It only feels like yesterday we were welcoming our students and staff back to school, getting to know new students and celebrating new teachers who have joined our fantastic team on the Primary Campus.

Term 1 kicked off smoothly, with students happy and engaged in their learning and teachers equally happy and enthusiastic about the learning happening in their classrooms.

Our 2023 priorities include:

• Ensuring quality teaching and learning is happening in every classroom using evidence based best practice in the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.
• Monitoring each students’ learning progress to make sure they are on track for positive learning outcomes, to set goals and plan for individual intervention and enrichment.
• Providing quality transitions from Kindy to Prep and Year 6 into Year 7.
• Familiarisation and planning for Australian Curriculum v9 in English and Mathematics.

In the last few weeks I have spent some time working with our Student Council leaders. It was a joy to see them engaged in meaningful and thoughtful conversation at leadership camp about their action plans for school improvement in 2023. They spent time developing an achievable and well thought out plan around school, environmental and community actions to drive their agenda for the remainder of the year. I look forward to seeing their plans come to fruition and to working with them on their initiatives.

Student wellbeing - Students and cyber-safety

The internet is an integral part of our lives both personally and in our learning. It has an increasing impact on our student’s social development, interactions and wellbeing. While being on-line can be a positive experience, just as with face to face interactions, sometimes bullying and harassment can occur. It is important that your child is aware that not everyone on social media is a friend. Unfortunately, some people use technology to send nasty & inappropriate messages. To support your child’s on-line experience ensure they know how to block, unfriend and report inappropriate online behaviour. Encourage your child to think before they share or post – is it true, useful and positive? Encourage your child to never respond to a bully as this may make the situation worse. If your child thinks they are being bullied or encounters offensive on-line content, encourage them to find someone they feel safe talking to. It is also important to remember that most social media platforms restrict access to children 13 + years.

Hearing Friendly Classrooms

This year our campus has taken a whole school approach to providing better access for students with hearing impairment. The strategies implemented not only benefit students with hearing impairments, but all children in the classroom along with the teacher.

• All teaching spaces have been fitted with sound amplification systems.
• Teachers have had professional development in the use of these systems.
• A “Soundfield Champion” has been identified to support teachers.
• Teaching blocks with the concertina dividers have had them replaced with solid walls.
• Teaching blocks have, or will have, new carpet installed instead of the current vinyl.
• 5 staff have been trained in using Sound Scouts, a program for identifying students who may have a difficulty in hearing.

Parking around our School

There are NO EXCUSES for parking illegally around our school. Parents often complain about the congestion and use it as an excuse for parking illegally. If you are parking illegally, you will get caught.

Parking restriction signs are there for a reason and that reason is the safety of all of our children in the school environment. But let’s not forget the safety of everyone else. When you park illegally you are putting everyone at risk, you are impacting on the ability of other vehicles to leave and enter the school zone safely and you are modelling poor driver behaviour for your children who will be drivers in the future.

Here are some parking safety tips:

• say goodbye to your children on the school side of the road—never get them to cross the road to their school’s entrance alone
• walk across the road and meet your children after school (never call out to them from the other side)
• try to leave home early to avoid arriving at the busiest times or arrive a few minutes after the designated school finish time at kiss and drop zones
• follow the directions of all signs
• abide by the 2-minute limit in the kiss and drop area. If your child is not there you need to complete a loop and come around again.
• park a safe distance from all crossings
• always single park (double parking causes accidents and traffic jams)
• always park in designated parks, do not park on grass verges
• try parking a few streets away from the school and walking with your children
• organise a car pool with other parents—to reduce the number of cars trying to park around your children’s school.

Patience is the best attribute when driving in a school zone. Kids take time to learn to use the road system correctly. Let’s give them the chance to grow up by driving safely around them.