Messages from Mrs Inglis
What a crazy week onsite with the weather! We had our first real taste of an Australian summer with three consecutive days of high temperatures to conclude with a storm at 3:40pm and then losing power. Thankfully the power returned to school by Wednesday morning but some of our families and staff were not so lucky. For future reference, if the school were to close, we would contact our community – so ‘no news, is good news’. We do assess the situation to ensure that it is safe for everyone to come onsite and we would work with the Department of Education. I hope that those affected by having no power have it restored some time soon. If there is anything we can do at school to support, please let us know.
School Review
Over the past two weeks, our school staff have been working through a School Review. School Reviews are conducted every four years for all Department of Education schools. A panel of people consisting of an independent reviewer, a Senior Educational Improvement Leader, two Principals and leadership from our school (Tyson Buckingham, Cara Trott, Chris Jeffries and myself) work through a process. We look at our past Strategic Plan to see what has happened in the past four years – our successes, what enabled us, what was a barrier, what is the data telling us. The panel then spent a couple of days observing our classrooms, talking to students, staff and parents to determine what are the next goals for the school and the key improvement strategies. The panel then determines the next Strategic Plan for the next four years – goals, targets and key improvement strategies.
The process did show us that we have a great school. Our school and community have done an amazing job at navigating learning and wellbeing through the pandemic. There is lots of evidence to show great teaching practices, student agency and supports for wellbeing currently in places. Our future work will see us to continue to improve the outcomes for all our students in literacy and numeracy. We will have a numeracy focus this year and then move into writing. Our wellbeing goal is for happy, healthy and resilient students. We will continue to work with our wellbeing program and strengthen our knowledge, understanding and practices for all our community – student, staff and parents.
Family Open Afternoon
We hope you are able to join us for our Family Open Afternoon. We invite all our families to join us on Monday 19th February from 3:30pm to 5:00pm to meet your child’s teacher, see their classroom, walk around our school grounds and ask questions about 2024.
This week we sent home information about our school. It was sent via an email. Hopefully you have had time to read it and if you have any questions, please come and ask our staff. The Family Open Afternoon is a great opportunity to have all your questions answered.
Assembly
Our whole school assemblies will resume on Monday 19th February and parents are invited to join us. This week will be announcing our house captains to our community. We hold assemblies every fortnight. We aim to start the assembly at 2:45pm and they are held in the shed or gym – depending on the weather. We will open up the top gate at 2:40pm for parents to enter.
Annual privacy reminder for our school community
Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.
Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website. Link for collection statement.
School Council
On Monday 20th March, we will be running our Annual General Meeting for School Council. We currently have couple of vacancies on our council. If you are interested in being a part of this group, please contact the office for a form. Nomination forms need to be in by 23rd February. Members of school council will require a Working with Children Check.
What is a school council and what does it do?
All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the broad direction of a school, in accordance with Ministerial Order 1280 Constitution of Government School Councils, and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.
Code of conduct for school councillors
School councils in Victoria are public entities as defined by the Public Administration Act 2004.School councillors must abide by the Code of Conduct for Directors of Victorian Public Entities issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. The Code of Conduct is based on the Victorian public sector values and requires councillors to:
· act with honesty and integrity – be truthful, open and clear about their motives and declare any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest and duty
· act in good faith in the best interests of the school- work cooperatively with other councillors and the school community, be reasonable, and make all decisions with the best interests of students foremost in their minds
· act fairly and impartially – consider all relevant facts of an issue before making a decision, seek to havea balanced view, never give special treatment to a person or group and never act from self-interest
· use information appropriately – respect confidentiality and use information for the purpose for which it was made available
· exercise due care, diligence and skill – accept responsibility for decisions and do what is best for the school
· use the position appropriately – not use the position as a councillor to gain an advantage
· act in a financially responsible manner – observe all the above principles when making financial decisions
· comply with relevant legislation and policies – know what legislation and policies are relevant for which decisions and obey the law
· demonstrate leadership and stewardship -set a good example, encourage a culture of accountability, manage risks effectively, exercise care and responsibility to keep the school strong and sustainable.
Parenting
Being a parent is such a rewarding experience. Being part of someone’s life from the very beginning and watch them grow and seeing the person they become is such a privilege. However, it has moments of being very challenging (hopefully they do not last too long). I thought I would bring your attention to Dr Billy Garvey. Dr Billy is a dad, podcaster and a developmental paediatrician with over 20 years’ experience working with children and families in a number of settings. One of his podcasts is ‘Pop Culture Parenting’. The podcast is about finding the sweetspot between the textbooks and real life when it comes to parenting. He uses iconic TV and cinema scenes from the 80’s and 90’s to give contect to Billy’s parenting advice.
A couple of weeks ago I listened to episode 77: 10 things I hate about you & school success. It discussed how to support your child to succeed at school, especially their social and emotional development. I enjoyed listening to Dr Billy – I hope you find him helpful and informative as well.
World’s Greatest Shave
On Monday 18th March, one of our grade 6 students will be participating in the World’s Greatest Shave. Jack will spend the next month raising money and then will shave his hair at our school assembly. He is a message from Jack:
Hi my name is Jack F from 6S. I am doing the World Greatest Shave to raise money for the leukaemia reach. On Monday 18th March 2024 I will have my year’s worth of hair shaved off in assembly.
Leukaemia is one of the most common cancer in children and I hope one day they can find a cure for it.
I have already raised over $200 for this great cause. If you would like to make a donation you can go to qkr! or make a cash donation in assembly when they shave my head.
Thank you for your support in advance.
Enjoy your weekend.
Heidi Inglis
Principal
