Dear Craigslea Community,

Term 1 is almost complete.  It feels like only yesterday that we started our year.  We have so much to celebrate in our first term of 2024.  On Thursday we came together as a whole school to celebrate Harmony Day.  Throughout my short time at Craigslea it is very clear our diversity is highly valued by our community and seen as a great strength of our school.  We celebrated Harmony Day with a whole school assembly followed by buddy class activities.  It was wonderful to see our students talking and laughing together as they worked collaboratively to complete Harmony Day activities.  I would like to acknowledge and thank Mr Kleidon for his leadership of this event.

Also, on Thursday we welcomed our families into our classrooms to share our learning during Term 1 for our first Show & Shine event.  It was great to see so many families join us. Our students were so excited to welcome visitors into their classrooms. Positive connections between home and school are critical for successful school engagement and learning.  We are planning for many opportunities to involve our families in learning in 2024.

Term 1 Learning Round Up
This term we have continued our journey to make the focus of learning more visible to our students through the use of Learning and Bump It Up Walls. As I have shared previously Learning Walls show students what they need to know and do to be successful in their learning. This term our teachers have been exploring ways to co-create learning walls with their students in English.  It has been exciting to see these walls evolve across the term. 

Our students are beginning to share how the learning wall helps them know the next steps in their learning.  Many students shared that the walls give them ideas of what they should include to create a quality piece of work.  Our teachers have found them an excellent resource to provide focussed feedback to students on how they are going.  

Our teachers have embraced this as a whole school practice this term and I would like to acknowledge their hard work, creativity and enthusiasm. 

Parent Teacher Interviews
We will be hosting our Term 1 Parent Teacher Interviews on Tuesday 26 March from 3:15pm in our school hall.  The partnership between home and school is critically important to student success.  Parent Teacher interviews provide an invaluable opportunity for parents and teachers to connect to discuss student learning progress, identify areas of strength and collaboratively set learning goals.  I am looking forward to seeing our families during the afternoon/evening.

Improving our School Environment
One of the focuses of my leadership this term has been to improve our school environment.  We have been working as a team to prioritise projects for 2024 and to seek funding to upgrade our facilities.

Prep Playground Project:  I am pleased to let the community know that we are ready to commence this project after a successful tender process was undertaken this term.  The start up meeting for the project will occur before the end of this term.  This project is able to go ahead as a result of the generous funding of our P&C.  We very much appreciate their support and I am certain our Prep students will be very excited to play in their new playground.

Thank you Jay: Our Schools Officer has been working to replace the timber seating around our classrooms.  This week he completed the seating around our Year 3 building.  

Additional Schools Officer:  An additional part time Schools Officer will commence early in Term 2 to support the maintenance of our school grounds and ensure we are providing environments for our students that are inviting and well maintained.

Administration Building Update: Our administration building refurbishment is getting close to completion. It has been exciting to see this project evolve over this term. The leadership team is hoping to be able to move into their offices during the Easter holidays.  Due to delays with some cabinetry in other parts of the building the full completion date is now set for Week 3 of Term 2.

Positive Partnerships with our P&C
Last week we held the P&C AGM for 2024.  I would like to acknowledge the work of our P&C in 2023 and welcome the 2024 team.  We look forward to working in partnership with these wonderful volunteers to benefit our students throughout this year.

Thank you
I would like to say a very big thank you to our community for their support throughout my first term at Craigslea.  It is always exciting to start in a new school however you have so much to learn and understand.  I am appreciative of the Craigslea team who have inducted me into the Craigslea way and I am in awe of our students who have a strong sense of pride and belonging to their school.  I have enjoyed getting to know them and being a part of their learning journey.

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely Easter break and I look forward to kicking off term 2 on Monday 15 April. 

“People working together in a strong community with a shared goal and a common purpose can make the impossible possible.” Tom Vilsack

Yours in learning

Melanie Rehm

Principal