong part of how we will continue to grow and develop. Parent and Governing Council feedback was really appreciated and we will continue to look at ways we can action some of your suggestions. I strongly urge all families to continuously provide feedback and have your say in the directions and improvements here at school. Let’s congratulate and recognise all of the staff and community for our partnership and commitment to your child/ren’s wellbeing, engagement and achievement. The full report detailing further directions that will inform our updated School Improvement Plan will be available within 6-8 weeks and will be shared with the community.
Learning Design Assessment and Moderation:
This term’s Pupil Free Day will focus on showcasing excellence in practice across our partnership sites. In order to design learning that is challenging and to differentiate and match learning to individual needs some staff will be sharing ideas and expertise from their own practice. At a recent celebration staff meeting we showcased staff successes with the Numerical Acumen from SD6, the strong automaticity and team teaching practice from SD1 and 2, and the Year 5 trial of Maths in the inclusive classroom. This trial strongly supports student agency and choice in selecting differentiated learning tasks. We continue to ‘Teach on’ and showcase the excellence from every class across our school.
Camps
The Year 5 camp to Aldinga was an outstanding success. Year 4, Year 7 and our Year 6 Zoo Snooze all occur throughout Term 3. The time and commitment of staff to undertake these events is truly appreciated.
Student/Parent/Teacher Interviews:
At West Lakes Shore School all students have their own SMARTaR learning goals in Numeracy and writing. Students in Year3 -7 reflect on their outcomes and track their progress. Students in Reception – Year 2 discuss their learning verbally with their peers and teachers. This term optional interviews are usually offered so students and parents can attend a meeting with their teacher to discuss what children know and need to be able to do and talk about their learning goals. Information of how to book these will be available for families in the week 5 upcoming newsletter.
