Newsletter – Term 4, Week 9, 2022

DECEMBER

• Wednesday 7^th December – Second transition Session for current students
• Thursday 8^th December – Year 5 Funtastic Fair, Parent Helper Morning Tea
• Monday 12^th December – Current and new students (not 2023 Preps) last transition session – meeting teachers and class for 2023
• Tuesday 13^th November – Prep – 2 Excursion – movies
• Wednesday 14^th December – Year 6 Graduation
• Thursday 15^th December – Year 5 excursion
• Friday 16^th December – Reports released, Year 4 excursion, Year 3 excursion, Last Canteen Day
• Monday 19^th December – Year 6 excursion, furniture / class moving day across the school
• Tuesday 20^th December – LAST DAY 2022 1.30pm finish

2023

TERM 1

• Monday 30^th January – FIRST DAY FOR ALL STUDENTS
• Friday 10^th February – School Photos
• Monday 13^th March – Labour Day public holiday
• Tuesday 14^th March – NAPLAN fortnight window begins
• Thursday 6^th April – last day of Term 2

TERM 2 – first day will be a curriculum day as the second day is ANZAC Day public holiday. Term 2 begins on Wednesday 26^th April

On Tuesday we had our first whole school transition session. During this time the students met the teachers who will be teaching those year levels in 2023. This week and next week they will be undertaking sessions with these teachers. On Monday 12^th December, 9.10am – 11am the students will be meeting their teacher for 2023 and their class members.

We were thrilled this week to read the attached write up in the Geelong Advertiser highlighting the achievements of our students in NAPLAN over the last five years. While this news was not surprising, it was pleasing to see our students’ achievements highlighted within the broader community.

This data can be attributed to many factors, some of which include – high impact teaching and consistent practice, genuine student engagement and relationships, along with most importantly the strength of our home/school partnerships.

All students should be congratulated on this fabulous achievement. We are certainly very proud of them all.

What is it?
As part of our inquiry this term, the Year 5’s have been creating wonderful items that can be purchased by students throughout the school. Each Year level will get a chance to come and browse the items at our Funtastic Fair!

When is it?
The fair will be held on Thursday 8^th December between 11.30am – 1.30pm.

Where is it?
The fair will be on the Senior Basketball court.

• Items containing food will be wrapped and packaged.
• We ask that students bring no more than $5

This has been our first full year since 2019 and it certainly has been a big one!

Our students have been terrific. They have demonstrated adaptability, care, and teamwork throughout this year. I would like to acknowledge the incredible work of all our staff, who have taken on additional roles to support colleagues and always go above and beyond to ensure the kids in their care have had a great day. I am personally extremely happy that we are finally at tender for our Capital Works project, which will mean that we will finally see some progress at the start of 2023.

There has been much to celebrate, and plenty of improvement initiatives implemented within the school. We are very pleased with the progress of these initiatives, and proud of the high performing learning culture that exists within Bellaire.

Please refer to the list below. I wanted to provide you all with an overview of some of these initiatives, which only scratches the surface in regards to the happenings within the school.

Implementation of the whole-school P-6 Health and Wellbeing curriculum

• Teachers allocate time for this curriculum to be taught each week, which encompasses Resilience, Rights, and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) and school-wide positive behaviours / value-based learning opportunities.

Inclusive Practices, Wellbeing, and Student Support

• We employed Alex Forssman as our Inclusive Practices Learning Specialist to coach staff throughout the school about best-practice inclusion and differentiation, as well as coordinate and implement Disability Inclusion (DET initiative).
• Training of school’s therapy dogs (Link and Vinnie) through Lead the Way
• Continued implementation of start-of-year Learning to Learn program
• Continued implementation of successful Kinder – Prep and Year 6 – Secondary transition programs as well as our in school transition sessions
• Development of break-time clubs (through utilising Student Voice)
• Continued additional supervision of students by ES staff members (Passive Play space, yard duty areas, Library)

Staffing

• Employment of Speech Pathologist 1 day per
  • 2023 – Continue employment of Speech Pathologist 3 x days per fortnight, who will also work with a senior/experienced staff member to coordinate and oversee our school’s Oral Language program
• Employment of Social Worker 1 day per week
  • 2023 – 2 days per week

Learning Support and Extension

• Continued implementation of school’s Oral Language program
• Continued implementation of the Tutor Learning Initiative
• Employment of 15 additional Education Support Staff to work supporting students in classrooms
• Continuation of Maths Olympiad, coordinated by a senior/experienced member of staff, for high achieving students.
• Continued participation in the Victorian High Ability Program (VHAP) to provide extension opportunities to high achieving senior students

Teacher Development

• Continued coaching of teachers by our 2 x Learning Specialists, with a particular focus on improving teacher practice in the area of Numeracy
• Prioritising classroom inclusive practices coaching
• Continued focus on classroom differentiation, including task development, student grouping, conferring.
• Partnered with Deakin University to plan implementation of an interdisciplinary maths and science project with senior students in 2023
• Cultural Understanding and Safety Training (CUST) Professional development for staff

Other

• School Camps – 4 x successful camps held throughout the year
• School Concert – successful held whole-school concert for all year levels
• Swimming Program
• Excursions – incursions and excursions held for all year levels
• Sports competitions – including prioritising sending a staff member to all events
• Junior School Council – worked hard to provide unique events and opportunities to raise funds and awareness for various initiatives and charities e.g. casual dress / dress up days each term, selling of icy poles,
• Relocation of school canteen – due to Capital Works demolition
• Reintroduction of parent helpers into the classroom learning environments

Principal

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