Things to Know

Learning Technology Upgrades

The School Board has been liaising with our ICT Team and teachers to support our Learning Technology plan. After exploring a number of options, the Board has approved the purchase of 5 Interactive Whiteboards (to replace our existing broken ones) 3 additional Chromebook Trolleys and 90 Chromebooks. This will provide students with a 1:1 ratio of Chromebooks in Years 4-6 and provide additional Chromebook opportunities for students in Years 2 & 3. These purchases support our school’s progression with Google Apps For Education (GAFE) and provide us with the technology necessary to achieve our teaching and learning goals.

Colour Palette

The Directorate employed an interior designer to offer some advice on our Kaleen Colour Palette. The plans below have been shared with the Board and P&C, however, we would love any feedback from the wider community. Please click here to offer your feedback. The next step is to assess the merit of the upgrades and determine which areas are a priority for our school. The last picture was a staff recommendation.

Literacy News

Last week, we had Holly Bidwell and Jack Heath deliver highly engaging workshops and I received positive feedback from staff, students and parents. We also had a team from the Directorate’s Pedagogy section lead our staff through whole school professional learning. Teachers learnt about the new Australian Curriculum English Learning Progressions and how we can use this resource to better inform our assessments and teaching practices. If you would like to know more about the Australian Curriculum Learning Progressions please click here. Alice R (6BH) represented our school last Wednesday evening at the Rostrum Semifinal. Alice improved on her Quarterfinal performance, and although she didn’t progress through to the next round, she spoke confidently with expression and we are very proud of her performance.

I look forward to seeing you in and around the school.

Bye for now,

Chris Shaddock

Principal

School Satisfaction Surveys 2019

It’s that time of the year when parents and carers, school staff and students are asked to complete a short, but important survey. This year all students from years 4-6 will be asked to participate in the student surveys. The survey results will contribute to school research and improvement processes and will be conducted from 13 August to 2 September 2019. Although the survey is voluntary, we hope you will want to participate. It won’t take much of your time and it will help us understand areas where we are doing a good job, as well as areas for further improvement. An email about the parent and carer survey will be sent to you next week. Please let the front office know if your email address has recently changed. Once again, we will be encouraging a high rate of participation from our community and are planning on hosting a ‘Wheel’s Day’ when we reach 85% survey completion rate as a whole school target. There will also be a visual display in the foyer as motivation …Don’t be surprised if you are hounded by your children to complete your online survey!

Our library is opened each morning from 8:30am - 9:00am for ‘Family Reading’ time. This is a valuable time to read with your child before school and to keep out of the cold winter mornings while you wait for the school day to start. All children in the library must be accompanied and supervised by their parent/carer.

Library News

Last week we kicked off our 'Book Month" celebrations with a performance for our junior school from local author and story teller, Holly Bidwell. Holly was very animated and engaging as she retold many well known stories using a variety of props including puppets and lego.

We were very fortunate to host local author of many bestselling novels, Jack Heath. Jack hosted hour long writers workshop sessions with our senior students. During his lesson he spoke of how he became an author, discussed ideas he used for books he has wrote and taught our students what it takes to be a good writer. The session concluded with students writing their own short story and sharing them with Jack and their classmates.

Reading is my Secret Power!

This term is an exciting one in our library. With Book Week just around the corner, we have been busy creating crafts to go along with the 2019 CBCA Book Week theme: Reading is my Secret Power! The library looks amazing with everyones art works. Come in and check it out! It was very hard to narrow it down but Krissy has picked one winner for each year level for the most creative art work. Congratulations to: Marie KJB, George 1MS, Raymond 2FC, Stephanie 3LC Jiya 4NV, Emma 5AC and Alice 6BH. These students have won a $5 voucher to spend at the upcoming Book Fair.

Save the date for upcoming Library Events:

• Book Fair- Tuesday 13 August- Friday 16 August 8:00 am-9:00 am, 1:00 pm-1:30 pm & 3:00 pm-3:30 pm *Please note the Book Fair concludes Friday 16 August at 9:00 am
• Book Week- 19 August- 23 August
• Book Character Parade- Friday 23 August 11:10 am starting at the basket ball court. Families are welcome to join.

Lift off! Year 6 ‘Go’ Program- Save the Date

Our next Lift Off evening is for our Year 6 families. It will be on Tuesday 27 August 2019 between 4-7pm. An invitation and information about the program has been sent home this week. Please return your confirmation slip to your child’s teacher. We look forward to Marlena Basser from Uplifting Australia hosting another fabulous Lift Off event.

National Tree Day- Competition

Active Streets for Schools program

As a part of our Active Streets for Schools program, we are looking to make a number of infrastructure improvements to our school and the surrounding suburb. These include new or improved footpaths, crossings, speed reduction measures and new bike racks.

This term, wayfinding pavement stencils will be installed around the school to encourage children to use similar routes, to remind and encourage parents to use active travel, and to promote the school environment to the local community. You may have seen similar blue pavement markings near other schools in Canberra. Please click on the link to observe Kaleen Primary School’s draft map and click here to offer your feedback. Once we have reviewed the community feedback, we will make any amendments and give Transport Canberra the green light to implement the upgrades.

Out of Hours School Care Feedback

The Education Directorate is seeking feedback from families about out of hours school care at our school – including before school care, after school care, and/or holiday programs.

Below is a link to a five-minute survey that we would appreciate you taking the time to fill out.

The Directorate is reviewing arrangements for out of hours school care from January 2020. This includes how providers are engaged and an increased focus on collaborative partnerships between schools and providers that delivers quality services for families.

Your response is valued and will inform the out of hours school care service at your school.

We would be grateful if you could provide your feedback before 30 August 2019, by clicking on this link:

https://acteducation.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_38lzuh4MMfdCsnj

All responses are anonymous and collated data will be provided back to individual schools.

Thank you for your help.

ICAS

In 2019 ICAS assessments will be completed online. Please note that the assessments will be conducted at 8:15am on the day of the scheduled assessment. Please see the dates of each assessment below. All students will need to be at Kaleen Primary School to complete the task. Unfortunately, due to it being conducted online, we will not be able to make up missed assessments.

Heroes' Corner

If you would like to have your child’s achievements acknowledged here, please email a short blurb to KaleenPSAdmin@ed.act.edu.au.

Community

Child360 App for Parents