Dear Friends,

It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of Week 8, Term 1.  It does not seem that long ago that we were all together at the Information night and  P and F Welcome BBQ!  During that night much was spoken about the importance of being part of our community and becoming involved.  Last Friday night, the Working Bee was a great example of this.  Thank you so much to the many who gave of their time to help plant, dig, week, move furniture, paint and cook sausages, to ensure our school continues to have a lovely environment in which to work and play.  

This week we had two IB assessors visit our school to evaluate our journey so far with the Primary Years Program in the IB. We have, as a staff and community, completed a 12-month self study to collect evidence against the 107 standards and practices within the IB framework. Yesterday the assessors gave our staff a verbal report of their findings, before they left.  A written assessment will be sent through in the coming weeks, which we will use to inform our strategic planning for the next five years.  The four affirming observations they made yesterday were the following:

Learning and teaching- This was the area  in which we were excelling- they observed that the Holy Trinity ELC and Primary school children are engaged in a flexible and differentiated learning space  where they are able to develop, extend and be supported with the teaching staff and their peers.

Community- All community members who contributed to the Self-study survey or were interviewed during the Evaluation visit commented about the warm, accepting and caring environment that they were proud to be a part of at Holy Trinity.

 

Students-Students at the school, both in the classroom and the Year 6 leaders that were interviewed, were able to clearly articulate their learning, how they are developing as learners and the productive environment in which they were given opportunity to learn.  They spoke with enthusiasm and passion about the school that they are privileged to be a part of.

Teacher, student, community respect- The assessors spoke of the respect they observed in all interactions with students, teachers, staff and families.  This is not something that we can just make happen for a visit- it is an important part of our culture and emphasis on positive and accepting relationships with one another.

 

Last night at the School Board meeting, we discussed the program for the enrolment period, beginning Week 2 next term for both the school and ELC. We will be inviting interested families to come to an Open Session (choice of 3), during this time.  As well as the school Leadership Team and the Year 6 leaders helping to conduct these tours, we are inviting any current parents that would like to come and talk to these families during this time to please contact me by the end of the April via email.  The Open tours times as as follows:

Another discussion item was the biannual Parent Forum to be held on Wednesday night the 29th of May from 7pm. Scott Pearsall, our School Board Chair will be writing more about this  parent forum in the School Board Report in next week's newsletter.  However I encourage parents now to start thinking about what they would like included as an agenda item for this forum.  This is an opportunity for parents, as a vital part of our community, to be given the opportunity to affirm the things we are doing effectively at the school and to contribute to future planning in areas that need further development.

With every best wish for a holy and peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families,

Philippa