Parliamentary Standing Committee

This Monday there will be a special sitting of parliamentarians for a Parliamentary Standing Committee in to Public Works. This is to provide a process with checks and balances to ensure that government planning and funding is directed in a way that will improve outcomes for Tasmanians. In our case, this will be to discuss the current reality of teaching and learning at Penguin District School and how the capital works investment will add value to the future prospects for the young people in our community.  The public have been invited to make any submissions prior to the date, but people can also attend the public hearing between 1:30 and 2:30 in the Community Learning Centre at the Primary Campus. Our students will have the opportunity to participate in the hearing, share their insights and take the committee members for a tour through the site.

2020 – Meeting Student Need

I have had some great discussions with parents recently about how the school takes steps to meet the needs of individual students. We tabled this at our School Association meeting last week and we discussed this in relation to the new Adjustments Based Funding Model and class compositions for next year. Tasmanian school leaders have been waiting for a few years for the rollout of a resourcing model that best meets the needs for students with a disability by recognising, planning and resourcing the adjustments that each student may need. Our school will have an increased resource allocation for 2020 under this new model and this will further improve our capacity to support teachers with the adjustments that students may need to achieve success with their learning.

As our student numbers continue to grow, there are more instances of composite classes across the school. As a School Association, we discussed the mantra of teaching the student and meeting their needs, not just the grade they are in and the curriculum for that year level. The curriculum provides an important guide on the concepts, content and benchmarks that teachers should consider within their planning. Our responsibility is to determine where a student is ‘at’ with their learning/development, develop goals, and then implement relevant appropriate teaching. I’m not familiar with any studies that recognise composite classes as having a negative impact on student growth, in-fact, a primary school that Penguin teachers visited in Canberra of 1700 students earlier this year had 1-2 composites for every class in that area! This allowed the teachers to work more closely, share professional knowledge and track student progress more effectively than they felt they had previously. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of our programs, and ask that parents are always proactive in speaking with class teachers with feedback on how their child’s needs are being met.

Open Air Cinema

The weather has been relatively unpredictable this week, with stronger than forecast breezes. We will make a decision Friday morning whether our screening of ‘Dumbo’ will go ahead.

Gnomon Magazine

Our School Magazine ‘The Gnomon’ will again be available for purchase. Congratulations to Emily (Yr 9) and Eliza (Yr 5) who have won the cover competition for this year's magazine. They will receive a prize and a complimentary copy of the magazine for their contributions.

Mat Grining

Principal