Prestons Post
Term 1, Week 10
Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to our Week 10 newsletter. This is the last week of a very busy and productive term. Students and teachers have worked hard throughout the term and we have achieved so much. Some of the many wonderful achievements of our school are:
Completion of our Strategic Improvement Plan
After consultation with our school community and a deep analysis of data and evidence of learning last year we have identified key areas for our school to grow and improve in. Thank you to our P&C for your feedback and input into our plan, to our student leaders who have also given us feedback and to our amazing teachers and school leaders who have worked tirelessly to produce a clear and succinct plan of school improvement. We look forward to regularly engaging our school community in our ongoing evaluation of our strategic improvement plan.
Commencement of Grow Your Mind
Our students have commenced the journey to learn healthy coping strategies, resilience and self-regulation through our Grow Your Mind program. We are seeing students across the school talking about calming their guard dog, using their wise owl and sensitive octopus. Mrs Lloyd will be updating us regularly on this program so that our famiiles can use the same language at home with their children.
Continued with great learning in every classroom
Mrs Beavis has led our teachers to embed consistent quality teaching practices across our school. Our students all engage in targeted teaching each day in the engine room and work on individual learning goals to move forward in their learning. Our teachers share the great things that are happening in our classrooms on Seesaw so I encourage all of our families to engage in this platform.
Finally being able to welcome our families back into school
With COVID restrictions starting to ease we are now able to welcome our families to school events. Thank you to everyone who comes along to celebrate the achievements of our students at Monday morning assemblies. We are hoping that in Term 2 we will be able to once again welcome our families to our stage assemblies throughout the week as well - stay tuned as we keep our fingers crossed for further easing of restrictions. Next term we are hoping to once again invite parents and carers to work with us in school by listening to children read, helping with breakfast club, helping with our gardening club or helping with covering books in the library. We truly appreciate your ongoing understanding and support over the past twelve months where life at school has certainly been different to anything we have ever seen before.
Student Parliament
I had the great honour of being present at the first sitting of our Prestons Public School parliament this week. I was very proud to see our student leaders working together to have a voice in our school. Our backbenchers raised concerns from their classes and together the members of parliament came up with wonderful solutions. How exciting that our Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers will be coming along to our staff meetings, PBL meetings and Executive meetings to share the concerns of our students. A special thank you to our wonderful Mrs Prakesh for making this happen and giving students opportunities to have a voice at our school.
School holidays
Thursday is our last day of school for Term 1. We would like to wish all of our families a safe and happy holiday. To everyone celebrating Easter we hope that you have a wonderful Easter with your loved ones and we hope that the Easter Bunny brings lots of yummy Easter Eggs. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday 20 April 2021.
Have a wonderful week and don't forget to ask your child what they are learning at school.
Liz Van Der Meulen
Principal
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Parliament
Our School Vision
Prestons Public School is driven by a shared commitment by all members of our school community to develop and promote a caring school culture that is built and sustained on the values of excellence, collaboration, inclusivity, trust, respect and determination. By working together, students, staff and the community aim to establish a whole school culture that is strongly focused on learning and improvement for every student, teacher and leader. We create innovative educational environments that effectively meet the needs of future focused learners and create a legacy of excellence for future generations to follow.
Strategic Direction 1 - Student Growth and Attainment
We will achieve this through the following initiatives:
Explicit teaching
All teachers will be committed to identifying, understanding and implementing explicit teaching.
Use of data to inform practice
We will collect and analyse whole school data to monitor student learning and progress to plan for future teaching and learning. Teachers will use data to check and understand where their students are in their learning.
Assessment
We will embed high quality student assessment to helps us know that learning is taking place. Assessment will be an integral part of teaching and learning programs.
Student success
Strategic Direction 2 - High Performing Teachers
We will achieve this through the following initiatives:
High Expectations Culture
We will embed sustainable whole school processes of support for all teachers at all stages of their career to ensure there is a school wide culture of high expectations where all teachers have expert contemporary content knowledge and deploy effective teaching strategies.
Collaborative Practice
We will refine and embed evidence-based practices that facilitate professional dialogue, collaboration, data analysis, classroom observation, the modelling of effective practice and the provision of specific and timely feedback between teachers.
Great Learners
Students making a difference
Great Learners
Strategic Direction 3 - Connecting, Succeeding and Thriving
We will achieve this through the following initiatives:
Connecting to learning
We will foster a culture of challenge, feedback and high expectations where students, parents and staff connect to learning by displaying qualities of learners.
Belonging to School
We will initiate strategies to build a positive learning environment in the classroom characterised by supportive relationships and regular contact with each student. We will select and develop strategies to proactively teach healthy coping strategies, resilience and self-regulation.
Sharing great learning
Sharing great learning
Sharing great learning
Dates to Remember
31st March - Easter Hat Parade
1st April - Last Day of Term 1 and NRL Jersey Mufti Day
2nd April - Good Friday Public Holiday
5th April until 16th April - School Holidays
19th April - Staff Development Day
20th April - First Day of Term 2
27th April - ANZAC Day Assembly
ANZAC Day Assembly
Wellbeing update from Mrs Lloyd
Hello Prestons,
Thank you again to all the parents returning notes and sms messages to advise us why your child is absent. Below I've attached an information sheet that highlights the importance of attending every school every day. Congratulations to all the student who receive an award for their attendance this term. We will be handing out certificates every term, lets see how many more students can get an award.
RFF Term 1 Award Winners
This year RFF have taken on their own behavioural management system that coincides with our Prestons Pride. Years 1 – 6 have been working diligently to stay safe, be respectful and be learners during their designated RFF times. At the end of each fortnight, the class with the most stars per grade receives an award. At the end of the term, all the stars are calculated and the winning class per stage receives a movie day reward.
This term the winners were:
Year 1 – 1 Treefrogs
Year 2 – 2 Monkeys
Year 3 – 3 Dolphins
Year 4 – 4 Killerwhales
Year 5 – 5/6 Kookaburras
Year 6 – 6 Magpies
These classes will receive their movie day at the start of next term. We are also looking forward to kindergarten joining in Term 2.
Cybersafety
This week we had Constable Kennedy from Green Valley Police visit us and talk to us about the dangers of Cybersafety. She spoke to use about aggressive behaviours and why it is so important to try and control it. Rachel gave us many tips on how to stay safe. One of the most important one was to remind us to speak to someone when you are not feeling unsafe. Another great piece of advice was to walk away from the problem and report it. Attached is a poster shown on the day that we would like to share.
Bushlands Nature Play Program
Term 1 welcomed many new faces exploring and engaging in the experiences in the bushlands area. A group of Stage 2 and 3 students particularly enjoyed the opportunity to strategise and problem solve during a game of naughts and crosses. The activity demonstrated that simple games can be played in nature using basic materials. This term, students experimented in the creative arts by using their imagination to create pictures using nature. Students have also been encouraged to draw the details they observe in nature. Thank you to all the students that participated in the nature scavenger hunt as your enthusiasm and excitement in foraging for items on your checklist was the highlight of the term.
PSSA Summer Sport - Payments
Payments can be made by cash or EFTPOS at the front office. Alternatively you can also make your payment online.
Classroom Chat with 1 Tree Frogs
Term 1 has definitely flown by in 1 Tree Frogs! We have been extremely busy during our Literacy sessions, where we have been focusing on making our writing interesting through the use of adjectives and have been producing quality work. 1 Tree Frogs have been busy focusing on our learning goals in all areas of our learning and have been pushing ourselves to achieve them. We celebrate all of our successes with our classmates and are always up for a challenge. 1 Tree Frogs have had a ball joining with Mrs Mitchell and 1 Flamingos and together we have become one big, supportive family called the Tree-Mingos. We have enjoyed learning in our amazing new classrooms and have taken ownership of our learning, to become lifelong, independent learners. We are exhausted from such a busy and productive term of learning and can’t wait to relax over the school holidays and get ready for a jam packed Term 2. We hope you all have a safe break!
NAPLAN 2021 Information
Students in Years 3 and 5 will be participating in the NAPLAN testing in May. They will complete three tests – Language Conventions (including reading), Writing and Numeracy. The testing period begins on Tuesday 11 May and finishes on Friday 21 May 2021. Students will complete these tests online, using school computers.
Why do students do the NAPLAN tests?
The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.
What can parents do to support their child?
You can support your child by reassuring them that NAPLAN is just one part of their school program, and by reminding them on the day to simply do their best. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for and students are not expected to do so.
To find out more about NAPLAN Online, visit www.nap.edu.au or contact the school.
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)
Many students at Prestons Public School have been caught being exceptional safe, respectful learners throughout Term 1. Check out the photos of our students demonstrating the fortnightly PBL expectations this term such as wearing a full school uniform, being in the right place and treating everyone and everything with kindness and respect.
The PBL team are extremely proud of all students for being safe, respectful learners and we are also excited to celebrate with the wonderful token draw winners on Thursday in Week 10, Term 1 for an Hour of Fun!
The following students are congratulated on being selected from the Prestons Pride Token Raffle and are invited to the Hour of Fun:
Kindergarten:
Nehaa - K Koalas
Filip - K Wombats
Dzaro - K Echidnas
Year 1:
Katreen - 1 Tigers
Asha - 1 Giraffes
Noah - 1 Tigers
Year 2:
Mersiha - 2 Monkeys
Henry - 2 Toucans
Year 3
Arohi - 3 Sharks
Charlotte - 3 Sharks
Idrees - 3 Rainbow Fish
Year 4
Jumaina - 4 Turtles
Chris - 4 Stingrays
Year 5
Hari - 5 Rosellas
Aarav - 5 Kingfishers
Indy - 5 Kingfishers
Hugo - 5 Falcons
Lara - 5 Kingfishers
Year 6
Ameer - 6 Pelicans
Amy - 6 Pelicans
Jacob - 6 Magpies
Zain - 6 Magpies
Zak - 6 Pelicans