It has been fantastic to have all students return to full face to face teaching since the beginning of last week. Students have enjoyed re-connecting with their peers and settled into their new class and routines productively.
In relation to the management of COVID-19, the most current advice provided by the Department for Education is provided below:
The following aspects can resume:
· Day excursions and incursions (held outdoors where possible).
· Interschool sporting competitions.
· Extra-curricular activities at the school, including choirs, band practice, instrumental lessons attended by a non-school employed music teacher.
· Camps and other outdoor activities required by the SACE (secondary schools) for the purpose of subjects such as Outdoor Education.
· Assemblies that are held outdoors.
· Parent tours and information nights targeted at students considering enrolling in the school in the coming year.
· Hiring education sites to community groups outside of school hours can continue as normal.
Visitors in schools can include:
· attending the school for specific events held outdoors (eg spectators attending outdoor sporting games).
· volunteers required by the school.
· instrumental music teachers
· attendance at playgroup.
All adult visitors must wear a face mask when indoors, maintain physical distancing, and not attend the site if they are unwell. Visitors attending indoor venues and outside specific events to continue to be minimised. For our school, volunteer assistance will be determined by class needs and your child’s teacher will communicate with you if any help is required.
COVID-19 settings that remain in place:
· Face masks continue to be required (when indoors) for:
- all adults, except when it impedes ability to teach
- students in years 7 to 12.
· Face masks are strongly encouraged for students in years 3 to 6 (when indoors).
· Current testing, isolating and quarantine remains unchanged, including classroom contacts.
· Non-SACE related overnight camps continue to be postponed.
· Continue to open windows and doors or use air-conditioning set to fresh air intake where possible.
Annual General Meeting and Acquaintance Night
Last week the Annual General Meeting and the first Governing Council meeting of the year were held. An overview of the Governing Council, including office bearers, has been provided below. Matt Lama has been elected as chairperson for the coming year and we welcome him to this role. Matt takes over this role from Tammy Baker who has been a member of Governing Council for the past 17 years. On behalf of the community, we thank Tammy for her immense commitment and effort in supporting our school during that time. Along with Tammy, we also thank the following members for their contribution during their time on Governing Council: Nikki Foureur, Andrew Dolley and Liz Smart.
Within Governing Council there are a number of committees and we extend an invitation for parents/carers to join any that interest you. Also, if you are thinking about joining Governing Council in the future, you are most welcome to come along to any of our meetings to get an insight and understanding of meeting processes.
| Position | Name |
| Chairperson | Matt Lama |
| Deputy Chair | Rachel Henning |
| Secretary | Amy Arcangeli |
| Treasurer | Simon Mann |
| Deputy Treasurer | Rachel Henning |
| Committee | Member/s |
| OSHC | Amy Arcangeli |
| Grounds | Mike Jones and Rosemary Kourtidis |
| P & C | Rosemary Kourtidis |
| Out of Hours Sport | Boon Toh |
| Canteen | Rachel Henning |
In regards to Acquaintance Night, due to COVID-19 perspectives, we are currently unable to schedule a time for this. In the interim, teachers will be providing information via Seesaw regarding the start of the term and the year ahead.
School Improvement Priorities
As a part of the school’s self-review processes staff have worked on developing a renewed 3 year site improvement plan. The purpose of the plan is to document key outcomes and actions in Reading and Mathematics that focus on strengthening student learning outcomes in these areas. Elements of the plan include:
· all children being stretched in their learning,
· every student making positive growth for each year of schooling.
· capacity building of staff to provide a high quality and challenging learning program.
These improvement priorities are documented in the Site Improvement Plan which is available on our website along with the 2021 Annual Report.
Student Safety Perspectives
A reminder to all parent/caregivers to support your children to keep themselves safe when travelling to and from school by establishing a consistent routine and reinforcing the appropriate steps to take if they find themselves in an unsafe situation. This includes seeking the assistance of staff who are either on yard duty or within the school buildings. This, and other safety perspectives, are reinforced by class teachers in an age appropriate manner. Further to this information, since the return of all students, there is increased traffic and pedestrian activity around the school and we remind all drivers to be mindful of students crossing the road. It is expected that if a vehicle is approaching a crossing that they will stop to allow the pedestrians to cross safely. Concurrently, it is important to remind students that regardless of whether an adult is supervising the crossing, that they develop the habit of stopping and checking for all oncoming traffic. We appreciate that families are modelling safe practices by only using the crossings. Please advise grandparents, friends and designated family who might drop off or collect your child of the location of the crossings.
Classroom Interactive Screens
Seven new interactive screens have been installed in some of our classrooms, replacing existing projectors. These screens offer great functionality for both teachers and students. Next year we are looking to install screens in the remaining classes.
School Mural Project
This week we have commenced our whole school mural project under the guidance of Rachel Ross and Caitlin Davies. Over the course of the term students will have the opportunity to help paint the mural. Teachers will communicate with you directly when your child’s class is participating. All children are required to wear an old shirt or jumper to prevent any paint getting on their uniform. Volunteers are welcomed. If you are able to assist, please complete the survey sent out via Skoolbag last week.
2022 NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.
Our students in years 3 and 5 will be participating in NAPLAN Online this year. The NAPLAN Online test window is 10 to 20 May 2022 (weeks 2 and 3, term 2).
Prior to the actual test, all schools will participate in a national coordinated practice test (CPT) at 11.00am on Thursday 24 March. The practice test runs for 45 minutes and student performance is not assessed. The purpose of this test is to ensure the technical capacity of the school is satisfactory and to familiarise students with the testing platform.
Please be aware of the privacy collection notice and parent information brochure that have been made available via skoolbag. If you have any queries regarding NAPLAN please contact your child’s class teacher or a member of the leadership team.
School Sport Update
Next term our students have the opportunity to represent the school in a soccer competition organised by the North West Junior Soccer Association. In order for us to nominate a team/s we require a parent/carer to take on the role of coordinator. The role of the coordinator is to support the overall organisation of the teams. If you would like further information, please contact the school.
Along with the soccer coordinator role we also will need to fill the Australian Rules Football coordinator position (at this stage we don't have details about this competition yet).
Please consider volunteering for these roles as without them we are unable to nominate teams. Contact the school if you are interested.
Student Leaders
Last week we began the process for year 6 students to nominate for the three main leadership positions that we have at school; Student Executive Representative, Sports House Captain and Sports House Vice Captain.
Students spent some time in class explaining and discussing the process and talking about the qualities and skills that a leader needs to demonstrate and can develop. They also talked about all of the other leadership opportunities which will come their way this year if they choose not to nominate or are unsuccessful.
Students were given some time in class to work on the application including drafting the written part of the response. The applications were due today, and we are looking forward to reading them.
Those who do not wish to nominate for the main roles were still expected to complete the application; this will help us decide who to put forward for the many other roles that will arise throughout the year.
The selection process this year will involve the following stages:
· A student vote
· A staff panel discussion, consisting of a number of teachers, including Specialist Teachers, and leaders
· A staff panel vote which will have the student vote as one criteria
Once we have completed the process, we will let you know who our Student Executive Representatives, Sports House Captains and Sports House Vice Captains will be for 2022.
