Dear Parents/Carers,
It was wonderful to see many parents/carers attend our Acquaintance Night and AGM. These nights are important times not only for you, but also for our staff to gather important information about class routines, expectations and our school. There were three positions available on the Governing Council for 2021 which were all filled on Tuesday night. Our first governing council meeting will be on Tuesday, 16th February at 7pm in the Thiele Staffroom.
2022 is the year where all Year 7 students will be starting high school. This means many changes for both primary school and secondary school. Marion Coady, Principal of Aberfoyle Park High School was our guest speaker at our AGM on Tuesday night. Marion provided information about the building, programs and staffing plans that have been occurring for them and important dates for us to be aware of to prepare our year 7’s for their transition to high school and there was an opportunity for questions to be answered.
Over the past few weeks Lisa, Amanda and I have been attending MiniLit and MacqLit training. This is a targeted intervention program to support students in the area of literacy. Student data is analysed to identify areas of need and from this students are put into groups to work with a teacher and explicitly taught and continually monitored to ensure they are retaining information and achieving. At this stage we are still in the planning stage of this program learning, screening and identifying students who will then be grouped and timetabled into sessions throughout the week. More information will be provided as we progress through this process.
Lisa, Aaron and Emma are continuing Brightpath training and are guiding staff in the area of Persuasive writing this year. This week’s staff meeting was spent identifying teaching points for all students in the area of narrative writing. This program has been valued by all staff and is providing explicit targeted teaching to all students in the area of writing where goals are set and monitored to ensure growth and achievement.
Aaron Sharp has also been released to meet with staff to gather information on how he can support staff with integrating maths activities into other areas of the curriculum. Dale Bliss will be working with classroom teachers and students in the area of Digital Technology. These lessons will start with classes in the Coorong building this term. Diane Christie is working at our school again this term and is teaching in a variety of classrooms in the Heysen and Spence buildings. From time to time Chris Gent, Amanda Allen, Amy Curyer and Danni Gericke will be released to assist Leadership in the Front Office. During these times careful consideration is given to replacement teachers to ensure we are providing staff who are familiar with our school and our students.
If you are interested in becoming involved within the school by volunteering in fundraising, canteen, listening to reading or in any other way please speak to your child’s class teacher, Jayne at the Front Office, Lisa or myself.
Kind Regards,
Sharon Willoughby
Principal
