PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

ADVICE FOR FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL

• Don’t work too hard on unimportant things like fancy bulletin boards. The most important thing you can do before school starts is think about the curriculum and the kids you’re teaching.
• Plan grandly, not precisely. Think about the things students need to know for the next decade, not the next standardised test or unit quiz. What do you want your students to take away, forever, from your teaching? Which big ideas? What critical skills?
• Tie your classroom to the world. Help your students analyse issues or find role models because that’s your job.
• In the opening days, keep your options open. Set the big-picture goals and map out the opening days, but keep an open mind and learn as you go.
• Walk around the school and say hello to all your colleagues. There is nothing more effective than a school where adults get along, respect each other and have the same goals. Build a few relationships. Welcome newbies. Thank the caretaker for the shiny floors.
• Make the classroom a pleasant place for you, too. Find a way to have comfortable seating, task lighting, pictures or objects that make you smile. It doesn’t have to be pretty and colour-coordinated. A classroom should feel like home.
• Don’t make Day One ‘rules’ day. This is especially important for middle and high-school students, who will probably march through a succession of Teacher Rules on the first day of school. Take care of systems and strategies a few days later, when students are more likely to remember them and the practice will be more meaningful.
• Instead, give students a taste of disciplinary knowledge on the first day. Teach something, using your most engaging instructional techniques, perhaps a game, a round-robin, a quick-response exercise with no wrong answers, ideally something that involves physical movement. Beware of empty ice-breakers or team-building exercises. Your goal is to have students going out the door saying, ‘I think this class is going to be fun, and I already learned something.’
• That said, keep your expectations about the first few days modest. You’re nervous, probably having anxiety dreams, and students are keyed up as well. Wait for your teacher buzz to kick in, that happy moment when you see engagement, maybe even laughter, and you know you’re on the right track. It takes a while, but when it happens, it’s like the first flower in the spring garden.
• Reach out to parents, who are nervous as well. Ask your parents to tell you about their child in a million words or less. Very simple, and very powerful.

Acknowledgement: “Ten Non-Standard Ideas About Going Back to School” by Nancy Flanagan in Education Week Teacher, August 6, 2016

Primary News

News from the Primary Coordinator

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back! We look forward to another exciting and productive school year at Sirius College.

We will continue to do our best this year to create a positive culture of learning where all students can experience academic, social & emotional success.

We encourage all children to take PRIDE and embrace our commitment to being Inquisitive, Respectful, Innovative, Resilient, & Optimistic- just a few of our core values at Sirius in ensuring their success.

We value your input and look forward to a quality home-school collaborative relationship. Through our commitment to our students, we know and believe that this will be a special year of growth, development, and achievement for your child.

New Staff

We welcome all new students and families and also our new staff members in Primary; Caroline Farag (Prep C), Lauren Mc Cleary (Year 4A), Sadik Kirazli (RV), Sinan Baydogan (TSL), Selina Dunne (Year 6B Maths), Mehmet Yilmaz (P.E) and Caroline Furet (Learning Support)

Please meet our teachers who are part of our current Primary Team:

Effective Teacher/Parent Communication

We hope to assist you in every possible way to make sure that your child/children are happy, feel safe and feel like they belong to their school community. To ensure that this takes place it is very important for me to stress to parents the importance of effective Parent/Teacher communication.

If you have any questions, concerns or would like to share your thoughts, please do so with your child’s class room teacher, as they are the ones who will be able to best assist you. An open and close relationship with your child’s teacher/s will allow you both to have a greater understanding of each other, any expectations and your child’s needs and therefore we can then give your child an even better opportunity to make growth in their learning.

Excursions

This term we have already started off with some great activities in which you will be able to see in your child’s class messages below. The Year 1’s and 2’s have started their Swimming Program in which they have made great improvement in the first week.

The Year 3’s went off the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Year 5 students were lucky to visit Cook’s Cottage, one of the oldest buildings in Melbourne.

This term our focus is Australian History across all year levels so quite a few of our excursions will relate to what the students are learning about in the classroom.

A reminder to parents that all excursion information and permission slips are sent via sms/email and therefore it is very important that parents check on a regular basis. All teacher instructions should be read properly to ensure that your child is organised for a great day out with their class.

Uniform

It has come to our attention that there are still some students who do not have the correct uniform. These include proper black school shoes, school bag and school hat. One of our policies are No Hat, No Play, so students who do not have their hat at school will miss out on playing.

SEQTA

It is very important for parent s to be keeping up to date with SEQTA, including checking your child’s behaviour and also their results for any assessment items they may have taken part in. You are also able to send direct messages to your child’s teacher to communicate with them.

Punctuality

It is important for students to be punctual in the mornings as this is the most crucial part of the day where not only learning takes place but the students organise themselves for the day ahead of them and are informed of any important messages, activities or notices. Arriving to school late can at times cause distress to students and they are unable to begin their day in an organised manner.

I wish all students and families a successful year and look forward to our next newsletter at the end of the term when you will be able to gain even greater insight into what has been taking place in your child’s classroom.

Until then, all the best and I hope everyone has a wonderful year.