Natanya Milner – Head of Primary School

I’ve come to my office to write my article just after being at an assembly and watching all the children and teachers. I feel so elated that I thought I would share a little snapshot of what took place. Firstly, there were prayers which were led by the students with the support of Mr Carpenter. The children did a wonderful job leading their peers and setting a fabulous example as role models of responsibility and knowledge. Next, the teachers handed out praise certificates to children for any outstanding accomplishments from the past week. Literally, everything was celebrated from using amazing writing techniques through to being a kind friend. The children stood so proudly to receive their certificates and I must say, I was struck by the outstanding uniforms on display – including kippot, the correct socks and shoes. Finally, there were announcements letting the students know what activities were on offer to them over the coming lunchtimes. There was everything from homework club and debating through to innovation and dancing. The morning assembly finished and the children were happily led by their teachers off to their classrooms to begin the day of learning. I returned to my office feeling so blessed for the beautiful community that we have and excited for the day ahead.

School culture has a significant influence on the overall tone of the school. Of course, our beautiful school culture doesn’t guarantee that every child will experience ‘smooth sailing’ all the time but what I do see, is a positive framework for the children to operate within and be guided through their journey. 

It seems there may have been some misunderstanding of our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) approach. In fact, I believe that there has been some comment of it as being negative and punitive. This surprises me as I would suggest that the opposite is true and I assure you that this is not the case at all. The major change with the introduction of PBL is that we have a set of clearly articulated expectations and behaviours that we are sharing with the children. It focuses on offering as much positive feedback to the students as possible, to reinforce our messages. PBL then shares a commitment, if behaviours require adjusting, that teachers use a range of strategies to support this. These include prompting, reteaching, providing choices and conferencing. The PBL approach has really helped to set a calm tone for the start of the year and the fact that all teachers are reinforcing the same messages means that children know how to succeed across all subjects. In general, the children are settled and there is more pride shown in our environment. We believe this consistency and explicitness is helping many of our children to understand the expectations and rise to the occasion. Where there may be the need for further support and intervention, we liaise with families and develop a plan that is specific to each child. These programs are informed by the work of experts like Ross Greene as well as various trauma-informed approaches. We don’t believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach, but we are creating a model that suits our students and our context. I am thrilled with the early results.

Year 6 Leadership Training

Last week we conducted our  three day Year 6 leadership training. We had sessions on values and leadership legacies, being transition people and leadership skills. We ran around Olympic Park doing an Amazing Race and we analysed leadership messages in films. We wrapped up with an epic ruach session. I would like to thank our wonderful Year 6 students and teachers for their contributions and engagement over these training days.

Eamon Lukins did an incredible job organising the program and he was ably supported by Leanne Cresswell, Jessica Neutze, Carrie Thomas, Adam Carpenter and the Informal Jewish Life team.

Purim

Tuesday was a busy day filled with Purim activities and celebration. We had some very impressive costumes from students, teachers and even some parents. Thank you for your efforts!

I’d like to thank the Hebrew and Jewish Studies Department, led by Hagit Bar-On and Adam Carpenter for a fabulous day of learning and fun!

Campus Hours

Supervision begins on campus (in the Waxman playground) from 7.30 am. Unless your child is going straight to an early activity such as choir, band or sport, please do not drop them before this time. If you have one child beginning an early activity on campus, it is not possible to drop siblings and have them supervised prior to 7.30 am. We really appreciate your support with this.

 Vacation Care

The dates for April vacation care will be:

Week 1:

• Friday 14 April 2023

Week 2:

• Monday 17 April 2023
• Tuesday 18 April 2023
• Wednesday 19 April 2023
• Thursday 20 April 2023
• Friday 21 April 2023

The vacation care program is currently being planned. An enrolment form and further information will be emailed to families in the next week or two.