Principal’s Blog

Our Amazing School Community

It has been wonderful watching the students settle back into on-site school. Our students have displayed such incredible resilience adapting to remote learning and then transitioning back to on-site schooling. It has been lovely for all staff to welcome them back and observe how truly happy they are to be back at school. I really enjoyed watching the Foundation to Grade 2 students settle back so quickly and calmly, and with a new found level of independence and agency over their own learning. There were squeals of delight and so much laughter in the playground as they were finally allowed to play with their friends and run around in open spaces. The grade 3 to grade 6’s have also returned back in the last couple of days displaying a level of calmness and also such high levels resilience and maturity. I have loved watching their big beaming smiles as they enter the school gates each morning. I have really noticed how polite, friendly and happy our students are when greeting them at the school gates. When I asked a group of grade 6 students if they were happy to be back at school on their first morning, they all replied , “Yes!” with big beautiful smiles and one boy said, “It’s better than Christmas!”

As a staff, we will be spending time reflecting on the changes, what worked, what we needed to change as we learnt new things and how we can continue to build on the lessons we have all learnt. We certainly had a massive learning spike for the whole school community in the area of collaborating and working together using technology tools and platforms. In our preliminary discussions so far, we have learnt that some students far exceeded their learning achievements using online platforms as they were able to have a lot more independence, agency and control over their learning, whilst others found it really difficult and that style of learning didn’t really suit them. As with everything in teaching, we need to constantly be planning for individual student needs and styles and this remote learning experience has given all teachers even more insight on how to best cater for their individual students in their classes.

Many parents have also had to learn how to teach their children over the course of remote learning and we will also reflect on how we can continue to engage parents with student learning and achievement to strengthen the home-school partnership that is vital for students to achieve their best.

Thank you to all parents and families for supporting us to transition back so smoothly. We really appreciate you all working with us as a whole school community to support our students. We are grateful for your cooperation and assistance with pick up and drop off and social distancing, it has been extremely valuable and assisted us in having safe and calm entry and exits to and from the school.

We have sent an email to all families requesting they complete a parent survey so we can collect feedback from parents around remote learning. I urge all parents to complete this survey so that we hear from all families about their experiences.

I also want to thank the very dedicated and hard-working teachers at our school for the incredible way they have supported students and families throughout all the massive changes. As I walk around the school, I see teachers and classrooms functioning in the same calm and nurturing way that defines CCPS. The teachers are taking advantage of the time in their classrooms to really connect with children and to bring stability and care to their lives. Through stories, conversations, class circle time and many other ways, they are bringing reassurance to the children and are providing the stable adult presence that gives children confidence and optimism. Children thrive on routine and predictability and they flourish in caring and connected environments. That’s our classrooms. That’s where they are thriving and that’s because we have amazing staff, teaching and non-teaching. I thank them all and I trust that the community also appreciates them.

Assembly

The grade 6 teachers and the grade 6 student leader team are working hard behind the scenes to start assemblies online so all parents can watch assemblies with their children from home. We will keep you updated on Seesaw.

Camps

We have been in touch with the camp providers and we are still considering whether we postpone camps or cancel them. Once again, we will keep parents informed as we have more information. What we can tell you is that camps and excursions will not be proceeding in term 2. Term 3 and 4 are still to be confirmed.

Community Support

We are relying on the support of our community in continuing to keep everyone safe. Please stay informed about new rulings regarding travel, overseas arrivals and self-isolation. Continue to encourage and adhere to rules and guidelines about social-distancing and the gathering of groups. Perhaps more importantly of all, continually remind your children about healthy and hygienic personal habits. Good personal hygiene is the best protectant for all of us and your support in talking about this to your children and encouraging it at home is appreciated.

Please also keep your children home to rest and recover if they are unwell. We cannot have any unwell staff or students onsite.

Wellbeing Space

Kerry Bates, our Wellbeing Assistant Principal, works on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Sarah Tappy is working alongside Kerry for two days a week in the role as CCPS Wellbeing teacher. Wellbeing underpins all of our work at school as we know a sense of wellbeing helps all of us perform at our best.

We are in the process of developing a Wellbeing Blog on our school website, so watch this space. An email will be sent home to inform all parents and families when it is up and running.

Next term, Sarah Tappy will be running weekly ‘Emotional Intelligence’ student groups. These groups will be small group intensive sessions run over a few weeks for selected students.

Emotional Intelligence is defined as:

noun

1. the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

“emotional intelligence is the key to both personal and professional success”

According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who has researched   emotional intelligence, there are five key elements to it:

• Self-awareness.
• Self-regulation.
• Motivation.
• Empathy.
• Social skills

Improving Emotional Intelligence helps all of us in all areas of our lives, both personally and professionally and leads to a much higher personal sense of wellbeing. Students who are selected to attend these groups will be given a letter to take home informing parents that they have been selected to participate in the Emotional Intelligence groups.

Absences

A reminder that all student absences need to be reported to the school as soon as possible, well before 9am.

The preferred option is through the parent portal on Sentral.

If you have forgotten to report your child’s absence please respond to the SMS that you will receive on your phone as soon as you receive it.

The child safety standards, require schools to call parents if the school has not been notified by parents of a student absence. This is a time consuming activity that takes up a lot of office time and can be avoided if parents and families ensure they notify the school if their child/ren are absent for any reason.

All families will receive an email outlining the necessary procedures and preferred options for parents to report school absences. This will also be posted on our website.

Please remember to check your emails and Seesaw for school updates

School Crossings

The Casey Council has informed us that they currently do not have enough staff to man all school crossings across the Casey schools due to COVID19 restrictions. At the moment we have been allocated two crossing supervisors and as soon as more staff are available the council has informed us that they will be allocating supervisors to all crossings.

We are monitoring the school grounds with extra school staff and ask that all parents please remind their children about crossing roads safely.

Grade 6 Bomber Jackets

CCPS School Council received a proposal from the Grade 6 teachers and students, asking for Bomber jackets to be added to the school uniform. School Council decided that we need wider school and community consultation to take into account everyone’s views and opinions before changing the CCPS uniform policy. We will seek feedback over the remaining of the year in regards to Grade 6 special uniform options.

However, we have been extremely lucky to have a private donation made to the school to enable the school to purchase Bomber Jackets for all 2020, Grade 6 students. We are most grateful to the donator for their altruistic act.
School Council decided that they would happily accept this very kind act on behalf of the 2020 Grade 6 students as we thought it was a lovely memento especially considering the 2020 grade 6 students missed a term of their final year of primary school in what will go down in history as a defining year in all of our lives.

A huge thank you to the private donator.

Curriculum Day

The first day of Term 3, Monday 13^th July will be a pupil- free Curriculum Day.

No students will be at school. Term 3, 2020 will start for all students on Tuesday 14^th July.

Please book OSHC as soon as possible if you require this service.

Prep Enrolments and Tours

We are taking Prep enrolments at the moment and encourage all families with siblings that will be in Foundation next year to enrol as soon as possible. If you know of any new families who are intending to enrol their kinder child please encourage them to enrol as soon as possible to start the enrolment process. Please contact the school office for enrolment information. We are also planning to do our Foundation Information Night through video if we are unable to have families on site in 2020 for 2021 Foundation students.

As we are unable to have visitors on-site to run Prep tours, we are currently planning to create a virtual tour for students and their families. We will keep you updated on the progress.

Kind regards,

Nicky Walker