From the Principal
Staffing
In 2021 Mrs Seaman will be taking 12 months leave from her role as Religious Education Co-ordinator. She will continue in her role as Learning Support teacher. I am pleased to announce that Mr Brad Brown will be the Acting Religious Co-ordinator in 2021 and part of the school executive. He will still be on a class 3 days a week.
Mrs Trudy Hunt and Mrs Sasha Salmon are returning part time after their maternity leave. All current staff will be retained in 2021. I am still working on their responsibilities in 2021.
Classes
Thanks for all the responses we received about student preferences for class friends in 2021. I did discuss these options with students and in some cases we have put down an extra person in their preferences. This allows our ClassCreator computer software to have more options. On Tuesday 15th December students will find out their class for 2021 and will get a note to take home with the staffing arrangements & their class list for 2021. We will be having two Kindergartens , three 1/2 classes, three 3/4 classes and three 5/6 classes.This allows even class size numbers and was part of the arrangement for Catholic Education to fund us going from 10 to 11 classes in 2021.
Year 6 Camp
From all reports the students had a wonderful time at camp and were well behaved. We were very lucky to fit the camp in this year. My thanks to Mr Wigg for his organisation and attendance at the camp and to Miss Atkinson and Mr Moss for also being away from family and attending the camp.
School Leaders
I sincerely thank those students who put themselves forward to be selected as School Captain & Vice Captain. It is not easy to be scrutinised and speak in public about your character. All who did were very brave. The students have voted, and staff will discuss their choices.
The School and Vice-Captain will be announced at Monday Afternoon Assembly 30th November -2.30pm. A zoom link will be sent out for parents to watch.
Students then can renominate for the role of Sports House Captains chosen by their team. This will happen on Tuesday 1st December and be announced at the following Monday afternoon assembly.
Year Book
We have decided not to have a Year Book for 2020 as most events that are in the Year Book are cancelled this year. Year 6 are working on a small publication to celebrate their completion of Primary School.
About Attendance
The school day at Ss Peter and Pauls runs from 9.20am (lessons begin) until 3.20pm (lessons finish). Children who arrive late or leave early regularly miss out on a lot of time when it is added up over the term or year. There is also disruption to the class when there are late arrivals and early departures. While we understand that appointments may necessitate this, leaving early because it is convenient can be very disruptive to a child's education. Below is some information about the impact on children of regularly missing school:
How many days has your child missed this semester (half a year)...
0 –6 days: This is within normal range. A child with this attendance rate is able to take full advantage of the teaching and learning opportunities available to them.
7 – 10 days: This attendance rate is below average. A child with this attendance rate could miss over one year of schooling between Transition and year 10.
11 –20 days: This is a poor attendance rate. A child with this attendance rate could miss out on up to two years of schooling between Transition and year 10.
20+ days: This is a very poor attendance rate. A child with this attendance rate could miss over two and a half years of schooling between Transition and year 10.
Latecomers & early leavers: A student who comes fifteen minutes late for school every day or regularly leaves early is missing more than you think. 15 minutes per day adds to 1 hour 15 per week. If we take this out of the Numeracy block where classes generally teach five hours per week, by the end of the year the students have nearly missed one terms worth of Maths. The same applies if we consider this as a literacy block where classes generally have ten hours per week. The percentage is halved but it still adds up to a student missing nearly half a term of literacy.
Arriving late or leaving early adds up quickly... can your child afford to lose this?