Welcome 2017 Foundation Students

This week we had our first meeting with our 2017 Foundation students. It is hard to believe that we are in full scale preparations for our new 2017 students. We welcomed over 80 children and their parents to the school. Already many families are well entrenched into our community but we have approximately 40 new families that will be ‘starting school’ with us. We look forward to getting to know everyone. Many of the current Foundation students commented on how little the new children looked! At the upper end of the school, our Grade 6 students are keenly waiting for their first Orientation Day at their secondary school for next year. It is a reminder for all of us that the journey of learning and education is continuous and as we celebrate every child’s achievement on a daily basis, we can also celebrate the growth and development over the course of time.

 

Parent Opinion Survey

parent-surveyWe have recently received our Parent Opinion Survey results for 2016. I would like to thank all the parents for their participation in this year’s survey. Each year, all schools are required to conduct a Parent Opinion Survey of a required number and random distribution of parents. This survey is completely confidential and the data is collect by the Department of Education and Training for a range of statistical purposes. This year our response rate was 58% with 29 surveys returned. The school uses the information to consider areas for improvement and to look at general trends and challenges.

 

Overall we can be generally pleased with our improvement but as always, we are constantly seeking to improve upon all areas across the school and we welcome the feedback from parents. Firstly we can celebrate the improvement in the areas of School Approachability, Parent Input, Reporting, Learning focus, Transitions and Student Engagement. The area of Homework is an area that we will continue to work on and with the review of our Homework Policy next year, it is timely that we revisit our practices and seek wider consultation across parent views on this issue. Click to read the opinion survey data.

 

Sick Bay and Student Illness

We have experienced a high number of student illnesses of late and our First Aid staff and school nurses have been very busy contacting parents. As a reminder, we ask parents to err on the side of caution if their child is unwell. When children come to the sick bay our procedure is to contact parents and request the child to be escorted home, usually to rest or to seek medical attention. There are often accidents where children trip, fall, bump, slip. If a child has bumped their head we will always contact parents straight away. In such cases, it is prudent to monitor the child for concussion or any side effects that may require further medical supervision.

 

We are reminding parents that if there are medications to be dispensed, than the parents will need to advise us and complete the required written permission to dispense the medication.

 

If there are any injuries that we need to be aware of that will impact the child’s capacity to function within the normal  program, it is important that we talk to parents in order to make some adjustments and put the appropriate support structures in place. We would prefer to have a conversation with parents and assess any risks that we can prevent as well as create minimal disruption to the child’s school experience.

 

Please contact Paul Wallace (wallace.paul.p@edumail.vic.gov.au)  if there are any issues that you wish to bring to our attention about your child’s ability to participate in all aspects of the school’s program.

 

City of Darebin: Sport Victoria Netball Court for Fairfield Primary School

We have recently been advised that we are one of a small number of local schools to receive a competition size netball court in 2017. This project has been announced as part of the State Government’s commitment to providing inner city netball court provision in the municipalities of Darebin, Yarra, Melbourne and Moreland.

 

We have had approval of this court and we are now working with the City of Darebin and the Department of Education and Training (DET) to examine the suitability of our school site and establish a joint partnership agreement which sets out how the school, the clubs and Darebin cooperate and share its use. An upgrade of the existing basketball court was always part of our playground action plan and now that it is becoming a reality and with a much higher grade surface than we could have funded ourselves. Although funded as a focus on netball resource, the court would be line-marked for multiple sports. The Buildings and Ground committee and school council are working through the process of what it means for us as a school and community asset and how we can best prepare for the construction and operational management of the court. At this point, a detailed program of the project delivery is still not complete but updates will be provided as we receive information.

 

The court will be a valued asset for the many netballers in our community. Already, the Net Set Go program sees many of our students every Friday, practising and refining their skills. This will be an opportunity for the children to have an improved and full size court for both training and competition all year round.