Welcome back to Term 3!

It’s great to be back after my short break. The 7 weeks has flown past so quickly!

We have a really busy term ahead. Staff will be planning our annual Sports Day (incorporating our Colour Run), Year 6 Mylor Camp, Year 3 AFL Max Camp, various SAPSASA events, Book Week, Scholastic Book Fair, just to mention a few. A Term 3 planner was sent home this week with students including all of our important dates.

Special thanks to Leah, Fiona and Melissa who took on extra responsibilities in my absence through the end of Term 2.

Student Free Day

As part of Student Free Day on Monday, staff participated in Day Four of The Berry Street Education Model training, with the focus on Character. The topics covered were on Values, Character Strengths, Community Strengths, Hope and Gratitude. Throughout the day we engaged in various activities which allowed for in-depth discussion, personal reflection and the development of strategies to implement in the classroom. A key take-away for many staff, was the importance of Gratitude and how important our role is to teach students the true nature of Gratitude through actions, lived experiences and connections with others. Staff gained lots of different ways to express Gratitude; such as journaling, welcoming students through Morning Circle, Gratitude Jars and reflections at the end of the day.

Reception Enrolments  2023

We continue to follow the new procedure for 2023 Reception Enrolments.

All registration of interests for 2023 reception enrolment should have been received by the school.

If you are aware of anyone who is yet to enrol, please advise them to contact the school asap.

Offers for enrolment will be:

4th August: Round 1 offer – local school and siblings

1st September: Round 2 offer – out of zone enrolments

Staffing Update

Hayley Peacock is on family leave for first 2 weeks of term. Claire G will be her replacement.

Leah Koen is on leave from weeks 1-4, Fiona Prentice will be acting Deputy Principal and we welcome back Lea Johncock in Room 16 as Fiona’s replacement.

Linda Ward is on accouchement leave. We welcome Abby Thomas in Room 10.

Toni Zuanic will teach in Room 22 on Thursdays.

External School Review

In Week 5 of this Term, Le Fevre Peninsula Primary School will undertake an External School Review. The External School Review is an evidence-informed external evaluation of an individual school’s capacity to improve student learning. It is a fundamental piece of the School Improvement Model and explicitly informs the work of school improvement in every school – supporting schools to raise student achievement and sustain high performance.

SA public schools are reviewed every 3 years to collaboratively evaluate school performance and effectiveness. The external school review identifies and provides directions to the school about next steps for continuous improvement. It is intentional and transparent.

The review team will identify aspects of our school’s improvement that have been verified through the review processes, as well as the improvements that we need to make in the future.

During the external school review, some students, parents, Governing Council members and staff will be asked to provide information to the review team in a number of ways. These include:

• group discussions (with students, staff or parents)
• meetings (Governing Council, staff meeting)
• visits into classrooms.

We appreciate everyone’s support and time in helping us with this External School Review process.

Please email the front office if you do not want your child to participate. (dl.0221.info@schools.sa.edu.au)

If you would like more information, please contact myself, bob.bowden832@schools.sa.edu.au

Mobile Phone Policy

In line with the State Government’s ban, students are required to turn off all mobile phones and other personal devices (such as smart watches), or switch them to flight mode, and put them away while at school.

As a reminder, students may only use their personal device if they have received approval from the school to use it for an exempted purpose. Please see the school’s policy for more detail about the circumstances where students may be permitted to use their personal devices.

If you need to get in touch with your child during school hours, please ensure you use the school’s formal communication channels so staff can assist with passing on a message or connecting you with your child. Likewise, we will always contact you directly where there is a need to do so.

Please encourage your child to always speak to a staff member in the first instance if they are feeling unwell or experiencing an issue at school so we can offer appropriate support and follow up. To ensure our duty of care obligations, all instances where a student requires early collection need to be arranged via the school office and using formal sign-out processes.

Thank you to all students who have been making efforts to follow these expectations, and to families for your support with this policy.

While mobile phones have an important place in our society and offer many benefits, they can also put students’ safety and wellbeing at risk when they are used inappropriately. Keeping them off and away during school hours helps us to limit the negative impact from unsafe or inappropriate use.

Having some time away from personal devices each day is also helping to reduce distractions and improve focus in learning time and encourages students to use breaks to engage with other important activities for health, wellbeing, and development including face-to-face connections and physical activity.

More information about the statewide ban, and why it has been put in place, can be found on the Department for Education’s website at: http://phonesoff.sa.gov.au/

NAPLAN – Year 3 and 5

Next week the school will send home the NAPLAN results for our Year 3 and 5 students. Included in the envelope will be a copy of your child’s National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results for 2023 and an overview letter.

NAPLAN provides a snap shot of your child’s achievements in comparison to other students of the same year level in Australia.

NAPLAN is just one measure of your child’s performance. Le Fevre Peninsula Primary School uses various tests or measures of achievement in the areas of literacy & numeracy. The results of these assist in providing learning programmes for students and are reported to parents through our written reports in Terms 2 & 4.

Should you wish to discuss your child’s NAPLAN results, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange a meeting time.

In 2023, new proficiency standards apply to NAPLAN reporting.

This new proficiency reporting replaces the 10 numerical NAPLAN reporting bands and the national minimum standard. Education ministers agreed 2023 was the right time to introduce this change alongside moving NAPLAN to March.

The new reporting has 4 proficiency levels:

The proficiency level descriptions provide information about what students at each level can typically demonstrate in each NAPLAN test and have been written using the Australian Curriculum as a reference.

Year 6 to High School Transition

Year 6 parents should expect to receive correspondence from Secondary Schools in Week 3 this Term (Wednesday 9 August, Thursday 10 August or Friday 11 August). Secondary schools will email out enrolment packs to families. If you have not received any information after these dates, please speak to either Jeanette or Caitlin for support.

Kind Regards, 

Bob