Dear Parents and Carers,

 This week we have begun some exciting Teaching and Learning initiatives in the school!

 Spelling Mastery

Our Years 3 to 6 students are participating in a 20 minute ‘Spelling Mastery’ lesson 4 times a week. The students are streamed into groups based on their spelling skills. The program is based on extensive research and teaches students dependable spelling skills by blending phonemic, whole-word and morphemic approaches. It provides straightforward lessons to help efficiently and effectively teach spelling skills students need to become proficient writers. A big thank you goes to Tiffany Reedy for her work in setting up the program including resources and groupings and also to the teachers for their zest for learning and enthusiasm to adopt new practices to meet the needs of our students.

 The Writing Revolution

We also have several of our staff members completing a pilot project in the school and undertaking training in ‘The Writing Revolution’ (TWR) which scaffolds the teaching of writing in all grade levels by adopting consistent techniques and prioritises feedback as a part of the writing process. We look forward to hearing how this writing model can enhance our writing lessons across the school in the coming weeks. A big thank you to our teachers and Coordinator Lauren MacDonald who are starting their day at 7:30 am as the training is run live from the USA.

COVID Update

We have had some Covid exposures in the school in the last week as you would have seen in my Daily reporting. The school continues to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our students and have the following measures in place to reduce exposure risks.

• RAT testing 2 times a week for all staff and students. We welcome the ACT government extension of this program for another 4 weeks. If you run out of RAT tests or are unsure if they have worked, please consider getting a PCR test.
• Any student who presents symptoms at school will be isolated from the cohort and parents will be immediately rung. Please do not send your child to school if they have any COVID related symptoms. If you are worried or want to chat further, please contact your classroom teacher.
• Extra daily cleaning of high touch points in school and antibacterial wipes for student desks and equipment.
• Students use provided hand sanitiser to sanitise their hands multiple times a day.
• Teachers are maximising all avenues to ensure their classrooms are ventilated and consider conducting lessons outdoors where possible.
• Students are immediately cohorted in their Year groups as soon as they arrive at school. They remain in these cohorts for the remainder of the day including during break times.
• Students have dedicated entry and exit points in the school to minimise bottlenecks and use the most direct outdoor route when moving around the school.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you are concerned in any way.

Meet and Greet Interviews

Next week on Monday and Tuesday, we will have Meet and Greet interviews via MS Teams. You can book a time through the Compass Parent Portal and select the Conferences tab. Your child/ren’s teacher should show up here with their available time slots. A scaffold to support this meeting was sent home via Compass yesterday, and we would appreciate you taking the time to complete this prior to the interview. These can be returned via email or in a paper copy. Classroom teachers will provide a meeting link in the coming days.

Thank you, for your continued support.

Blessings and best wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal