Dear Parents

Staff Support Staff Day - Thank you

"Thank you to Evelyn David-Hoole and Community Council, Carmel, Jacinda and parents for the wonderful morning tea given to Support Staff on Monday. Thank you also for the lovely gifts. We enjoyed celebrating our day" - Support Staff

Mr Dalton, Mrs Levi, Miss Murphy, Mrs Byrnes, Mrs Flynn, Mrs Shah & Miss O'Leary

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Mrs Thompson, Mrs Austin, Mrs Friend, Mrs Regan & Mr Thomas 

Enrolment Time

Presentation of Star Awards

Commencing next week we will present our star awards at an afternoon gathering in the courtyard, commencing at 2.30pm. This will enable family members to attend. As SMOOSH needs to set up in the hall of an afternoon our access to the hall is restricted. Remember we need to observe the current COVID restriction still in place - physical distancing, please do not attend if unwell, register via our CBR Check in QR code that will be located on the wall near the canteen. This will eliminate parents crowding in the foyer of the school. Dust off the cameras!

Compass

Please register with the Compass Parent Portal if you have not already done so. Please ensure your email address is correct for registration to go through. If you are having difficulties with registering please contact the Front Office. Reports will be distributed via Compass so please register. 

CE Changes to Semester One Report 

Our teaching team has begun the process of creating each child’s Semester 1 2021 report.

In Semester 1:

For Kindergarten students:

• Achievement in each subject will be reported using a four-point scale (Well Above Expectations, Above Expectations, Meeting Expectations and Working Towards Expectations).

For Year 1 to Year 6 students:

• Academic grades for each subject using a five-point scale from A-E will be reported using the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards.

For all students:

• Strand Achievement will be reported in English, Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, and The Arts using a five-point scale (Excellent, High, Sound, Basic, Elementary).
• Engagement with Learning statements, which are taken directly from the Australian Curriculum, will provide specific information about your child’s Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility, using a three-point scale (Beginning, Developing, Consistently).

Please note - With changes currently being made to Semester One reports, Catholic Education has also made the decision not to include individual student comments in the reports. 

Dialogue is an important feature of reporting. The Semester Report in this format encourages parent engagement and conversation about student learning. We want the report to be the entry point for parent-teacher interviews so we can engage in a genuine conversation about your child’s strengths, challenges, effort and areas for growth.

You are encouraged to keep in touch with your child’s teacher should you have any concerns as our next formal parent-teacher meetings will occur in Term 3 Week 1.

The new approach to Academic Reporting is a developing process. Further work will be undertaken in the coming months to determine how progress and achievement are best reported based on what we know to be important information about a student’s learning and progress.

Open Council Meeting

Sincere apologies for the confusion over the communication to our Open Council meeting, via zoom, last week. I am still learning how our new Parent Portal via Compass works and discovered I had actually invited all the children to the meeting and not the parents. We will attempt another meeting in the coming months as parent input is so important to the growth of our school.

Key areas discussed with those who had discovered the link

1. Land Acquisition around the school  - work in progress due to the zoning of Urban Open Space.

2. Hall Items - White Elephant sale this weekend.

3. Canteen - Changes required to the phasing out of plastic items ie spoons, cups. Considering other alternatives. 

4. SMOOSH - calling for parents interested in developing a survey to review our service and to consider ways to spread the work. Any parents interested in joining a small committee please email carmel.maguire@cg.catholic.edu.au 

5. Outdoor classroom - Council members support the move to gather new quotes and contribute $30 000 to the cost. These funds have been held over since our last fete in 2020, for the purpose of developing an outdoor classroom.

Principal discussion points

1. Development of our student management policy.

2. Changes to the Semester One Report by CE.

3. Enrolment time and parents promoting the school.

4. Moving to more school gatherings including awards, the possibility of a Father's Day Breakfast etc.

5. Grandparents Day - delaying to later in the year when the weather is warmer, we can incorporate outdoor spaces and allowing more time for people to access the COVID vaccine. 

6. Issue with submitting teams for Gala Days - qualifications of coaches, numbers of children interested. An area we are exploring further. 

Rostrum School Finals

On Friday morning our school finalists from Years 5 and 6 will present their speeches. Children involved will be advised tomorrow what time the speeches will be starting.

Baby News

Congratulations to Declan H (6M) and Layla H (2RR) on the arrival of their little brother Ethan.

Principal