From the Principal
Principal - Carmel McGrath
NAPLAN Online Trial
Last week a sampling of our Year 2 and 4 students participated in a NAPLAN Online trial. The students were reassured the trial was not about their abilities but rather a trial of the school’s capacity to conduct the testing. Mr Rafter and Ms Seibhur managed the process and were pleased with the result for our school. Additionally, the trial was a good opportunity to see what else we could do to enhance our facilities and also to maximise our preparation for students so that they can participate with confidence in 2019.
PBL
Thank you to our school community PBL team who have been steering the work this year. On Wednesday the committee will attend the final module training day and review the work undertaken this year. The school mascot ‘Kookie the Kookaburra’ has now been finalised and we look forward to seeing a lot more of ‘Kookie’ in 2019.
Meeting with Minister Grace Grace
This week our P&C President David Armstrong and Treasurer Belinda Hill, School Captains Lottie and Nate and I will attend a BBQ at Parliament House with other city cluster school P&C and school leaders to discuss the new Inner City Secondary School and to meet the new Principal Ms Sharon Barker. We look forward to finding out more about how the plans for the school are going and have an involvement in the consultation process. A reminder that Sharon will be available to meet with New Farm parents next Tuesday 06 Nov in our library 8:15am and will also speak with students at and after our assembly.
LOCKDOWN and EVACUATION Drills
This week we have held our term lockdown drill and reviewed our procedures for both drills with students. Thank you to staff for ensuring students know their procedures well and respond in a calm and efficient manner.
Facilities Projects
We have a number of projects in the works at the moment as we continue to grow in enrolments. Thank you especially to Yvonne in her role as Business Manager (Facilities) for ensuring the work is managed efficiently. The main project this term and over the Christmas holidays include:
- Master Planning – continuing consultation for our growth
- Oval / Play space upgrade
- Make-A-Space refurbishment on Library Veranda – as we are growing the current Make-A-Space area will most likely become a classroom in 2019 and therefore we are working with Honeywill Consulting to design a fit out for the library storage and Make-A-Space area.
2019 Student Leadership Selection Process
Over the next few weeks I will disseminate information to all year 5 students, parents and teachers for the 2019 Student Leaders Selection Process. The main areas that our selection is based on includes: Participation, Behaviour and Leadership. The process involves student speeches, voting, shortlisting and interviews before final selection. The student voting is a major part of the selection process and I believe that this is done very sensibly and responsibly as we work with our students to reinforce the selection criteria and importance of their selections. This year’s selection of our captains Nate, Lottie, Euan and Jessica are testament to a very successful process and I have great faith in our students in their selections.
Many children jump to conclusions when an unpleasant situation occurs, thinking and acting impulsively rather than thinking rationally before reacting. (This is not just the domain of kids, by the way!) While these snap judgements may be justified, in reality they are the least likely to be the right ones.
https://www.parentingideas.com.au/blog/teach-kids-not-to-jump-to-conclusions/