Our staff and students have had a fantastic start to the 2021 school year. Our teachers and support staff were highly prepared in both planning for learning and preparing learning spaces for our students, who arrived at school with a positive attitude and eagerness to learn. I acknowledge and thank our parents, who play an important role in preparing the students for this day.

Our Kinder 2021 students commenced on Tuesday and will go home today exhausted from their first 4 days of 'big school'. Although we welcome new students each year, these first days and weeks remind me of how labour intensive the Kinder teaching role is, and how much the students grow and develop over the 4 school terms. The Successful Foundations project and the changes we have made to how we transition our students from preschool into Kinder, and now between Kinder and Year 1, Year 1 and Year 2 and so on, has such a positive impact on our students' well-being. I thank our teachers for all of the little things they do to get to know their students and build a relationship with them; checking previous learning information, connecting with parents and chatting with previous teachers. 

School Improvement

This year, our staff will focus on reviewing our teaching of writing and the introduction of specific problem solving strategies to improve the student achievement and growth in learning across these areas. The changes made last year in how we approach the teaching of reading and our close monitoring of student learning growth will continue.

Parents and carers will see a focus on engaging students by making the learning goals clear and the next steps in learning visible. We will encourage students to take greater ownership of their learning and introduce Student Led Conferences to replace Parent Teacher interviews across all of our classes. The Kinder and Yr 1 conferences will be an adapted version of the Student Led Conferences as we build the skills of students to share their learning with parents. The first Student Led Conferences will be held in Week 10 this term. 

We will continue to see our garden project develop along with our connection to the Forster Tuncurry Community Kitchen. The Student Leadership Model is going through a revamp and will align closely with our charism and our desire for graduating students to develop a broad perspective of the needs in our community and beyond so they can have a positive impact in the world. Our pastoral care of students and focus on positive behaviours for learning will continue to grow and support the wellbeing of students.

The physical improvements in classrooms and on the playground will continue this year as we develop an environment that matches the quality of teaching and learning in the classrooms. The concept of using 'Learning Walls' in classrooms as part of our engagement of students in the learning cycle has been a catalyst for some simple but effective changes. 

The toilet blocks will be rebuilt some time this year. I have been told they should commence in April but will wait until the first works commence before I get too excited. The work may include a remodelling of the Carawa Street entrance to our school. Both the entrance and toilet blocks will have a huge and positive impact on the quality of our environment.

Parent/Carer Information sessions

This Monday 8th February, all parents and carers are welcome to attend information sessions with the class teachers. We will have QR codes around the school for you to register your presence and ask that all parents sanitise their hands as they enter the meeting spaces.The session times  and rooms for the meetings are as follows:

3:30pm Both Yr 1 classes in the 1W room & both Yr 2 classes in the 2S room

4:00pm Kinder in the Kinder rooms, Stage 3 (all Yr 5 & 6 classes) in the library 

4:30pm All Yr 3 & Yr 4 classes in the library

If you are unable to attend, the information provided at the sesisonwill be sent home in a note. Some teachers may have already sent home the notes with information and you are still welcome to come along to meet the teacher in person and clarify any of the information provided.

Cheerleading

It was great to hear that we have enough students to begin the first ever Holy Name Cheerleading team. The team will perform at school events and compete in scholastic competitions. The team is made up of boys and girls and trains on Friday mornings before school and if you would like to know more about how to join, please contact Great Lakes Cheerleading at https://dancestudio-pro.com/online/index.php?account_id=16499 . There is also a flyer at the end of the newsletter.

Enrolments

We've had 9 new enrolments commence at the start of this year which is great for Holy Name. If you see someone you don't know while waiting for your child in the afternoon, please introduce yourself and make them feel welcome to our school.

Swimming Carnivals

Our annual swimming carnival went off without a hitch. Thank you to the parent volunteers who were able to support us. We understand that it is difficult for parents who would like to attend and are disappointed that we can't have everyone there cheering on the students. Let's hope that the guidelines change in the near future and allow some easing of the current restrictions. Mrs Loring has written about the school carnival in her report below.

The notes went home today for students who were selected to represent the school in Gloucester next week. Mrs Loring and I will accompany the students on the bus, and for the first time ever, our parents will not be allowed to attend. Again, this is very sad for the team, but please rest assured that Mrs Loring and I will take special care of the students on the day. 

COMPASS access

New parents and current parents who do not have access to Compass for any reason, are encouraged to make contact with our school office to resolve the matter. Compass is our student information system, and regardless of whether the teacher uses Class Dojo or another way to communicate with parents, Compass is where any emergency information or whole school information is shared with parents and carers. Every person has their own individual login and the Compass App can be used to log attendance by a parent or carer and/or update contact details. Please make sure that everyone you know has access to help us improve our number of contacts. One important feature of this app is that you are sent a message if your child does not arrive at school by the time the roll has been marked, alerting you if there has been a problem for your child in getting to school. This becomes more important as students get older and may walk or ride to school with their mates.

Enjoy the weekend and I look forward to walking the learning journey with your family in the 2021 school year.

Brooke Stephens