Reporting to Parents

The Department of Education is currently reviewing it’s Reporting to Parents Agreement. This includes the format, frequency and nature of what is being formally reported on in each year of a child’s education. Whilst the recommendations from the review will be released later this year ready for 2022, as a school we will be making some changes to our reporting schedule this year. In Week 7-8 of term one, we will continue to have our primary and secondary progress reports that appear in a ‘tick box’ format of key work habits and social skills.  In term two we will have a change, with the parent/teacher or 3-way interviews occurring much earlier in the term. These will occur during weeks 2 and 3 with more details to follow, including how do parents make bookings, where to meet etc. This change is based on parent and teacher feedback placing greater value on having a formal meeting to discuss student learning earlier in the year as it provides time for interventions/extensions to be developed with parent and student input, and for there to be a closer link between the expectations for learnings from home and school that can lead in to the major report and assessments that occur at the end of term 2. Following the mid year report at the end of term 2, there will be a final summary report that will go home at the end of term 4.

International Women’s Day

Today marks International Women’s Day with the 2021 theme ‘Choose to Challenge’. This encourages young girls and women to create opportunities to provide counter perspectives, offer alternative solutions and that we can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements and collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. Our year 5-12 girls had an opportunity to listen to Erin Cooper, a guest speaker from the ABC, provided by the Penguin Lions Club. She spoke about her journey and career in the media that started on the north west coast. Erin talked about the strength of women empowering other women through support and kindness. Our students had many questions about her career and pathway as a young female growing up on the North West coast.

International Women’s Day Award

A member of our staff team, Lyn Brown also received a nomination for a special International Women’s Day award recognising extensive service to the Penguin Community at a presentation facilitated by the Penguin Lions Club. This came as a great surprise to Lyn who has been a selfless volunteer for many years alongside a team of helpers at the Penguin Football Club.

Connection with the Op Shop

Our School has a strong association with the newly created Penguin Community Op Shop. Whilst it has only been trading since early October, the group of volunteers have been exceptionally busy sorting donations, operating the store 6 days a week and they are now at the point where they are looking at ways of giving back to the community. They will be reviewing requests from the community every 2 months with a view in mind that all profits from the community shop remain in the Penguin community. If you have any suggestions that you would like to put forward to the funding allocation group before their next meeting, please contact the school administration and it will be tabled when they next meet.

School Association Report

Our School Association meeting was held on Monday of this week. Thank you to our outgoing member Narelle Butler who had also been the Association secretary for the past two years. The Association were joined by some of our previous chairpersons for a tour through the first stage of the school redevelopment. Following that, the committee discussed a number of items including, security in and around the school, the school’s current position on out of area enrolments, parent requests for before school care on site and a new review in to reporting to parents. The School Association will be developing a Google Forms survey in the coming weeks to gauge interest in on-site before school care at Penguin District School.