We are approaching the mid-way point of the term and things are starting to get busier. This week alone has seen a Prep excursion, Year 5/6 basketball competition, Year 3/4 swimming and the Launch of Active Travel for Melton Council.
Camps, Incursions and Excursions
From time to time we try to maximise the experiences of students at our school by taking them on various experiences such as camps or excursions. Our camping program has students in comfortable accommodation where they participate in a range of adventure style and trial by choice activities. The adventures that students experience at a camp are hard to replicate and provide lasting memories. Excursions and incursions are also wonderful experiences for our students that are linked to whatever is happening in the classroom. We encourage all students to attend all of our events as the benefits of these experiences are far-reaching and having a lasting affect on our students. We are very aware as a school that some of these activities cost a lot of money, but we have a strategy in place to try and ensure only one or two year levels are participating in activities in the same term. We do not make a profit from these activities and in a lot of cases we take a financial loss as a school because we want activities to still go ahead. Our current camping program is a good example of this. I would encourage you to access your CSEF money or the SSB to pay for these activities if it is challenging for you to pay for these activities and you have access to these funds. The other thing we need from everyone is to follow the guidelines and deadlines for excursion payments. We often have to commit and pay for these events ahead of time, so it is imperative that the correct process is followed. Too often we get to an event and there are still too many people left to pay and we have to not allow them to participate.
X-Factory – Our first ever school musical
On September 4th we will be having our first ever school musical entitled – The X-Factory. We want musicals to become a regular occurrence on our calendar as they are a great way to showcase some of the talent we have in our school whilst also putting on a show for our community. This will be one of our major fundraisers for the year and proceeds will go into develop new play spaces around the school. The students and Ms Falls have been working extremely hard to be ready for the big night. Tickets are limited and are on sale now through Compass at $10 each. We encourage as many families and students to attend. There will also be snacks and drinks available on the night. All students will need to be accompanied by an adult when attending the show. We look forward to seeing you all there.
Book Week Parade
Next Friday we will be having our annual Book Week Parade. Students are encouraged to dress as their favourite book characters. This year’s theme is ‘Book an Adventure.’ We will have a parade at around 9am in the gym. All are welcome. We also have the annual Book Week performance on Monday 25th August at a cost of $8. Please ensure you have paid this amount as soon as possible to ensure your child does not miss out on the Performance in our gym of General Waste by Michel Streich.
Hats
A gentle reminder that Term 4 is a compulsory hat wearing term. All students are expected to wear a broad brim school hat to protect them from the sun. We also encourage students to wear sunglasses and use sunscreen as an added precaution. Hats are available at Dobsons and a limited number are available at our office for $22.
Drop off Zones and crossings
Congratulations to all who are doing the right thing in the morning when dropping off their children by driving in, letting your children out of the car and driving away. It is very helpful and reduces congestion and frustration at the front of the school when everyone does the right thing. It is also pleasing to see lots of people now using the correct crossings when arriving and leaving school each day. It is so much safer for all of our students and an excellent way to model correct behaviour. There is still a lot of work to do to get the parking situation in afternoon right. It will not improve whilst people are parking in illegal spots whilst waiting for their children.
Aggression towards staff, students and parents
Please refrain from using aggressive behaviour or intimidating language towards our staff, students or other parents. At times things happen in schools that require intervention and sometimes mediation. As a school we like to think we are proactive when it comes to these things and we would ask that any complaints come through the classroom teacher using your best efforts to remain calm or you escalate things to either myself, Mrs Pittman or Mr Bartlett. We are more than happy to try and work with you to come up with a solution. We will not tolerate parents abusing teachers, other students or parents and any such behaviour may require police involvement or you may be banned from the school grounds.
Mrs Payton
Mrs Payton will be leaving us after next Friday to take up a position at another school. We appreciate all that she has done for our school having been a foundation member and wish her all the best in her new role. We will miss her work in the Wellbeing space and I’m sure many of our children will also miss her as she has formed many strong connections with students and families at this school.
Parent survey
The annual parent survey will be active from Monday. A link will be sent to you to complete the survey. We appreciate the time it takes to do this survey, but we really do appreciate the feedback. We want to know what you think of all the great work we do and we want to know how you think we can improve.
NAPLAN growth
We are very proud of the work we have been doing as a school in all areas. Our recent NAPLAN data has returned with us showing high or medium growth above State Levels on 4 out of our 5 measures, with the 5th only being 1% below State. Growth is calculated by the improvements that students make from their Year 3 to Year 5 NAPLAN results. We are very proud of the work we have been doing with our students and this data shows that we are on the right trajectory to help our students be the best they can be. It also shows that we are able to help our students improve in all subject areas above the expected levels of similar schools and across the State. The data shows that if students come to our school, no matter what their level, in general they will improve. That’s something to be proud of.
Reading – Thornhill Park PS 74% vs State 75%
Writing – Thornhill Park PS 82% vs State 74%
Spelling – Thornhill Park PS 88% vs State 74%
Numeracy – Thornhill Park PS 81% vs State 74%
Grammar & Punctuation – Thornhill Park PS 79% vs State 74%
Have a great weekend as the weather starts to improve.
Darryl Spiteri
Principal