Issue 19 Thursday 22 June, 2017

SANDPIT IS OPEN!

It was wonderful to come back to school on Wednesday and see our youngest students

knee deep in sand once again! Not sure if our parents agreed with having to clean their uni-

forms but I take this opportunity to thank April Minniece and her team of builders; Michael

Green, Scott Minniece and Ross Dvorak for a wonderful job in building this for our students!

STUDENT REPORTS:

Next Monday all students will receive their Semester 1 reports. Accompanying your child’s report will be

a letter that outlines the changes to our curriculum and how we report to parents.

Over the course of this year, our student reporting system is changing in line with the Victorian Curricu-

lum F-10 (Foundation – Year 10) expectations. This new curriculum became mandatory for Victorian

schools at the beginning of this year. Due to this change in curriculum you will notice some slight differ-

ences to our school reports compared to previous year’s reports.

The Victorian Curriculum F-10 incorporates the Australian Curriculum, reflects Victorian standards and

priorities and replaces the AusVELS curriculum. The Victorian Curriculum has 11 levels (F-10). Our

teachers have been working towards this transition this year, progressively using the new curriculum for

planning and teaching purposes. As of the end of Semester 1 (end of Term 2 this year) all student re-

ports will reflect student achievement as measured against the Victorian Curriculum F-10.

Importantly, the Victorian Curriculum F-10 is structured as a developmental learning continuum that en-

ables teachers to identify each student’s current level of achievement and then plan and teach learning

programs that support the progression of learning. This evidence-based approach is already embedded

in all classes across our school, with students taught at their point of need, rather than just the year lev-

el and age group they are in.

The developmental progression points as outlined in the Victorian Curriculum F-10 have an alignment

of Levels with Years (e.g. Level 1 = Year 1, Level 2 = Year 2 and so on).

In the example below the blue dot indicates a child’s progress at school. In this example, the child is

achieving at the expected level. When the dot is to the right side of the yellow band, the child is achiev-

ing above the expected level. When the dot is placed to the left of the band this represents the child is

achieving below the expected level. You will note that there is no A – E grading in this report.

Class teachers are able to place each student on the continuum accurately reflecting the individual stu-

dent’s level of performance against the achievement standards. This will ensure you can clearly see if

your child is working at the expected level, above the expected level or below the expected level based

on the achievement standards.

Our school is committed to ensuring that all students at Parkhill Primary School have the best oppor-

tunity to achieve their full potential. Student reports are a key aspect of that commitment.

PRINCIPAL CONFERENCE:

Earlier this week I attended the North East Victoria Regional Principals’ Conference.

The theme around the conference was “Inspired teaching and learning.” Announced was the Education

State “Literacy and Numeracy Strategy” and “Excellence in Teaching and Learning: School Leaders

Guide to Improving Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes.”

We heard from Department Secretary, Bruce Armstrong, who spoke about the need for schools to pre-

pare children for the jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

The Deputy Premier and Education Minister, Mr James Merlino, spoke about the investment the Victori-

an State Government has made in creating the Education State.

The conference moved into looking at systems that have undergone transformational change and we

heard from 3 leaders who have experienced this success.

We heard from Professor David Woods, Chair of the London Leadership Strategy which oversaw the

transformation of England’s lowest performing region to the highest.

The critical lessons learned include the development of a shared education vision based on moral pur-

pose, ambition aspiration and high expectations; the importance of core purpose and core objectives

with a focus on raising standards, improving progression, closing attainment gaps, and creating many

more good and outstanding schools; investing in school leadership at different levels; the extensive use

of school-to-school support and system leadership, having a relentless focus on teaching and learning

and professional development including dissemination of best practice and developing partnerships and

networking with families, communities and support agencies.

We then heard from Mary Jean Gallagher from Canada. She was the Assistant Deputy Minister and

Chief Student Achievement Officer at the Ministry of Education of Ontario from 2008 to 2015. Through

this role, she led the delivery of the government’s student achievement agenda, including elementary

and secondary student success, leveraging her passion for student learning and student achievement.

On Tuesday we heard from Dr. Terry A. Dozier who is the Director of the Center for Teacher Leader-

ship (CTL) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Education where she also serves as

National Teacher-in-Residence and Associate Professor in the School of Education.

Terry’s presentation addressed the role of teacher leadership in enhancing student learning outcomes

and improving government schools' system policies and curriculums. We were given the chance to as-

sess our current skills in supporting teacher leadership and identifying ways in which we can both em-

power and develop teachers as leaders of learning.

Rev Tim Costello spoke on Tuesday afternoon about his passion for social justice and the role of edu-

cational leaders to create a civil, socially just, equitable society and the importance of creating quality

teaching and learning in our schools.

MASTERPLAN:

All is on track for the first concrete slab to be poured by the end of June. Once this is completed we will

start to see the Foundation to Year 2 building rise out of the ground!

Have a wonderful weekend

Rod McKinlay

Principal

2017 Calendar of Curriculum events

Monday June 26 Year 3 Radio Awareness Incursion

Thursday June 29 PFA School Disco F-Y2 5.00-6.00pm &

Y3-6 6.30-7.30pm

Friday June 30

End of Term 2 2.30pm finish

Free Dress Day with a ‘Donation of a Book’

Please see information sheet in this Newsletter.

Monday July 17 Curriculum Day—No school

Tuesday July 18 Term 3 students return

Student

of the

Week

Name

FR Chloe

FT Scarlette

1BC Anna

1S Nikola

2M Akira

2S Hamish

3H Charlie

3MR Ava

4N Ally

4ME Sam

5D Nika

5H Nathan

6G Tom

6SC Tarkan

Birthdays

June

Luca E

Daniel Z

Jessica M

Ashleigh B

Benjamin F

Kick R

Rayyan K

Oscar P

Taylor F

Harry B

Angela W

Ashlan T

Tom P

Ava M

Tom H

Evan l

Leah P

Jack D

Nicholas O

Imran M

Eli H

Mason V

James L

Bethany C

Rafael J

Kyra V

Jeffrey C

School Disco and Oshclub Thursday June 29

Please note students who attend OshClub on the

evening of Thursday June 29 who wish to attend

the school disco will require a ‘return and re-

lease form’ signed by a parent|guardian. Stu-

dents will not be allowed to attend the disco

without a signed form. Please see OshClub staff

and also remember to send along

the $5 disco entry fee.

Uniform Shop Hours

The uniform shop will be closed on Thursday 29 June.

The last day for sales for Term 2 is Monday 26 June.

Second Hand Uniform—Donations needed.

We will hold a stall as soon as possible.

Conjunctivitis has been reported in middle years.

Year 3 Inquiry News

Salvation Army Red Sock Fundraiser

Thank you to all the generous families throughout the school that brought in rice, pasta or a can of food for our Salvation Army Food drive. The Year 3 students were very happy with the amount of items we donated on behalf of our school community.

In this photo the Year 3's show off their 'RED Salvation Army socks' which they all wore to school to raise awareness of their Inquiry action.

Advertising

Thank you to the many responses to the Year 3 Flexibuzz message asking for 'Guest speakers about Advertising'. This week the Year 3's were empowered by the two talks they had from Emma and Tash. They learnt that:

* There are different types, styles and locations of advertising for different purposes.

* There are different ways to make advertising effective and to influ-ence our choices.

* There is a connection between advertising and a target group.

Now the students will begin to plan and make their own advertisements for a given product!

Dyon Hunt, Anne McGregor & Sarah Robinson

Year 3 Teachers

INTERVIEW WITH A TEACHER: Suzanne Carmody

1. When did you start at Parkhill and what is your role? I have been at Parkhill since 2012. My role as Chaplain is to help care for the wellbeing of any and all members of our com-munity. 2. What are your highlights about working at Parkhill? Seeing kids that were struggling with a particular issue get that behind them and go on to do well. Also there was one occasion where a student and I had to chase a pigeon out of the chook pen. I'm not sure if it was exactly a highlight but definitely unforgettable!!

3. What is something that few people know about you? I've always been fascinated by space and when I was a little kid I wanted to be an astronaut. 4. Tell us about your interests? I love all things nerdy from sci-fi movies to Dungeons and Dragon and I love the arts, especially musi-cal theatre and painting.

PARKHILL PFA NEWSLETTER 22 June 2017

President: Vanessa Cowley Vice President: Katrina Battle

Treasurer: Sumi Sundram Secretary: Kylie Touloupis

Committee Members: Wendy Douglas, Mark Havas, Lisa Jacobson, April Minniece, Anny Murray, Chrissy Robertson, Naomi Bishop

Calendar

Thursday June 29 School Disco - CASH ONLY F-Y2 5.00-6.00pm &

Y3-6 6.30-7.30pm

Thank You! Thank you to all those who attended the Inaugural Parkhilll “COMEDY FOR A CAUSE” night in the Roger Beech Hall. It was a rather naughty night, full of irreverent humour, belly laughs, and delicious, indulgent snacks! ( and a little bit of wine ) Our thanks go to Mark Havas, Wendy Douglas, Kylie Touloupis, Kylie Brown, Sumi Sundram, Vanessa Cowley, Kirsten Majidi, and Anny Murray for providing delicious pies, pizza, home made cupcakes and biscuits. Thank you to Michelle Turner and Kirsten Majidi who helped out on the door! We are very grateful to all those parents who so kindly helped us pack up at the end of the night.

A special mention goes to Hannah and Madison and their families who dedicated their Saturday to selling the remaining packs of baked goods to raise money for the new playground equipment. Thank you Hannah and Madison.

Raffle Sponsors We would also like to thank our generous raffle sponsors, The Big Bubble for the BIG pack including 5kg laundry powder, 5 litres of dishwashing liquid, 2.4kg of dishwasher powder and…….48 rolls of toilet paper! Russell from The Big Bubble has very kindly donated 4 more of these enormous packs to be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the school. Go to www.thebigbubble.com.au for product details, bids can be placed at the display at the office. Big thanks to Helen Karalexis for donating the fabulous Tupperware wok. Congratulations to the lucky winners! Intimo Lingerie For all your intimo lingerie needs please call Janine Brewster on 0415 199 105. Individual or group/party bookings catered for. Parkhill Primary School will receive 5% of the commission on sales asso-ciated with the school. An extensive range of clothing and lingerie items can be viewed at www.intimo.com.au School Disco – Futuristic Sci-Fi June 29 Preparations for the annual Parkhill Primary School Disco are underway! We are inviting volunteers to assist with decorating the hall and helping out on the evening. There are several different time slots available in which to help. It’s such a fun event for the children, and the perfect opportunity for those parents who aren’t often able to volunteer at Parkhill during school hours. You can sign up by following this link http://signup.com/go/CepPSmh or by contacting Helen directly at h_dimo@yahoo.com *signup does not share your email address with anyone. This year we will be decorating the hall in a futuristic theme. If people have any decorations like silver stars, planets, anything referring to space of the future please get in touch! Thank you to all those who have already signed up for this event and to those who have offered space paraphernalia for the decorations, keep them coming!

SRC Free Dress Day News—Friday June 30

Please note our Free Dress Day for end of term is not the usual gold coin donation!

Our SRC has decided instead to collect books for the school.

Please see information poster below. The poster was designed by Noah and voted on by the SRC.

Thank you all for your support.

FLEXI SCHOOL CANTEEN DUE TO EVENTS HAPPENING AT ASHWOOD HIGH SCHOOL THE CANTEEN WILL BE CLOSED ON THE FOLLOWING DATES: THURS AUGUST 3 TUES AUGUST 15