12 Dec 2012
The End Of The 2012 School Year Draws Near…. and we look forward to 2013.
Wednesday, next week, will mark the last day of the 2012 school year for students and Friday, 21stDecember will be the last day for teaching, administrative and support staff.
Since my arrival this year, it has been an absolute pleasure being part of the staff team bringing a quality education to the students at Wellington Public School.
The staff are very professional in their various roles and responsibilities. Most importantly, our staff care about our students and work together to do the best for every child.
As well as tending to the learning needs of children the staff are about providing experiences that help build essential skills to cope with the rigors of an ever-changing world. We attempt to equip children for the uncertainties and technologies of the 21stCentury and give them experiences that will remain as special memories for the rest of their lives.
Some new initiatives we hope to add to our already comprehensive list of programs and learning tools will be, ‘L3', ‘Focus on Reading', ‘Kidsmatter' and the ‘8 Ways of Knowing'.
L3 is a quality Literacy program specifically for Kindergarten classes and we are very excited about the possibilities for improved student outcomes.
Focus on Reading is a 3-6 program aimed at improving reading and by reading's very own definition, this means that it is a program focusing heavily on reading comprehension.
The 8 Ways of Knowing belongs to the pedagogy (the science and art)of teaching indigenous students. This will potentially change teaching philosophies where we fit it in with our quality teaching framework and constantly look for models of best classroom practice.
Kidsmatter, is not a program, but rather a strategy, used to promote positive mental wellbeing in students. This strategy is supported nationally and is now very popular in many schools across the country. Testimonials bear witness to the widespread success of incorporating Kidsmatter into the way schools operate. This certainly doesn't take the place of Positive Behaviour for Learning but they will complement each other.
2013 should be an exciting year in our professional learning.
All of this couples with the following mean that we are going to continue to function better than ever.
Our Learning Support team will continue to identify social, emotional, behavioural, welfare and academic needs of students.
Our Learning and Support teachers will work tirelessly to support students and their teachers within the context of the classroom.
Additional support will again be available to close the gap in the performances of our indigenous and non-indigenous students and foster improved outcomes that will push more students up into the competency bands in an array of school and national assessments.
Our instructional leader and our extra coaching role we have created will enhance professional learning and growth in exemplary teaching practice. This well-resourced position will focus on K-2 as prescribed by our guidelines but we will draw changes from this experience that will benefit the whole school.
We have established two extra classes again next year through the continuation of National Partnerships funding and Equity funding, so as to effectively reduce class sizes and improve the ratio in teaching to more effectively engage students.
We are also able to continue to release teachers on stages so that they can continue to have regular discussions around planning, programming, assessment and evaluation and reporting – all integral parts of the learning cycle.
…. and there will be more as the year unfolds for the future holds many unknowns.