Carmel McGrath

2022 Enrolments

Thank you to all families who have now completed their prep ’22 enrolment applications.  On completion of the final 2 Fridays of interviews this term we will have 62 new students enrolled.  I anticipate approximately 80-90 students in total with more enrolments to come across term 4 and prior to school in 2022.

Pick up and Drop Off

Thank you to all parents for patience in the Heal Street drop off and pick up area.  With everyone now familiar with the procedures, the area is generally working efficiently.  Just a reminder of a couple of things that could be improved and would really help things run even better:

1. Vehicles cannot turn right onto James Street during the peak hours of drop off and pick up. When drivers try to do this, it really causes a lot of congestion as cars are not moving.  Please only turn LEFT out of Heal Street. 

1. Clearly display your child/ren’s name on the windscreen visor. Unfortunately there are a number of makeshift name signs on dashboards and others without name tags which makes the job of staff more difficult.

End Of Term – Finish Strong

As we head toward the end of a term, it is important to continue our focus and maintain routines so that students know that it is ‘business as usual’.  Maintaining routines helps support a positive and safe learning environment for all students. 

Staff Update

Head Of Department (Curriculum)  - Congratulations to HOD (Curriculum) Mel Norman who will be taking on the Acting Deputy Principal role at Windsor SS from Term 4 to end of term 4 2022.  Mel has led our staff in the whole school, year level and class planning over the past 18 months.  She has achieved a great deal within our pedagogical approach, writing plan and moderation processes, as well as her work in the local early years network.  From Term 4 Judy Loudon will act in the HOD role and her position of Inclusion Coach has been advertised within our Metro area. 

Business Manager – Experienced Business Manager Jenny Deans has now accepted the BM role until the end of April 2022 during Ms Anderson’s absence.  We are thrilled to have her on our team and grateful for her management and leadership experience.

R U OK? DAY | 9 SEPTEMBER 

R U OK? Day is an opportunity to connect wit people and have conversations that can help others through difficult times in their lives. If you have a feeling that someone you know or care about is behaving a little differently, perhaps now is the time to ask them: "R U OK?" The website has a great deal of classroom support material and staff wellbeing ideas. 

https://www.ruok.org.au/education

Planning

This week year level teaching teams will meet for half days with Mel Norman and Judy Loudon as they complete their Term 4 planning and work through a handover of duties for the HOD role. Class teachers are covered by specialist teachers and 2 of our regular relief staff.

Learning Walks

This week I have completed all of the Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 class visits, talking to students and asking for their feedback on their writing tasks.  I have been really pleased to see that 100% of classes are now implementing the Bump It Up walls as outlined in our school Writing Plan.  Students are much clearer about what level they are achieving and what they have to do to continue to improve and achieve a higher grade.  Students told me they could use the Bump It Up walls as a checklist and found the success criteria and jointly constructed writing lessons most helpful.  Mrs Bradley has now completed about half of the Junior Primary learning walks and will complete the rest in week 10.   

First Day of Term 4 is Tuesday 05 October.  Monday 04 October is a public holiday and the school will not be staffed.

Kay Bradley

Classes 2022   

The link below can be used to send parent input relating to 2022 classes. Parent input is welcomed, but is not essential.  

This link will remain active until the end of term 3; Friday the 17th of September. 

https://newfarmss.schoolzineplus.com/form/55 

 Learning Walks 

I have recently spent some time in Prep classes, talking to the children about their learning.  It’s been really lovely to see how confident our students are, when talking about what they are learning and how they are doing.  The Prep team have done an amazing job, designing and teaching their students about writing through ‘Bump it up Walls’.  This resource, on the wall, shows students exactly what the teacher is looking for and helps identify what they need to do next e.g. capital letters and full stops. 

Judy Loudon 

During our Pupil Free Day last Friday, our region’s Inclusion Capability Facilitator, Liesl Harper visited. Liesl is an expert in AAC (Alternative and Augmentive Communication). She is working with our Inclusion Coach, Judy Loudon, to develop a whole school approach to AAC, so that students with complex communication needs can have a ‘voice’ anywhere in our school. Some of the AAC strategies we can use include- 

• Key word signing 
• Alternative Language Systems (ALS boards) 
• Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) books 
• Alternative Keyboards 
• Photographs 
• Symbols 
• What to Do stories 
• Text to speech software 

Liesl also spent some time with our Teacher Aides, learning about AAC and the importance of this for our students. 

I also had the pleasure of presenting ‘The Inclusive Mindset’ at our Early Years Network Meeting last Thursday at the New Farm Community Centre. Thanks to Mel Norman for your work with this network.

SAGES Screening for Gifted and Talented students is almost completed with all Year 1 and 4 classes. We are in the process of compiling the results. This information as well as information from achievement results, NAPLAN, ICAS etc is used to identify students who may be gifted/talented. This is usually 10% of our student population. If you child has not been previously identified, and they are identified as possibly, likely or very likely to have a gift/talent in English, Maths or Reasoning, then their Class Teacher will be in touch to discuss further referrals or supports.