From the Principal's Desk

Dear Parents and Caregivers

I once again thank you for your continued support, patience and encouragement during this period of ever changing routines and  conditions,  surrounding COVID-19.  Ensuring meaningful learning experiences for our students is always at the forefront of all our thinking, planning and delivery of the curriculum and one of the big positives that has emerged due to our current health challenges has been the agility demonstrated by students, staff and parents in developing and enhancing their own capacity through incredible commitment and creativity.

Our new drop off and pick up arrangements are working as well as they can and I value the role all drivers are playing in being courteous of others by following all community and school requirements.  A reminder that families with children in Years One to Six are strongly encouraged to simply drop off and pick up.  Since the children have been back at school we have found this alleviates anxiety for some of our children and makes their day much calmer.  Our new routines have also encouraged greater independence in our children, an attribute worth fostering.

REPORTING: School systems and sectors across the country have been offered flexibility in relation to reporting for Semester One 2020. The reporting, and requirements for reporting for Pre Primary to Year 10, due to COVID-19 and the disruption to learning and teaching, have been amended. On 7 April 2020, the Education Council agreed that, ‘student progress will continue to be monitored and assessed by teachers with progress reports provided to parents and carers noting that existing assessment and reporting processes may have to be adjusted to accommodate broader changes to the teaching and learning environment.’

For reporting in Semester One, schools are required to provide to parents:
1. Information which gives an accurate and objective assessment of the student’s progress and achievement  for which teachers can make a fair and reasonable professional judgement regarding student progress. Schools are not required to report student achievement using the A, B, C, D and E.

2. Schools should include some information regarding affective domains such as attitude, behaviour, and effort. In giving feedback to parents, teachers have an opportunity to acknowledge the way in which students have coped with the challenges presented by the disruptions of COVID-19.

Student's learning progress to date will be noted as:
• Above Expected Level
• At Expected Level
• Working Towards Expected Level

The expected level is that which is outlined by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority - SCSA, within their year level judging standards.

MERIT CERTIFICATES: Today was a great day for us all as we have recommenced distributing merit certificates to our students. I went around to each class to hand out individual certificates and the teachers have sent home a photo of each recipient to their family via Seesaw.  The names of all students who were gifted with a Merit Certificates today is listed in this newsletter.

CAR PARK STUDENT PICK UP FAMILY LABELS: The office will be sending out a visor label to each family from Yr 1 to 6 next week, and we ask that you attach this to your car visor and drop these down each afternoon, for ease of identifying families for after school pick up in our two drive through areas off Gate #3 & Gate #6 .  If any family would like more than one, if there are multiple cars that pick your children up, please let the office know and they will provide you with duplicates. We thank you for your support in placing these on your visors so that we can move the students through as quickly and safely as possible.

May the weekend herald many wonderful family times

God bless

Andrea Millar