Welcome back. We hope you had a safe and wonderful break and enjoyed some time with your families.
It was beautiful seeing our learners bound into the school gates looking forward to yet another successful term. There were also several parents and caregivers with big smiles on their faces as they dropped their children off. I'm not sure what that was about. :-)
Term 2 is going to be another busy and rewarding term.
NAPLAN
Our Year 3, 5 and 7 students will be undertaking NAPLAN in Week 3 and families should have received a paper brochure with information about the tests. Parents have the right to withdraw their child on personal or religious grounds. If you intend to withdraw your child, you must sign a record of student withdrawal form located and available in our Office.
Staffing updates
Kathy Baker has now been appointed Deputy Principal for the remainder of the year. Congratulations Kathy.
Kristen Harris has been appointed as a Year 6-7 teacher for the first three weeks of the term, replacing Stevo Jukovic, who is on parenting leave.
It's also been a busy holiday season for some of our staff.
We congratulate Stevo Jurkovic and Tara on the birth of Aleksander. We also congratulate Jasmine Miller on her marriage to Kyran during the holidays and Jess Ogilvie on her engagement to Brad.
More to come :-)
We also welcome our student teachers from Flinders University; Alice, Tristan, Bella and Kamaldeep. We hope you enjoy your experiences here at our wonderful school.
Outcomes of the External School Review 2021
Our final report has now been completed and is available on our website. The review is an extensive look at how we implemented our 2017 directions, as well as how we have progressed as a school. I have included the summary paragraph for your information.
“There is a welcoming atmosphere and a strong sense of school pride at St Leonards Primary School from staff, students and parents. Staff maintain positive relationships with students and their families, and a high level of trust exists for leaders and teachers by the community. Through collaborative processes there has been a strong commitment to building consistent and effective practices across the school. The leadership team have clarity of the next steps for further progress and the dedication and professionalism of staff provides a strong platform for continuous improvement.
The Principal will work with the Education Director to implement the following directions:
Direction 1
Strengthen self-review processes by regularly evaluating the impact of actions and strategies on student outcomes, to refine and consolidate effective practices across the school.
Direction 2
Strengthen staff understanding and implementation of effective formative assessment and feedback practices during the learning to stretch and challenge students daily.
Direction 3
Strengthen student agency through a regular cyclic process of sharing assessments and feedback with students to set SMARTAR goals and self-direct their own improvement.
Based on the school’s current performance, St Leonards Primary School will be externally reviewed again in 2024.”
Dave Henty-Smith - Principal
Kathy Baker - Deputy Principal
Heidi Bevan - Wellbeing Leader
