Sutton Public School

Once in a five-year cycle each school in NSW undergoes an external validation of the evidence of their school’s self-assessment of progress by an independent panel.

Throughout 2021, our whole school team, teachers, executive staff and Principal, supported by our admin team,  have carried out a rigorous process of self-assessment, involving selection and analysis of artefacts to form high level, robust evidence sets which support school practice.

The evidence is annotated to describe the what, when, how and why of our work against the 14 elements of the School Excellence Framework (SEF). The process enables us to reach an on-balance judgement of our school performance for each element of the School Excellence Framework  and inform next steps in the cycle of continuous school improvement.

The external validation process provides an assurance to the school community and system that the progress being made aligns with the expectations articulated in the School Excellence Framework (SEF).

An independent panel determines whether the evidence presented supports the school’s assessment. The panel meeting provides an opportunity for the school leadership team to share their evidence with the panel and engage in meaningful discussions about progress and achievements using the School Excellence Framework (SEF).

Our panel meeting was held yesterday,  Thursday 11th November, 2021.  The panel has validated our judgement for all 14 elements.

Some of the comments from the panel members were;

• The panel leader and the peer principal both thanked the school team for our extensive and detailed submission 
• The panel leader noted the work the school is doing with Aboriginal education and the development of liaisons with local networks such as the Queanbeyan AECG.
• The Director, Educational Leadership noted that our executive carry out high quality informal coaching and mentoring practices with colleagues on a daily basis.
•  The panel leader identified that the school is developing a comprehensive response to student learning through targeted analysis of data.
• The panel acknowledged the comprehensive work completed by the learning and support team in response to student needs. 

https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/school-excellence-and accountability/media/documents/SEF_Document_Version_2_2017_AA.pdf

Clare Sullivan | Principal

November

15th - Kindergarten 2022 Activity Morning

16th - K - 2 Class Discos

17th - Kindergarten 2022 Q&A Zoom 3:30pm

19th - Book Fair finishes

22nd - School Captain nomination letters due to Mrs Sullivan

25th - P&C Meeting

26th - Stage 2 Activity Day

December

 2nd - Stage 3 Activity Day 1

 3rd - Stage 3 Activity Day 2

 6th - Captains Speeches

 7th - Mini Fair Fun-raiser

        - Semester 2 reports and Special Work folders home

 9th - Christmas Church Service for Scripture students ( TBC)

10th - Presentation Day

13th - Whole School Sovereign Reward Day

         -  Year 6 Graduation and Farewell

16th - Final day for students

17th - Final day for staff

We are thrilled to update our community regarding the progress we are making with our Sustainable Schools project - Mindfulness and Melaleucas.

Throughout the year, numerous weekend community working bees, and the wonderful work by Mrs Croser leading key biodiversity projects, all students from Kindergarten to Year 6 have been  involved in the creation and development of the project from the early planning and design stages and now the planting of seedlings and trees.  Included in the project now are ‘frog bogs’ a ‘lizard lounge’ and hotels for insects and bees.  Initial planting in each of these environments has introduced native plants to enhance the garden and provide appropriate habitats.  In this way our garden is providing a foundation for ongoing environmental studies. The development of this project will allow teachers to facilitate inquiry-based learning and explore curriculum outcomes across key learning areas, with links to the cross-curriculum priorities and the general capabilities.

A report will be prepared documenting the development and impact of this project as we   the funding grant.  We are pleased that the time frame for   this project has been extended to June 2022 due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.

There is still much to do to develop the garden beds and landscaping.    Aaron Chatfield of Dreamtime Connections will return to work with the students and staff in December.  There are still many ways in which our parents and community members of Sutton can be involved with this exciting program of works and share this experience with their children and friends. We look forward to future working bees involving volunteers and community as soon as it is safe to invite you back into school.

We continue to be excited about the opportunity this project offers to engage our parents, with a wealth of experience and expertise, towards improving the sustainability of our school environment.

Each year, schools must plan staffing for the following year based on strict ratios of teachers to student enrolments. These ratios are set by the department. It is extremely helpful to know the expected enrolments as early as possible prior to begin planning for the new school year. If you are planning a move in 2022, could you please advise the office as soon as you can.

Our school has a process in place for allocating students into classes each year. The procedure ensures that the professional judgement of both the teaching staff and executive leadership staff is informed and that all available information is applied to the placement process. The interests of children are paramount to the decisions taken by the school taking into consideration the academic, social and emotional needs of each student.

Parents and carers may provide the principal with specific information about their child’s learning needs that they believe the school may not be aware of. Such information would not include a request for a particular teacher. Such requests cannot be accommodated. The information should be provided in writing (letter or email). This information will be referenced by the Executive Team, along with all other information, during the class placement process.

A question was asked at P&C about procedures the school will take if the school receives advice from a parent/carer, a staff member or from NSW Health that a person who has been on school grounds tests positive for COVID-19. The department has provided principals with response protocols, beginning with a phone call to our Incident Report and Security Hotline. At that point the Health and Safety Directorate will advise of the next actions the school which will include some or all of the following:

• Communicating with parents advising you whether your child has been in contact with a confirmed case.

• Ceasing operations of the school (where it is deemed appropriate)

• Contact tracing to identify all contacts to a confirmed case. In some instances, this may require ceasing the operations of the school while the contact tracing process is completed

• Thorough cleaning of the school site to ensure the environment is clean and safe prior to the school resuming onsite learning.

Again, we ask you to please advise the school of changes to your email, phone number, your child’s emergency contacts and your address so that you can be easily contacted if required.

This term, Year 5 students will have the opportunity to run for School Captain or Prefect in 2022. The process for this will begin with interested students writing a letter to the principal explaining why they would be a good fit for Captain or Prefect in 2022. Letters are due to Mrs Sullivan by Monday 22nd November, 2021 (week 8).

Mrs Sullivan will reply to each student encouraging them to prepare a speech for a special assembly held Monday 6th December.

Following this assembly, the staff and students in Years 1-6 will vote for our 2022 School Captains and Prefects. The successful students will be announced at our end of year presentations.

Sometimes in history many things piece together to create a heart warming story.  Here is one.

At Sutton village’s 150th celebration in 2017, a  cheerful friendly lady came along carrying a small silver cup.  Her name was Josie and she was with her sisters Clare and Therese.  They were the Damodys.

Josie proudly told Mrs Sullivan and I that she had won the silver cup representing Sutton Public School at the Combined School Sports at Gundaroo in 1938.  Josie could remember nearly all her classmates and remembered the event so fondly.  She also told us about the trenches built around the school during the war and much more. It was wonderful to meet her.

We were so fortunate to be given a photograph of that Sutton team proudly holding the team trophy they won for the school in 1938.  There sitting on the second row back, two in from the right is eight-year-old Josie Darmody.  She attended Sutton Public School from 1937 to 1944.  Also in the photograph are her brother John and her sisters Mary and Margaret.

Four years later, one hot afternoon at Sutton Public School, we were organising the archives. In the bottom of an old box, safely tucked away covered in newspaper, we felt something hard, perhaps made of wood.  We pulled it out and there to our amazement was the trophy! 

The children at Sutton Public School have been learning about the trophy in their 150th history lessons and some have enjoyed sketching it. They enjoy hearing the story of how Sutton won three years, Gundaroo twice, and Murrumbateman once!

This morning, I was so happy to catch up again with Josie, now a proud 90 year old, who with her husband Les, have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. 

‘Sutton was a lovely, very friendly small school. I have lots of fond memories of my school friends and of so much. We walked to school or rode our horses.’

We cannot wait to meet Josie and her sisters again next year at our 150th celebrations.  Perhaps we can take a photograph of her with the trophy again, 83 years after she was part of that winning team!

Thank you to all former members of our school community who give their time so generously to share their memories.   Please let us know if you have any stories, photographs, or artefacts to share with us – we’d love to hear from you.