Clapham Primary School

I hope that you have had a lovely holiday break.   I am very excited to share something that I am so proud of about our school....We have  visitors in our school regularly to support teaching and learning.  Again in Term 1 we had visitors from other schools, organisations and also relief teachers and it is very common for us to receive consistent feedback, such as:

1. Our staff are extremely welcoming and helpful

2. Our students are eager and ready to learn, have lovely manners and are a delight to teach.

3. Relief teachers stating please book them again, they want to return to Clapham - it is such a positive environment to be in.

4. Everyone supports one another. Our students are inclusive and tolerant.   We have excellent wellbeing programs (Smiling Minds, Interoception)

I wish to share some positive feedback we recently received from a recent visitor to our school.  This visitor (professional) is from an organisation that supports students in their learning and wellbeing.  She said, "I cannot speak highly enough of you all! Your skills in supporting students is amazing from the way you set up the classroom to the strategies and visual supports you have implemented is second to none! Thank you for a wonderful morning and making my heart sing. The students are so lucky to have such a wonderful, dedicated and supportive staff, I cannot thank you enough for all you do….absolutely sensational!  It's an absolute pleasure & such a privilege for me to visit your wonderful school, my heart truly sings whenever I see the amazing things going on..it is such a joy & huge credit to you all, it's just sensational."

We are very excited about Term 2. This term is going to be a busy and productive term.  

On Tuesday we started with a Pupil Free Day for our staff to attend a professional development session about Maths Teaching and Learning.    The day focussed on:

1. Mental Routines

2. Problematised situations (what they are, why we need them and how to 'kid' watch and plan strategy lessons in response to what we notice. This also included knowing what to consider in order to create problematised situations directly targeted at individual students learning needs, knowing what to observe and being able to plan the next step.) 

3. The STAR problem solving model to structure problem solving lessons.

Please see pictures below from the training day and some student work samples from implementing the problematised situation.

Term 2 has lots of exciting events, please see below for important dates:

1. Pupil Free Day – 27th of April (Staff professional development, Maths Pedagogy)

2. Cross Country – 7th of May 3. NAPLAN 11-14th of May, Week 3 and NAPLAN catch up Week 4

4. Clapham Cafe – 18th May (can book in through School Interviews)

5. Community Action Day – 22nd of May, Week 4, 2-5pm. We would love to see lots of people to help with our school grounds

6. Camps Year 3/4 (Aldinga) and Year 5-7 (Mylor) 16 – 18th of June

7. Quiz Night (adults only) – 26th of June

8. Student Reports go home – 30th of June

9. Last day of school, early dismissal @2:10pm – 2nd of July

Jodie Kingham

Principal

We would love to see you at our Community Action Day on the 22nd of May.  All adult helpers must check in using our school QR Code and ensure they follow social distancing guidelines. 

Thank you to all parents who played a part in our successful learning conversations and for the positive feedback we have received. We were very impressed with how our students took ownership of their learning and future goal-setting. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to share work they were proud of and more importantly why. Thank you again for making this a terrific success.

Justine Langley,

Deputy Principal

This term our Reception teachers will complete the Australian Early Development Census. The AEDC helps to build a nationwide picture of our children’s health and wellbeing as they begin school.

Parents of Reception students will receive a letter with further information.

Teachers answer questions about five key areas that are important for children's development:

·   physical health and wellbeing

·   social competence

·   emotional maturity

·   language and cognitive skills (school-based)

·   communication skills and general knowledge.

Once our teachers finish collecting information for the 2021 Australian Early Development Census, the data is analysed and prepared for publication in March 2022.

The census results are presented as groups of children at local, state and national levels. This ensures children and schools remain anonymous.

Learn more here about how your children’s privacy is protected: www.aedc.gov.au/parents/protecting-your-child-s-privacy

 You can view the interactive results from previous years here: www.aedc.gov.au/early-childhood/findings-from-the-aedc

Displaying outstanding team work, strong defence and a great attitude, the boys won all five of their group matches, against quality teams from Colonel Light Gardens, Forbes, Ascot Park and St Peters Lutheran Primary schools. As a result, they finished top of their group and won through to the final where they were just beaten by a very strong Colonel Light Gardens team. 

The team displayed great sportsmanship all day and were always positive and smiling, even when things weren’t going their way. The boys, their parents, and the Clapham community should be very proud of the way the team represented the school.

Tim Saul