Dear Parents/Carers,

Reports/ Parent  Teacher Interviews
Parent/Teacher Interviews and distribution of report cards has been completed for Semester 1. Teachers report that parent participation in the interviews was the highest we have had for a long time. We are thinking that for some families that the phone or Zoom interview is more convenient. Although most teachers prefer face-to-face interviews, we may offer parents the option of phone or Zoom going forward, if presenting for a face-to-face interview is too difficult for some families.  Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the entering of PE comments in the database for students who received an A or B for PE. This has now been rectified and the correct versions have been emailed. For students who received a C in their report card for PE, there has been no change to the report that was originally issued. We apologise for any anxiety or inconvenience this has caused.


Dress Code
Some parents have asked for clarification around the Dress Code. Plain navy pullovers, zip-up jackets,  tracksuit pants,  tights (must have feet) or shorts are all acceptable. We'd ask that parents visit the dress code requirements around hair, jewellery, shoes etc and address this between now and the start of Term 4 or ensure the necessary documentation is gathered if requiring an exemption.

The P and C have appointed P and C Uniforms as the successful tenderer for our new uniforms which will become available for purchase at the end of the year ready for next year. There will be a three year phase-in period where our existing uniform items will be acceptable to wear to school. More information about this exciting change will be forthcoming.


Assembly
This week’s recorded assembly has been uploaded on the Craigslea State School You Tube Channel.


Teaching and Learning
Students completed a writing pre-assessment at the beginning of this term so their improvement could be tracked. Teachers meet every fortnight to track the improvement and plan the student writing focus for the next two weeks.  Reading of every child has been assessed and new goals have been assigned. Teachers construct their reading sessions around what the children need to learn to achieve their reading goal.

The Deputy Principal, Principal and Head of Curriculum have conducted walkthroughs in every classroom to provide teachers with feedback around their implementation of the Literacy Framework, particularly the teaching of Reading and Writing.  We each interviewed three children to see if they could tell us what they were learning, where they experienced success and what they needed to do in order to improve.  We share this information with teachers to continually guide their practice. We were amazed at how articulate and motivated students are around their reading and writing goals and how much clarity they have about how to improve. This was evident in every year level from Prep to Year 6.  In the coming weeks, teachers will have a chance to watch a colleague (of their choosing) teach and provide them with feedback on how the literacy block is being implemented in their classroom.


Sport Carnivals
Athletics and Cross-Country Carnivals are being cautiously planned for the last two weeks in the term. We are hopeful that these will go ahead but we will need to operate to a strict COVID safe plan. This will mean adults need to be distanced from each other and particularly from the staff as this is a current workplace health and safety requirement as outlined in the Term 3 Operational Guidelines for State Schools. Some form of registration and own seating (to be set down in a designated area) will be required.  There will be limited movement around the area where the children and staff are undertaking activities.  It will be difficult for children to move to and from parents on the day as they will need to remain seated in their house area. This is to ensure they do not miss events or can be accounted for easily by staff without the staff having to move to the area where parents are seated.

At the P and C this week, some parents questioned whether holding the carnivals under these conditions would be too difficult and whether we should consider cancellation.  Obviously, these won’t be the carnivals we know and love but we would like to hold them so that we all can have something to look forward to as a community at the end of the term.

We obviously need the community’s cooperation as we don’t want to be in the difficult position to have to ask parents to comply with our requests on the day.  This just gives staff another job to do that takes away from the support we need to provide to children and also having to address these matters with adults in a public place puts everyone in an awkward situation.  We just ask before parents decide to register to come to the event, they read the plan, know what is expected of them and their children and we encourage everyone to come along if they can adhere to the requirements of the event.

Have a good week,

Kathy