Hello
It has been a long time since I have had the opportunity to correspond with you. It has been a couple of weeks since I returned from leave. My thanks to Ellen Clayton who acted as Principal in my absence and kept the cogs turning.
Seven weeks ago Hayden Smith our Groundsman resigned from his position to take up other opportunities. It has been quite a difficult slog to advertise, fill and have the new person complete the red tape required to work in a Government School. My apologies for the condition of our grounds during this time. I am grateful to the staff members who have kicked in and grabbed the mower, blower or whipper snipper after school. We welcome Allan York to our school as the new Groundsman. Allan will be able to commence his duties very soon….I hope!
As we head towards December our teachers often introduce Christmas Activities to keep the students interest once assessments have been completed. Should you not want your child participating in these activities please email you child's teacher so they can organise an alternative.
Looking toward next year we are planning on being able to have the same staffing arrangements. Nineteen class teachers, five specialist teachers and seven special education teachers. Our student numbers are predicted to be similar to this year with a slight growth totalling approximately 460 students. We will start working on class composition in the next few weeks. This time of the year I often receive queries around composite classes. Composite classes are generally created due to the Departments policies around the number of students in classes. This being a maximum of 25 students from Prep to Year 3 and a maximum of 28 students from Year 4 to Year 6. Should your child be placed in a composite class they are not disadvantaged. Teachers work closely with our Head of Department (Curriculum) to ensure students receive learning opportunities at their year level.
Our school has spent over four years focusing on Structured Reading Sessions for our students. During this time teachers have built their knowledge around the teaching of reading. Our school has targeted this area with both human and physical resources to ensure the best opportunity for students to succeed. As a school we decided to review the quality of this program. I am very pleased to say that I have collated over 50 different assessments of our program and they indicate our work is of a high quality and embedded in the daily teaching and learning process. This means that we will look at other areas of our school that require specific attention and focus. This conversation starts now in preparation for implementation next year.
This Friday is Day for Daniel. Our school recognises the importance of this day through focused lessons and the opportunity for our students to wear red. Please bring a gold coin.
Additionally this Friday is World Teachers Day. I would like to recognise the work that our teachers and teacher aides do in our school. It is a very different job to what it was when I commenced teaching many years ago. It might be nice to thank a teacher / teacher aide on this day.
Wayne