Dear all,
Welcome to Term 2. I hope that your holidays were filled with fun and adventures. It was great to see our school so well represented at the Anzac Day dawn service at Port Noarlunga again this year. Our community is one that is highly connected and offers so many opportunities for involvement. A great place to be.
We have another busy term lined up with some new key pieces happening.
EMS
We ‘go live’ with EMS, which is the Department for Education’s Education Management System. This is a system that was first rolled out into preschools and is now moving into all other Department schools. We have been looking forward to the changes that will come with EMS and our ability to streamline communication and information management. The transition to EMS brings an increased workload for some staff, mostly in leadership and administration, and there will be occasions this term when we will be involved in training. This means that there will need to be a few more relief teachers now and then to cover classes when our teachers step into leadership. I will do my best to lessen the interruptions to students.
Written Reports
The staff have been working solidly since last year on our new report format. Brett Horsfall, Joshua MacWilliams and Jason Stringer have been leading this work and I have been extremely impressed by the work they have done and the subsequent efforts of our entire team to bring this to fruition.
You will still receive a written report as in previous years however, it won’t be as long as it will be accompanied by subject overview sheets that include student goals and a work sample. I am certain that this new format will be more informative and easier to understand for all. This is an exciting time and I look forward to receiving feedback at the start of term 3.
School Environment
We received the quotation for the Nature Play area and it was higher than expected. It was also more detailed than expected which meant that we could choose the components that are most important for now and then plan for the rest over the next 2 years. Once the company provide us with the refined plan I will share it with you all.
I understand that this has been a lengthy process but we need to tick a number of WHS and legislative boxes before we progress with any works of this size and expense. These parameters also mean an increased cost for areas and developments.
We also received the quote in Term 1 for the replacement playground, shade and soft fall which ended up being more than I had expected – $193,940 + GST. This, coupled with the Playground Inspection report findings, has validated our plans to repair and powder coat the existing playground while funds are raised to replace it.
Unfortunately, we don’t have unlimited funds to complete everything that is desired around the school but we work through what we can with what we have.
You may have noticed the cricket pitch area has been completed over the holidays with new turf laid and looking really good. Thanks to Vicki, Julian and Travis for this massive undertaking. We also have some new mosaic pavers making the path from the office to the grassed area look great.
Danni Baumann has painted a couple of spaces white in preparation for some artwork that she is completing with students. Danni’s role as Visual / Media Arts teacher has enhanced our school more than we could have imagined and I congratulate her on her efforts and enthusiasm.
I will be painting on the cement outside of the Reception classes in the coming weeks as time escaped me over the holiday break when I initially planned to get it done. It will be completed this term.
That is only a few of the things going on and I will keep sharing in future blogs.
Thanks for your involvement and enthusiasm.
Take care,
Marie
