Principals Message - 19th November

Wow, this term is certainly passing us by at great speed, it is hard to fathom that there are only 4 weeks left of this school year and what a year it has been. Four weeks left and so much to do!


I can't congratulate our students enough on their smooth entry to school each day. Teachers across the school are continually commenting on how settled students are with beginning their day each morning, coming straight in to class, settling in, being organised and ready for learning. Students are still unable to use the play equipment before school as it is not cleaned until just before recess. This is expected to continue into next year at present however, we are seeing this as a good way for students to come directly to class, become settled and prepared for learning. Some students use this time to enjoy some reading or Mathletics time, others are updating their teacher on family moments, some are just getting their books organised for the day and some are just keen to see their friends before learning time begins. The vast majority are leaving parents at the gate quite happily and settling straight into learning time, this is great practice for them to become used to. It is reducing many anxieties of saying farewell to parents as the expectation of leaving mum, dad, nan, etc quickly and going into class has become the norm. This has also greatly assisted the independence of many students which has been terrific to see. 
Student attendance has been terrific in general with many students maintaining consistent attendance and punctuality. We have started a weekly reward for the class with the best attendance and you will see below some classes enjoying a nice prize for trying their best. If your child is unwell, we appreciate you keeping them home but please do try your best to ensure students are at school each day and on time. With the limited onsite time we had left for this term, teachers have spent many hours planning to meet the individual needs of students in trying to catch up on some learning content missed whilst also busy doing assessments for reports.
As we near reporting time, please don't be surprised to see in your child's report that they may not show great progress in the dots on their reports. Please don't be alarmed by this, all students are in the same boat. Teachers can only assess what they have taught. Due to the nature of this year, some concepts need to be moved into next year and taught to move students along their continuum of learning. Next year, our school priorities will remain in Literacy and Numeracy and how we can best help our students continue on their correct learning path. Their progress will continue, we just need the chance to explicitly teach concepts and assess student learning. Please remember that students can continue to consolidate their learning at home through their online programs: Practice makes Progress!
As we begin to return to some normality this year, we were very pleased to be able to offer our annual Beach Program to Senior students. All students have missed their excursions this year but with some restrictions changing slightly, these students were super excited for this one to go ahead. To keep the fun happening for all students, we will continue with a number of our regular end of year plans to ensure a fun finish to the term, they will just look a little different.
On Friday 4th December, our Colour Fun Run fundraiser will go ahead. In exciting news, we have currently seen our fundraising total exceed $5000. This is a great start to achieving our lovely new Library seating which was our target goal for this fundraiser. We will ensure parents are kept updated on how this event will run on the day.
On Tuesday 8th December, with high hopes that restrictions will continue to ease, our Year 6 students will take part in the Statewide Transition day at their secondary college. On this day, we also like to have our whole school transition session of 'Meet the Teacher and Class for the next year' - we are planning for this to go ahead. Keep all those fingers crossed. This will also include our 2021 Prep students coming in to meet their class and teacher.  We have plans in place to begin our Whole School Transition activities shortly, we are just waiting on the official Operations Guide to be released. This involves all students spending time in their new learning spaces for the following year and getting to know the teachers in those modules. We can't finalise this just yet but hope to be able to soon.
On Wednesday 9th December, we are having our Christmas Dress-up Day. This day usually coincides with our Christmas Gala night however, as we can't hold this, we are using this day to film our virtual Christmas concert that will be available for family viewing the following week so please, send your children along in something 'Christmassy'.
Our Year 6 students are looking forward to their Year 6 Fete Day on Monday 14th December and their Graduation evening on Tuesday 15th December. All students I am sure are looking forward to their reports being published on The Sentral Parent Portal on Wednesday 16th December but perhaps are more excited for their class parties on this day. Parties this year will be different also with all students needing to bring their own celebration plate of food to celebrate together. Unfortunately on this day, we cannot have home made foods or shared platters of food - time to think outside the box.
Thursday 17th is the final day of the school year for students. This day will include our final assembly online for the year as we wish our Year 6 students farewell and all the best with the highest of hopes that 2021 will be a completely different year.
We have lots to look forward to over the next four weeks, it is certainly going to be a busy time!
Take care,
Gill Gray   &      Matt Brand
Principal          Assistant Principal

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