Dear Parents and Caregivers
At the end of each term, I find myself reflecting on what has been achieved, what has challenged us and what more we have to do. This term has been one of creativity and excellence with the two co-existing in a number of circumstances. For those of you who have spent even a bit of time with me you might think it strange when I say I am struggling to find the words, (I do like a chat!) to truly describe my sense of pride in the children, their teachers and our school.
Following this theme of creativity and excellence, I want to write about the continued production of class artworks – what a joy these have been. Whilst I have been keen to see them displayed, I have been reluctant to see them leave my office. It was, at one point, growing into quite the Gallery. Tiarna and Hayley have worked with students throughout the term to create the artworks you can see in the photos. John’s and Hayley’s 5/6 class showed such dedication and determination whilst working on their fish, it’s hard to believe this was done by primary students! In addition, individual artwork continues to grow around the school and I have added (via Cynthia’s skills) to our gallery on the website. If you have a moment, you will find everything from self-portraits to space pictures and gemstones – it’s truly worth a look!
Term 3 saw us move our writing focus to Informational Text. We approached this in a different way using strategies we have learned through our professional development. The product is simply the best writing I have seen since coming to Crafers. From our youngest learners to our oldest, the focus has been improvement, extension and excellence and we have learned a great deal about a great many things. My favourite learnings, gained through reading with the Receptions are that warthogs kneel down to eat – what manners! and the collective noun for foxes is ‘skulk’ - to think I learned both before 9:00 even! More seriously though, I have seen such an increase in sophistication of text features used across all grade levels. An example from Grade 1s is the inclusion of inset diagrams and magnification for use in their own Information books. Growing the understanding and practice of revising and amending writing can be challenging but I see the children doing this more and more skilfully and purposefully to create truly excellent Information Texts.
Our choir has simply been outstanding, Pedal Prix finished brilliantly, many children fulfilled their Children’s University requirements, PAT Testing was completed with resilience and effort, we raised money for a worthy cause and our Buddies program resumed with gusto! This is just a snapshot!
As has so often been the case, I find I have written so much already and told you nothing of what is upcoming. I think sharing the holiday works in Term 4’s first newsletter might be a better option so I would like to finish this term with well-wishes for Ms Kim Atkinson as she heads away for Term 4 and welcome back wishes for Ms Kate Staniford who will join us for the term once again. I would also like to wish you all holidays flooded with sunshine and warmth and of course, much happiness!
Kind regards
Chan
