I hope everyone has enjoyed or at least survived the late burst of summer weather we are all experiencing. It has been a dry, hot summer, and this certainly held true for the recent long weekend, with another unseasonably dry and warm week again. STOP PRESS ... finally a little rain today!

Education Leaders Day / Site Learning Plan

Recently, myself and Kat Morgan attended Education Leaders Day with Principals and Preschool directors across the state. It was a day of reflecting on the public education strategy and hearing from local and international experts aligned with the strategy. Martin Westwell, the Chief Executive, spoke about the different ways we teach children rather than being ‘either/or’ and using only one particular method to have a balanced approach. Sometimes, an explicit direct approach may be required or either an inquiry/investigative approach. For us, it was very affirming to hear this, as this has been our practice here at Coro for the last few years. We will continue embedding our improvement around Literacy, Numeracy and Wellbeing for Learning, with a focus on developing Effective Learner capabilities in all our students. 

Kat Morgan and I also attended the State Literacy Summit the following day, which was again an opportunity to hear from leading researchers and practitioners in the area of Literacy. It was a good opportunity to align our school and teacher actions for improvement with current evidence-based practice. 

Our Site Learning Plan priorities have been updated for 2025. We have had a large focus in the area of Literacy over the last few years, learning and implementing the Playberry Laser program that develops phonology, reading and spelling. We also implemented the Dibels reading assessment that enables us to track and monitor reading progression throughout the year more effectively.

This year, again, there will be a stronger emphasis on Numeracy, using student data effectively to ascertain where students have strengths and weaknesses to enable teachers to program effective learning opportunities to move all students forward.

Our Student Free Day last week focused on another of the Big Ideas in Number – Place Value, where Dr Ange Rogers, a leading expert in Place Value did an excellent job of leading us through the importance and different stages of Place Value.

Our recently added third part of the Site Learning Plan, ‘Wellbeing for Learning’, will be driven by our partnership with the Real Schools organisation. In the coming weeks, we will share our complete Site Learning Plan with the whole school community.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all our Year 3 and 5 students who are currently participating in the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy or NAPLAN continuing this week. NAPLAN is a national assessment program, used to monitor and report on student achievement in key numeracy and literacy skills. It is a lot of assessments over a short time frame and all the students are doing a great job concentrating hard and trying their best.

Sports Day

Preparations for Sports Day are well advanced, and we are very much looking forward to a fun filled day. Fingers crossed for some nice weather and we’re hoping to have lots of families in attendance. Key information about the day, including lunch ordering was sent via email last week. A reminder that sausage sizzle lunch orders close on Monday 24^th March at 8:44 am.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

Parent/Teacher interviews are scheduled to take place during Week 9 & 10 over the coming two weeks. Based on parent feedback, we will continue similar to last year’s Parent/Teacher Interviews. There will be opportunities for students to share their progress with families later in the year.

Again, this year, we are using an online booking system (School Interviews). Information about how to book an interview time was sent home on last Friday via email. A reminder that bookings will close on Friday 21^st March at 4 pm.

Nature Play Upgrade

What is Nature Play you might ask?

“Nature play is characterised by children's spontaneous and self-directed exploration of natural environments and interactions with natural elements like water, mud, rocks, trees, and loose parts like sticks, leaves, and pinecones.” 

What are we planning?

We have begun planning our nature play space upgrade, with a small committee formed incorporating two parents with experience in this area. We’ve committed the remaining fundraising money from 2024, as well as some extra school funds, to purchase some larger, more permanent items.

Our next step will include listening to students’ ideas about what they’d like to see and what they’d most like to use.

Below, you will see a flyer asking for any donations that families may have around their house or local environment. We would be very grateful for any of the items that people might have lying around or could possibly collect. Please bring any available items to the front office area where we can collect and collate them.