Well term 4 is flying along!
Planning for 2022 continues to gain pace and I would urge any parents with kindergarten aged students in 2022 to enrol now as spots are filling fast. We will commence a “waiting list” as soon as we reach 80 enrolments.
It is great to see more signs of “normal” with the students in years Kindergarten – Year 2 enjoying their annual Messy Play days. Whilst the Year 3 students have been off on an excursion to WA Museum Boola Bardip.
You may also have noticed the addition of a new grandstand adjacent to the basketball court. This was funded via a grant which was part of the election commitment to the school from local member Jessica Shaw. This will provide shade, seating at lunch as well as during Physical Education lessons.
The school is also exploring some further seating options across the school for those students who would rather sit and read or chat than go and play.
The school is also looking to replace the soft fall at the Megatoy over the Christmas holidays. It is important that we continue to invest in the school infrastructure and play areas to ensure that our students are engaged at play times and have good quality and well maintained equipment.
Parent Survey 2021
Earlier in the year we completed our biennial parent, staff and student surveys.
One of the key takeaways from the survey results was that our parents wanted more opportunities to hear what is happening at the school and opportunities to express their thoughts on various aspects of the school.
We have taken this information on board and will be investigating a range of initiatives for 2022 and I look forward to advising the school community as we roll them out. One of the initiatives we will commence this term is a Parent Information Session. We will have these regularly through the year in 2022 and these will cover various topics including new programs at the school. These sessions will also allow parents to ask questions or raise any concerns that they may have.
We hope to have information about the first session available soon, however it is most likely going to be in Week 6 with a topic being Remote Learning. This has been a very hot topic given the COVID pandemic.
NAPLAN 2021
The school performance for NAPLAN 2021 was pleasing with the year 3 cohort exceeding Like Schools in all areas.
It is the first time we have exceeded like school’s in our Year 3 data in
- Numeracy since 2015
- Reading since 2017
- Spelling since 2018
- Grammar since 2017 and
- Writing since 2013
We were also pleased that the Year 5 cohort improved from their Year 3 performance in Numeracy, Writing, Spelling and Grammar.
This is a great effort by all students and staff given the disruption caused during 2020 by the COVID outbreak.
What is more pleasing is that we do not see the impact of our new synthetic phonics program (PLD), our new writing program (Talk 4 Writing) or the review of our teaching of Mathematics that commenced this year. The future looks bright for our students as these highly successful programs start to be embedded across the school.
2022
It is very important that families that are leaving us this year let the school know at the earliest opportunity. This information will be essential to ensure the accuracy of our planning and preparations for 2022.
Class Placement Requests
I would ask that any parents with specific requests for 2022 submit these to the Principal marked “Private & Confidential” by the close of business Friday October 29. Only written requests with an educational focus will be considered and whilst we endeavour to satisfy parent requests it is important to note that the school cannot guarantee this.
Squid Game
The most streamed Netflix series in Australia is Squid Game. Many children and young people have watched or are aware of the South Korean survival drama.
This series is classified as Matured Accompanied (MA15+) and children under 15 should not watch MA15+ material unless they are in the company of a parent or adult. Children who watch MA15+ content may be exposed to graphic content.
Unfortunately, we have witnessed an increase in the number of students talking about the show and starting to play their own versions of these games.
After School Play
Whilst we do not discourage parents from spending some time after school with their children playing on the school playgrounds we would like to remind parents that they must supervise their children during this time. Please note that the external access gates are locked at 3.30pm most days.
Glen Purdy