IMPORTANT DATES!
PRINCIPALS’ REPORT
WELCOME BACK FOR 2024
I would like to welcome everyone back for another great year at Rosanna Golf Links. It has been amazing seeing the students coming in with huge smiles (mostly) and happy to be back for the year. We are super excited to start a new year, developing relationships with students and families and delivering our educational plans which we have been working hard on.
Kirrily has been in contact a couple of times over the break and it seems that she has had an amazing trip. She will be returning in week three of this term, the 12th of February. Until then please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or the team if you have any questions.
I hope everyone managed to get away from work commitments and shared some quality time with their families and friends.
STAFFING NEWS
We have managed to fill all of our staffing positions throughout the holidays and would like to welcome Chelsea, Gabrielle and Gayeshani into our amazing Educational Support team. You will see them around the school working with teachers and students. Our new teachers (Tasleem, Leah, Rebecca, Natalia, Fran and Ashlee) have hit the ground running, learning about our systems, procedures and expectations. If you see them around, introduce yourselves and make them feel welcome. I would also like to welcome back Cathie into an Assistant Principal role. I am personally looking forward to working with Cathie in her new role in Disability and Inclusion.
MEET THE TEACHER
Each year we hold a ‘Meet the teacher’ interview evening. This gives you and the classroom teacher a great opportunity to share important information and clarify anything you might be wondering about. We will be running our evening on 21st February this year. Please pencil this into your calendars.
SCHOOL COMMUNICATION
As we start the school year, I think it is important to be clear about our communication expectations. We essentially have a few main methods of communication we expect our community to be aware of. Please let me outline what I have communicated to our staff.
Seesaw: Is for student learning communication. This is a place where we celebrate student achievement and reflect on our goals and focuses in the classroom. We love it when you read and enjoy your students work. A comment here is welcome and the kids (and staff) are always excited to see you interact with learning here.
Compass/@education: Is for all other communication about student welfare, general questions or concerns. When you choose to send an email through Compass it is redirected straight to the teachers @education inbox.
It is important to send communications through the correct channels. For example, if you send an important piece of information through Seesaw about your child’s needs for today, the teacher may not see it if they don’t log into the platform. All teachers are expected to be checking their @education emails on a daily basis, so there is no chance they will miss vital daily information. Please share all medical information with the classroom teacher and the office staff to ensure your child’s needs are met.
PROVISIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST
We are once again very fortunate to be able to work with Melbourne University to host a provisional psychologist for the next 6 months. I met with Poppy (supervisor) and Jolene (new amazing provisional psychologist) on Thursday and have confirmed that Jolene will be joining our school support team until the end of June. More about Jolene here:
“Hi everyone!
I am Jolene, a provisional psychologist and a Master of Educational Psychology candidate at the University of Melbourne. I would describe myself as a creative, warm, and inquisitive individual who constantly seeks new knowledge and skills. In my downtime, I enjoy learning new recipes, visiting new places, and finding the best Matcha Latte in Melbourne.
Before Rosanna Golf Links Primary School, I was part of the Yarra Student Support Services supporting schools within the Yarra network to champion their students’ learning and development. My goal at Rosanna Golf Links PS is to build strong connections and collaborate with students, staff, and parents to support the wellbeing of our young learners. I am very excited to see everyone around!”
If you see Jolene around, please make her feel welcome. She will be doing some general school observation over the next few weeks to get a feel for how our school operates. Should you be thinking that your child could benefit from some counselling please reach out to me and we will begin the process of developing a list of individuals to work with. Obviously, we may have a high demand for her services and limited places. The school undertakes a triage process to allocate time with Jolene. We of course will always do our best to support everyone.
BUILDING WORKS
The building works scheduled to be completed in the holidays is still lingering on! They have been working hard to ensure everything is finished and up to the standard we would expect. Unfortunately, things have run behind, and they will be continuing to work around us for a few more weeks. Thanks for your understanding and patience with this.
Luke Franklin
Acting Principal
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Welcome to the 2024 School Year!
As we begin another exciting school year, it is with great pleasure that we extend a big warm welcome to all our students, parents, guardians, staff and wider community. We hope this message finds you rested and ready for the adventures that lie ahead.
Allow us to introduce ourselves; we are your assistant principals, dedicated to ensuring a supportive and enriching learning environment for all students. Our roles are diverse, reflecting our commitment to the holistic development of each child.
We are excited about the upcoming school year and are committed to working collaboratively with students, parents, and staff to make it a rewarding and successful experience for everyone. Open communication and community involvement are integral to our vision, and we encourage you to reach out to us with any questions, concerns, or ideas you may have.
Here’s to a fantastic year filled with growth, achievement, and a sense of belonging for all.
Student Leader Badge Presentation
Badges will be presented to 2024 Student Leaders during assembly at 9am on Monday 12th February. Parents and family members are welcome to attend.
Help with school costs
Please contact us if you are having difficulty with school costs. The following programs can help with the cost of school items:
Luke Franklin, Denisse Lobos & Cathie Sutton
Assistant Princpial
TEACHING & LEARNING
Welcome back to RGLPS for another year. I hope parents, carers and children had a safe, healthy and relaxing holiday break. This year, I will continue to share information about teaching and learning programs and related events across the school.
‘Start Up’ Program
Each year, RGLPS begins the school year with a ‘Start Up’ program. During this time, teachers focus on re-engaging students in learning, setting up class routines, outlining expectations and working through wellbeing tasks. Teachers also use this time to conduct academic assessments to determine skills, attitudes to learning and any misconceptions. The aim is for teachers to gain an understanding of each child as a learner so they can best target their teaching to meet individual learning needs. Assessments will include collecting a baseline writing sample for closer analysis; reading 1:1 with students and discussing their reading habits and preferences; and doing maths assessments to identify understandings and any learning gaps.
‘Start Up’ a very important phase of the school year not only to establish the classroom community, build relationships and set the tone but also to determine teaching areas we need to prioritise.
The ‘Start Up’ program runs for the first two weeks of the school year.
Spelling
As outlined in my newsletter items towards the end of 2023, this year RGLPS will commence using ‘Spelling Mastery’ for our Years 1-6 spelling program. Prep classes will continue to use ‘Sounds Write’ and strategies focused on phonics and phonemic awareness.
‘Spelling Mastery’ is a direct instruction scripted program that incorporates the three approaches to teaching spelling (whole-word, phonemic and morphemic knowledge). ‘Spelling Mastery is an evidence-based program that has been used to great success at a similar school to RGLPS – Bentleigh West Primary School.
Let me explain how it will work at RGLPS. Year 1-6 students will be grouped for spelling lessons, based on their end of 2023 placement results. There are six developmental spelling levels from A – F and each level has 120 lessons that will take students the whole year to work through. Lessons take 20 – 30 min each and year levels will synchronise spelling lessons at least three times per week to deliver the program. This means that teachers will have a mix of students from across the year level for spelling for the year, rather than trying to differentiate for a wide spread of ability within their own class. Your child will be intensively learning at their instructional spelling level multiple times a week, using their own ‘Spelling Mastery’ workbook.
The Spelling Mastery lessons will commence after the ‘Start Up’ program from week 3.
Home Reading
One of the most important routines that children need to re-establish with the return to school is a home reading routine. The school expectation is that all students from Prep – Year 6 read at home daily. Children in the lower primary years benefit from reading with an adult as much as possible.
Reading is an essential life skill with benefits that flow on to many other aspects of learning. The table below shows the cumulative impact of ongoing reading practice by comparing a regular reader with an irregular reader:
Jamie, the regular reader would most likely make considerable improvements in his learning in comparison to Tommy, the less consistent reader. This impact would be amplified over the course of thirteen years of schooling.
Many studies have shown that engaging in regular reading:
- – Increases general knowledge and conceptual understanding of the world around us
- – Enhances comprehension
- – Expands vocabulary, due to ongoing exposure to new words and concepts in a range of varied contexts
- – Improves spelling due to continual exposure to words and patterns
- – Heightens empathy from understanding differing points of view
- – Leads to stronger writing as students learn about writing structure and genres from exposure to quality models of cohesive and creative writing
- – Increases acceptance of difference, disability, and other cultures
- – Results in higher levels of creativity and imagination
- – Improves concentration and ability to focus
- – Results in greater overall wellbeing. Neuroscience has shown that reading calms the mind and relaxes the body.
Reading has so many benefits to overall learning and wellbeing. Thank-you for encouraging your child to develop a reading routine at home each day to complement the reading instruction and practice we do daily at school. Be assured that this effort makes a huge positive impact long term on your child and their learning.
Library Borrowing
Students will commence personal borrowing from the school library from next week. All RGLPS classes will visit the library weekly to borrow books of their choice. Prep – Year 2 students can borrow six books and take two of these home (the other four books are to stay at school). Year 3-6 students may borrow up to six books at a time. All books need to be returned or renewed within a fortnight.
2024 Term 1 Team Newsletters
Team Newsletters are currently being prepared by teams with an overview of curriculum foci and other important information for Term 1. It is hoped this will be released to parents and carers on Friday 8th November. Please keep an eye on Compass for an announcement when these become available.
Have a great week!
Kerron Worsdell
Learning Specialist
GOLF LINKS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
MATHS NEWS
Supporting Your Child with Maths
Welcome back to school! It has been great to hear the buzz building in classrooms. Our teachers have been setting clear routines and expectations through our Start Up program, and this has included building a positive culture around Mathematics.
We are often asked by parents, how can I support my child at home? Here are some helpful steps from Jo Boaler (youcubed.org) that you can take at home with your child:
- Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games. Award winning mathematician, Sarah Flannery reported that her maths achievement and enthusiasm came not from school but from the puzzles she was given to solve at home. Puzzles and games – anything with a dice really – will help kids enjoy maths, and develop number sense, which is critically important.
- Always be encouraging and never tell kids they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. Instead find the logic in their thinking – there is always some logic to what they say. For example if your child multiplies 3 by 4 and gets 7, say – Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add 3 and 4, when we multiply we have 4 groups of 3…
- Never associate maths with speed. It is not important to work quickly, and we now know that forcing kids to work quickly on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety for children, especially girls. Don’t use flashcards or other speed drills. Instead use activities that encourage students to think visually, use materials and create drawings.
- Never share with your children the idea that you were bad at maths at school or you dislike it – especially if you are a mother. Researchers found that as soon as mothers shared that idea with their daughters, their daughter’s achievement went down.
- Encourage number sense. What separates high and low achievers is number sense – having an idea of the size of numbers and being able to separate and combine numbers flexibly. For example, when working out 29 + 56, if you take one from the 56 and make it 30 + 55, it is much easier to work out. The flexibility to work with numbers in this way is what is called number sense and it is very important.
- Perhaps most important of all – encourage a “growth mindset” let students know that they have unlimited maths potential and that being good at maths is all about working hard. When children have a growth mindset, they do well with challenges and do better in school overall. When children have a fixed mindset and they encounter difficult work, they often conclude that they are not “a math person”. One way in which parents encourage a fixed mindset is by telling their children they are “smart” when they do something well. That seems like a nice thing to do, but it sets children up for difficulties later, as when kids fail at something they will inevitably conclude that they aren’t smart after all. Instead use growth praise such as “it is great that you have learned that”, “I really like your thinking about that”. When they tell you something is hard for them, or they have made a mistake, tell them: “That’s wonderful, your brain is growing!”
DEAF FACILITY NEWS
NAB AFL Auskick is running an introductory Auskick program for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Community in Term 1! The program will be run by expert coaches and supported by Deaf Sports Australia!
Here are the details for the program:
Dates: 18th of Feb – 31st of March
Time: Sunday 10am start
Price: $50
Venue: TBC – Likely to be based in Blackburn (Eastern Melbourne)
Pack inclusion: Ball, pump and cards
Use the link to register: https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/cf3567 or scan the QR code on the flyer attached!
Please reach out to grace.nicholls@afl.com.au if you have any questions.
“JOKES”
Electronic Board Jokes
After a year of preparing jokes for the electronic display boards, I am no longer the comedian I once was and require student assistance! If you would like to have your joke or riddle featured on the display boards, please email it to Sarah at sarah.mclellan@education.vic.gov.au or come and tell me it when you see me in the school grounds!
CANTEEN
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Disclaimer: Rosanna Golf Links Primary School (RGLPS) does not endorse any product or service advertised in this newsletter. RGLPS takes no responsibility for the content of advertisements or the quality and reliability of products or services offered in the advertisements
