Newsletter 4, Term 4 4th December 2021 Dear Parents and Carers The end of the school year is rapidly drawing to a close. It has been a very busy term, with so many things pushed back during the year, and as a result everyone, staff and students, are very tired and looking forward to the holidays like no other, I suspect. It has also been a very successful year, and we have much to celebrate. At the start of the year, we ran some workshops to identify the key focus areas, which were set out in the document “Castletown Keys – Key Actions 2020” (available on our school’s website). We created five operational focus areas: Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Well-being, Information and Communication Technologies and Sustainability. Our staff all joined one of these planning teams, and a number of points were identified from the three-year business plan for this year. I am very pleased to report that, despite the considerable interruptions of Covid, we have been able to achieve almost all of these in full, or at least partially. A great deal of work and effort has gone into this achievement, and in some cases the absence of the majority of students in April/May enabled us to carry out some professional learning and organisation during that time. Next year will be a year of consolidation of our Whole-School Approaches, with the aim to finish off the implementation of those areas still in progress; and to embed the practices in our plan such as Talk For Writing, Friendology, iMaths, the various Sustainability Education practices that have commenced, and the expansion of our intervention and extension programs such as Mini-lit, Macqlit, Tournament of Minds and Reading extension. This year has also seen a great deal of work done to improve the facilities in the school, much of which was initiated by previous principal Colin Brand. Colin visited the school earlier this year and was very pleased to see these improvements have been carried out. Well over a million dollars was spent on our school this year. This includes improvement to drainage, new veranda roofing and surfacing, replacement of benches and bag hooks, ceiling refits, toilet upgrades and painting. The painting of all of our brown brick has given the school a fresh look, and noticeably lifted the spirits of us all. Castle Points Redemption This year we introduced the PBIS Rewards app, which we use to acknowledge and promote desired behaviour in our school. This has been very successful, as it enables us to clearly articulate and teach our behaviour expectations, and recognise those children who do the right thing, on a random basis. Our students are now having fun redeeming their “Castle Points”, as we call them, for reward activities and privileges. One event coming up next week is a Cinema Excursion, in which 80 lucky students have won a free trip to the movies at Fenwick Cinema. This will include bus transport, movie ticket, popcorn and drink. Some kids had over 100 points, and purchased multiple tickets. I am very much looking forward to leading this excursion!
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Newsletter 4, Term 4
4th December 2021
Dear Parents and Carers
The end of the school year is rapidly drawing to a close. It has been a very busy term, with so many things pushed back
during the year, and as a result everyone, staff and students, are very tired and looking forward to the holidays like no
other, I suspect.
It has also been a very successful year, and we have much to celebrate. At the start of the year, we ran some workshops
to identify the key focus areas, which were set out in the document “Castletown Keys – Key Actions 2020” (available
on our school’s website). We created five operational focus areas: Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Well-being,
Information and Communication Technologies and Sustainability. Our staff all joined one of these planning teams, and
a number of points were identified from the three-year business plan for this year.
I am very pleased to report that, despite the considerable interruptions of Covid, we have been able to achieve almost
all of these in full, or at least partially. A great deal of work and effort has gone into this achievement, and in some
cases the absence of the majority of students in April/May enabled us to carry out some professional learning and
organisation during that time.
Next year will be a year of consolidation of our Whole-School Approaches, with the aim to finish off the
implementation of those areas still in progress; and to embed the practices in our plan such as Talk For Writing,
Friendology, iMaths, the various Sustainability Education practices that have commenced, and the expansion of our
intervention and extension programs such as Mini-lit, Macqlit, Tournament of Minds and Reading extension.
This year has also seen a great deal of work done to improve the facilities in the school, much of which was initiated
by previous principal Colin Brand. Colin visited the school earlier this year and was very pleased to see these
improvements have been carried out. Well over a million dollars was spent on our school this year. This includes
improvement to drainage, new veranda roofing and surfacing, replacement of benches and bag hooks, ceiling refits,
toilet upgrades and painting. The painting of all of our brown brick has given the school a fresh look, and noticeably
lifted the spirits of us all.
Castle Points Redemption
This year we introduced the PBIS Rewards app, which we use to acknowledge
and promote desired behaviour in our school. This has been very successful, as
it enables us to clearly articulate and teach our behaviour expectations, and
recognise those children who do the right thing, on a random basis. Our
students are now having fun redeeming their “Castle Points”, as we call them,
for reward activities and privileges.
One event coming up next week is a Cinema Excursion, in which 80 lucky
students have won a free trip to the movies at Fenwick Cinema. This will
include bus transport, movie ticket, popcorn and drink. Some kids had over 100
points, and purchased multiple tickets. I am very much looking forward to leading this excursion!
End of Year Events
Next Friday December 11th at 11.30am, we are holding our Presentation Assembly. This will be in the old assembly
area, as we can accommodate more people in the open space. We will celebrate the year’s achievements, and
acknowledge those students who have performed exceptionally well.
In the last week, the Year 6 students will be acknowledged with their Graduation Ceremony at 11.30am on Monday
14th, and their dinner on Tuesday evening. I know they are very excited about this.
Following that, we will have a nice quiet cruise through to the end of the year on Thursday (we hope). Friday 18th is a
school development day, with our staff finishing at midday as we have traded off half of this day through additional
after hours professional learning.
Student Reports
These are in the pipeline now and will be ready for distribution in the final week. This time, students will receive grades,
unlike semester 1 when we were unable to grade due to the disruption of coronavirus. In some cases where students
have missed a lot of school through absenteeism, teachers may not be able to provide a fair and valid assessment. In
cases where students have missed most or all of a subject due to attending other programs (eg PEAC, Instrumental
Music, Macqlit or Minilit) they may receive a “Not Assessed” comment, as it has not been possible to give a fair and
valid assessment and grade.
Volunteers Morning Tea
On Wednesday we will hold a morning tea to thank the army of parents, grandparents and community members who
have assisted in our school over the year. One of the special features I have noticed about this school is the wonderful
support we enjoy from volunteers – it does make a big difference to the quality of learning experiences we can offer
our students. If you can’t make it to the event, please accept a sincere thank you from me on behalf of the school, for
your invaluable contribution.
P&C and School Board
Perhaps the greatest contribution parents can make to their children’s school is to serve on the P&C or School Board.
These roles involve time and energy, and are essential to the successful operation of a school.
This evening we will host a reception to thank the board members and P&C executive.
Board members:
Staff Reps: Ashley Weckert, Madi Wickstein, Michelle Holthouse, David McLaren.
Parent Reps: Tania Wright (Chair), Marnie Fels, Ian Richardson, Michael Drake-Brockman, Anna Bonney, Janet Durrant,
Clara Graham.
Tim Baker (Principal), Tania Barnes (Exec Officer)
Special thanks to Marnie Fels who steps down after six years on our School Council/Board and 11 years of association
with our school: and to Clara Graham who will step down next year due to her term expiring.
P&C: Sandra Prosser (President), Fiona Ryan (VP), Jen Sage (Secretary), Emma Green (Treasurer), and Executive