Calliope State School eNewsletter

Principal's Piece

STAFFING - PRINCIPAL

My contract has been extended and I will now be Acting Principal here at Calliope State School until end of the 2021 school year. Moira McKenzie extended her leave and will return in 2022.

EVERY STUDENT INCLUDED

STUDENT LEARNING AND WELLBEING

School Opinion Survey 2021

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted 15 July to 30 July 2021. All families, school staff and students in target year levels (Year 5 and 6) will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well, and how we can improve. The Department of Education sent email invitations to participants in the second week of the school holidays. Keep an eye out for yours! if you haven't seen it, please check you junk mail.

Dolly’s Dream – School Incursion

We are currently working with the Alannah and Madeline Foundation to have them visit our school this semester to facilitate some ‘Dolly’s Dream’ workshops. The goal of Dolly’s Dream visiting the school is to support staff, parents and students to change cultures and behaviours to assist in the prevention of bullying. They do this by working with students, staff and parents to increase understanding about the impact of bullying and provide strategies to navigate through the world we live in today, with a focus on ‘being kind’.

They were to visit our school this week originally; however, with Covid restrictions and boarder closures, we have had to reschedule. At this stage they are booked to visit us on September 6, 7 and 8. They will do 12 student sessions (all students will have the opportunity to work with them), a staff session on the Tuesday afternoon and a parent/community session. More details will be provided soon.

Would You Know What to Do If Your Child Was Cyberbullied?

The eSafety Commissioner’s new video for parents and carers has advice on dealing with cyberbullying as well as tips on navigating online friendships. One in 5 young Australians aged 8 to 17 years say they have been socially excluded, threatened or abused online. eSafety has help, resources and advice for parents, carers, kids and young people about cyberbullying. We can also help remove serious cyberbullying material (targeting someone under 18 years) that is threatening, intimidating, harassing or humiliating.

Encouraging kids to seek support

Young people tell us that when they are targeted online they do not ask for help because they feel embarrassed or do not feel like anything will happen. Talk to them about the friends and adults in their life and the support they can access including online and phone counselling services. Find out more about online safety on the eSafety website and sign up to our newsletter.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/cyberbullying

The digital lives of Aussie teens

The digital lives of Aussie teens 437.43 KB

CALLIOPE STATE SCHOOL STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT

Differentiated and Explicit Teaching

Calliope State School is a disciplined school environment that provides differentiated teaching to respond to the learning needs of all students. This involves teaching expected behaviours and providing opportunities for students to practise these behaviours. Teachers reinforce expected behaviours, provide feedback and correction, and opportunities for practise.

Teachers at Calliope State School vary what students are taught, how they are taught and how students can demonstrate what they know as part of this differentiated approach to behaviour. These decisions about differentiation are made in response to data and day-to-day monitoring that indicates the behavioural learning needs of students. This enables our teachers to purposefully plan a variety of ways to engage students; assist them to achieve the expected learning; and to demonstrate their learning.

There are three main layers to differentiation, as illustrated in the diagram below. This model is the same used for academic and pedagogical differentiation.

These three layers map directly to the tiered approach. For example, in the PBL framework, Tier 1 is differentiated and explicit teaching for all students, Tier 2 is focussed teaching for identified students and Tier 3 is intensive teaching for a small number of students. Each layer provides progressively more personalised supports for students.

Every classroom in our school uses the PBL Expectations Matrix, illustrated below, as a basis for developing their behaviour standards. Using this matrix, the class teacher works with all students to explain exactly what each of the expectations look, sound and feel like in their classroom. The completed matrix is on display in every classroom, used as the basis of teaching expectations throughout the year and revisited regularly to address any new or emerging issues.