Welcome to Winter and how wonderful that it is here! We have had many children and staff who have been suffering with chills and illness over the last few weeks, perhaps this is an adjustment to the change in weather, but we are all trying to keep dry and warm. As you are aware, with rainy days, we have a wet weather timetable and whilst this ensures that the children remain inside and under cover, many children would prefer to be out there in the rain charging around and still playing on the oval. At the end of the day, they are very restless!

 

To offset the indoor breaks, we have established more lunchtime activities across the week. The following are available for the children to opt in to.

  • Monday: Orchestra, Chess
  • Tuesday: Catch-up Art
  • Wednesday: Gardening
  • Thursday: Catch-up Art, Library
  • Friday: Games and Activities

 

An evening  with Wayne Craig

wayneCraig-1On Wednesday evening, we had over 50 parents attend Wayne Craig’s presentation on the challenges of education in the 21st century. We were presented with some thought-provoking information about preparing our children for their place in the world and how schools need to adapt to global trends during this time of significant change. A major challenge for all schools is to consider relevant, authentic learning for all children that promotes deep levels of understanding of concepts as well as basic knowledge and skills. Wayne presented the research basis of Curiosity and Powerful Learning, a framework that we are adopting to support our practice in the classroom. Wayne made reference to the work that we are doing at Fairfield where teachers have been exploring the ten ‘Theories of Action’ that promote student engagement, student motivation and student self awareness of their learning development and learning pathway.

 

Parents who attended this event commented on how engaging Wayne was. There were many questions and conversations throughout the evening and we hope to have further opportunities to share ideas and continue to learn together.

 

The second part of the evening agenda was to present the Annual Report. Because the evening presentation was so engaging and the conversation robust, this aspect was removed from the agenda. However, the Annual Report is attached below, for your general interest.

 

Australian Ballet—workshops for students

AustBallet1An opportunity has been presented to us that we are very pleased to announce. The Australian Ballet Education program is offering Fairfield Primary School a AustBallet2week of workshops for our students in Years 3 – 6. We are delighted that our children will experience two workshops with dance instructors from the Australian Ballet. At the end of the week, the Australian Ballet Ensemble will perform for the school, Sleeping Beauty. The workshops are basic body movement and kinaesthetic exercises rather than classical ballet, so they will suit all children and provide a general experience. This will occur during the last week of the school term, from the Monday to Thursday. We are looking forward to this experience for the students.

 

 

Foundation enrolments 2017

This is a friendly reminder that we are now well in the midst of taking Foundation enrolments for 2017 and if current families have children planning to commence school in 2017, could they please ensure that the child is enrolled through the normal processes. Thank you.

 

2015 Annual Report to the school community

A school Annual Report is a standard process that the Department of Education publishes for every school. It presents required accountabilities and general information about a school’s performance for the previous year. We use this report to assist in goal setting and prioritising areas for improvement. This is not the only form of information that guides our planning but it is important as a measure of comparison between similar schools. We are performing well in many areas but always aim for improvement.

 

Please find attached our 2015 Annual Report to the School Community. Paper copies of this report can be found at the school office.