Around The School

Every four years, schools are required to participate in a process called External Validation. It's an opportunity for schools to review their current practices, procedures, policies, programs etc, and assess themselves against the School Excellence Framework. Throughout the process, schools reflect on almost every aspect of the school, from teaching and learning programs, to assessment and reporting procedures, professional learning, and community engagement. Once this self-evaluation has taken place, these documents are sent to a small panel of external assessors made up of principal support personnel and a principal from a similar school in a different region. This panel reviews the information, then visits the school for a half-day meeting with the school's representatives to discuss the submission and gain further insight. At the conclusion, the entire group agree on a set of evaluations for each element and determines areas to focus on as priorities for school improvement. These focus areas help to guide the School Excellence Plans and Annual Reports over the coming four-year cycle. 

Whilst this was an extensive process taking place over several months, it was a rewarding opportunity to reflect on all aspects of the school and to help get a deeper understanding of our strengths and to identify specific areas for future focus. 

Over the coming months, we will discuss the findings at P&C meetings and offer opportunities for families to contribute ideas and strategies for some of these future directions, especially those involving community and family engagement. Stay tuned for more information in upcoming newsletters. 

I sincerely thank Mrs Rogers for her inexhaustible efforts in helping prepare and present our submission. Thank you also to all of the staff for their contributions in ensuring we prepared a quality submission, highlighting so many wonderful aspects of our school. The panel members commented on how the welcoming & caring nature of the school and strong sense of community were thoroughly palpable and infectious. 

We have so much to be proud of and celebrate, and now we have some clear goals to work towards as well. We can't wait to get cracking!

Mrs Baxter

PS The answer to the maths challenge this week is b) 23

The order of operations = BODMAS: 

Brackets come first, then order/indices, multiplication &/or division, then finally addition &/or subtraction. 

So, (5 + 3) = 8

4 x 8 = 32 (in the absence of a symbol, a number immediately before brackets means multiply what is within the brackets by the number preceding it.)

32 ÷ 2 = 16

7 + 16 = 23

How did you go?