Principal's Report
School Review
This week our staff and families engaged in rich conversations with the School Review team. We welcomed Noel, Paul and Maria to our great school and loved hearing some of their own personal stories at the opening meeting. Over the three days we all enjoyed sharing all our great news stories. This opportunity allowed a broad range of conversations to share our current work and ways we are working hard to support our students. On the final day we heard affirmations of our great practices and heard great feedback for the next lift for our school. The reviewers shared that they spoke to 15 parents, 19 students & 54 staff. Collectively the voice expressed the following key affirmations:
- Student centred approach from all staff. Our kids come first.
- There is a positive working environment, teachers and leaders are collegial and are united in this relationship to support students
- Our school community partnerships were a stand out with purposeful and meaningful relationships specifically targeted to support the students here at Bowen State.
- There was a high level of respect between teachers, leaders and students in the school and the reviewers felt the “voice” was extremely strong around this.
I would like to thank our staff for their openness and willingness to share the work. A huge thank you to our office staff and leadership team for their hard work in preparation for this event. Congratulations to the whole school community. It is important we now celebrate these great affirmations and reflect on why we hold these practices close to our heart. Over the next four years we look forward to embedding the 5 key recommendations into our every day work. Imagine in 4 years reflecting back to how these improvements will position our school in this great community.
P & C AGM
Congratulations to the members elected at our annual P&C AGM this week. I would like to introduce our executive for 2022.
President: Kirsten Siggens
Vice President: Christine Chambers
Secretary: Debbie O'Sullivan
Treasurer: Olivia Gordon
Prep Transition and Playgroup
This year we are excited to announce that we have Nicole Brown and Sheree Kerr running our weekly playgroup. This community service is an important opportunity for families to continue their child’s transition in learning and a wonderful age appropriate event for families to network and meet new friends. We offer targeted planned activities and guest speakers including visits from speech pathologists, fire department, ambulance and the police. We value our playground and the continued investment and refinement has been a golden opportunity for our community.
It is now the time of year we commence the transition for new families to Prep in 2023. We have commenced locking in dates for this transition and what Bowen State School will have to offer for the next six months. Keep your eye on the face book page and posters promoting the transition process this year.
NAPLAN Online
This year Bowen State School engaged in the first year of NAPLAN online. The year five completed their entire testing on the computers and year three also except for their writing component. I would like to thank Maxine Hillery our Head of Curriculum for her calm guidance and careful planning for the sessions. We found the students were highly engaged with the new platform and enjoyed the online component. We now enjoy much faster results back to our school to look for the next lift for our school. Thank you to the year 3 & 5 teachers for your commitment in the preparation for this import annual event.
Looking forward to sharing more great stories around the teaching and learning this term. Until next fortnight have a great couple of weeks.
Christien Payne
Principal
I believe in: Hard Work Honesty Transparency