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Dear families,
It has been wonderful to welcome our students and families back to school after the holiday period. A special welcome to all our new families, we are very excited to get to know you and work with you and your child on their educational journey.
The opportunity to connect with our families is critical to our success and we are continuously thinking of creative ways to provide information to you that we would normally do through parent information evenings, school displays and at morning drop off and afternoon pick up times. Tomorrow you will receive your year level specific Google Slides presentation, regarding the learning opportunities taking place in the classroom, daily routines, and processes. These slides will cover all the information we would usually present during our parent open evening.
Additionally, later in this newsletter there is information about our parent/teacher meetings (getting to know you yarns), including their purpose and how to book in your face-to-face meeting. Due to Covid-19 Guidelines, these need to be spread over several evenings to reduce the amount of people onsite. We understand that this can be challenging for our families with multiple children across different year groups. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding as we make continuous adjustments to our changing circumstances.
Communication between home and School
Communication takes many forms at Campbell Primary School, to try and reach our wider audience and to respond to our community’s preferred methods. Our main modes of communication include:
- The school website https://www.campbellps.act.edu.au has a wealth of general information and easy access links to our newsletter, drop box and remote learning hub.
- Email: Many of our letters and permission forms do get sent via email, if hard copies are required, please contact the front office and a set will be provided to your child(ren). Permission notes are then uploaded to our drop box in the event you need to refer back to it.
- Our School Newsletter: This is distributed every fortnight (Thursday). Parents should receive an email link to alert you to the publication. Alternatively, there is a link to the most recent edition on our school website https://www.campbellps.act.edu.au
- Facebook: Did you know we have a Facebook page? This is a fun way to share little snippets of what is happening across the school and in Public Education. There is a link at the bottom of our website that also shares the posts if you prefer not to use Facebook.
- Seesaw: This year every classroom will have a Seesaw page to provide parents with a digital insight into what is happening in the classroom. Permission notes are being sent out and I encourage all families to return them as soon as possible so that the teachers can start sharing the learning. Our Early Childhood teams have been using this platform for a couple of years and we are aiming to roll it out across all years later this term. Keep an eye out for more information on this.
- Do you need to contact us? We have many avenues for you to connect with us. These include:
- Telephone 61423580
- Email: campbellps@ed.act.edu.au (general emails and any outside of working hours emails)
- Leadership and Classroom Teacher email: firstname.lastname@ed.act.edu.au (during working hours only)
- Face to face Appointment
We hope this information gives you confidence that there are several opportunities to stay informed and connected with our school. Whether your query is for administration, classroom teachers or the leadership team we encourage you reach out and talk with us.
Our staff
RATs Distribution Update
RATs will be available for all teachers, school-based staff and students, to help everyone safely attend school. This will help to ensure that positive COVID-19 cases can be identified as early as possible.
RATs are recommended for students and staff, and early childhood education and care staff or use twice weekly at home before school or preschool or for use when they are symptomatic. Testing is voluntary. ACT public schools may now commence distribution of RATs directly to students in years P-10, with parents able to ‘opt-out’ if they do not wish their students to be provided with RATs.
Building Modernisation: Message from the Education Directorate:
Over the last two years the construction challenges at Campbell Primary School have been both complex and difficult for everyone. Since the construction commenced to modernise the school, it has been reported close to 100 days were lost due to the unseasonal weather and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Education Directorate acknowledges your patience, and endurance in supporting your children and school community throughout this process.
Lendlease will be providing an updated schedule for the remaining weeks of the build including the landscape works. This will be made available www.campbellps.act.edu.au under the School Modernisation Program tab shortly.
We thank you for your ongoing support for the Principal, Ms Paula Kinsman and teachers at Campbell Primary School and look forward to delivering to you innovative and modern learning spaces that will accommodate your school now and in the future.
Infrastructure and Capital Works – Education Directorate
Building Modernisation: How the school is preparing for our new learning communities
As we get closer and closer to accessing our new learning communities, the staff and students are getting prepared and ready to operate as learning communities.
Students are already engaging in opportunities as cohorts and shifting between working in small groups, explicit individual class lessons and collaborative whole cohort instruction on a daily basis.
Teachers have been engaging in intensive professional learning through a series of professional readings and Masterclasses. In our teams, we have been thinking deeply and applying new knowledge to our existing pedagogy and tool kit of teaching strategies. Here is a snapshot of some of the topics we will be revisiting and learning about.
Learning Intentions Masterclass 2.0Getting to Know You Yarns- Parent/teacher Meetings
At Campbell Primary School we recognise the importance of building effective partnerships with the families of our students. To help establish these partnerships, we will be hosting 'Getting to Know You Yarns' over Week 4 (week starting the 21st of February). Parents/carers will be invited to meet their child’/ren’s classroom teacher for a 10 minute Yarn.
The Getting to Know You Yarns will offer families the opportunity to have a conversation about their child, share any relevant background information and discuss their child’s individual needs and areas of interest. These Yarns will also offer any opportunity to discuss any particular learning goals families may have for 2022. Please be aware, at this time of the year, teachers are unable to give feedback about progress as they are still learning about their students. Families are welcome to make an appointment to see their child’s teacher at any time throughout the year.
Reporting to families
Each term we have different ways of sharing children’s learning/progress.
Term 1
Parent/teacher Meeting - Getting to Know You Yarn
Learning Journeys
Term 2
Summative reports
Term 3
Parent/teacher Meeting - Reflection of learning progress
Learning Journey
Term 4
Summative reports
Information for booking a Yarn
Booking information will be sent via emails on Monday, 14th February except for Quolls Forster and 2W families who will receive their emails today.
Questionnaire/ Supporting documentation
We have created a questionnaire which families can either print and bring along to the Yarn, or classroom teachers will use these questions to guide the Yarn.
If you have any questions please contact myself (erin.minehan@ed.act.edu.au) or your child’s classroom teacher.
A HUGE welcome to 2022!
Welcome back for our returning families and a very special welcome to our many new families. We hope that you come to love our little school community as much as we do! My name is Karyn Penney and I am the Defence School Mentor (DSM) for Campbell Primary School. I am employed by Campbell Primary School (CPS) and funded by the Department of Defence to support students from active service Australian Defence Force (ADF) families, particularly through the challenges of frequent relocation and parental absence. My role also includes connecting families to local community and defence support and opportunities. My role is primarily providing social and emotional support for our families and students. I am privileged to form part of the CPS support team that also includes our wonderful admin staff, dedicated Learning Support Assistants (LSA’s), and our school psychologist. Together we work to provide the best possible support to all members of our CPS community.
We are so very proud of all of our new students who have showed great courage and resilience during their first week at their new school. It can be an incredibly stressful time for students and their families and all should be commended for their efforts so far. There will be up and down days but they will become progressively easier as the term goes on. I encourage any families with concerns around transitions to please get in contact early so we can check in and provide additional supports if needed. A huge shout out to our returning students as well, who have been allocated as buddies for these first few weeks and made them much less scary for our new friends – you should be very proud (we are!).
For those ADF families who have come to us on posting from interstate please be aware of the ability to access education support via Defence Member and Family Support’s (DMFS, formerly DCO) Education Assistance Scheme. This allows those impacted by relocation to access reimbursement for tutoring support in areas identified as requiring extra tuition or where a subject wasn’t previously offered (for example Japanese). Additional information is available via the link here. The application form AD301 is available via webforms for the serving member, or via the DCO helpline on 1800 624 608 at any time. Recent changes mean you will require a supporting letter from CPS which I am happy to arrange, as well as a report card from your previous school. Kindergarten students are ineligible unless posting occurred after the commencement of the school year. Please let me know if you have any questions.
I am at CPS full time from 9am until 3:30pm and can usually be found either in the playground or supporting within classrooms (junior during odd weeks and senior during even weeks in compliance with covid-safe practice). I am always happy to meet with parents to answer any questions you may have; please check in with the front office and they will locate me for you. I am also available via email at any time on Karyn.heitmann@ed.act.edu.au. I encourage families to communicate often, as addressing concerns early and taking a collaborative approach is always most successful.
Next week students will begin using some of the digital learning platforms that we are fortunate to have subscriptions for at Campbell Primary School.
Years 3-6 will start participating in the digital version of the ‘Cars and Stars’ reading program. ‘Cars and Stars’ provides diagnostic assessments for children in Years 3-6 on their decoding and comprehension skills, and then specifically targets instructional lessons based on the child’s reading level. Many families will be familiar with the ‘paper’ version of the program, which has recently been updated. After trialling the digital program last year, senior-years teachers found it to be a wonderful tool to use in addition to their own explicit teaching, particularly as it focuses on specific reading and comprehension strategies.
Next week, PAT Testing will commence for our Year 2 students and new enrolments. Children in Years 3-6 will be familiar with PAT testing, as we have used it at Campbell Primary School for many years as one method of collecting student data and measuring their learning growth. Children in Years 2 and up participate in annual PAT testing on reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, mathematics and science. The PAT program allows teachers to use assessment data to identify starting points for learning, target their teaching and monitor each learner’s growth. The information provided to teachers following PAT testing is incredibly detailed and informative, and is a useful tool for whole-school planning.
Mathletics will also be up and running by next week. Which we use as a way for students to consolidate their learning and practise mathematical processes and skills as a part of their home learning program. Mathletics can also be utilised during class time for targeted activities selected by teachers. We are very excited to see who the first children to win gold, silver and bronze certificates will be this year!
Due to Covid, we are moving to sending out our notes digitally!
However if you would still like hard copies of the notes sent home with your child/ren, please email the school on campbellps@ed.act.edu.au.
The School’s Administration System is presently working on the module which allows the capability for digital signatures. We will keep you posted on any progress in this area.
Changes to the way we use Check in CBR
The way Canberrans use Check In CBR is changing from 11.59pm on Friday 11 February 2022 to better reflect the Territory’s current public health situation and response with checking in only required at high risk locations.
However, there will be no changes to check in arrangements for anyone entering ACT school grounds. This is in line with ACT Health Guidelines as part of our back to school arrangements for Term 1.
All staff and visitors must check in to the site each time they arrive using the Check in CBR App. Students aged 16+ should continue to use the App each time they enter a school site.
You can read more at: https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/
Contact School Operation on 02 620 53313 or School.Operations@act.gov.au.
NAPLAN Online will occur in our school between 10 and 20 May 2022.
NAPLAN Online is a more engaging assessment that adjusts questions to each student’s achievement level. It also delivers more precise results to schools and parents more quickly.
NAPLAN provides valuable information to schools and parents about literacy and numeracy achievement. It supports school improvement processes by enabling teachers to monitor student progress over time and to identify areas of strength and development.
All eligible students are encouraged and supported to participate in NAPLAN testing. Visit www.nap.edu.au to see interactive versions of the test and for more information.