2018 Academic Excellence Awards

At Thursday's school assembly, the 2018 Academic Excellence Award winners were acknowledged. Attached is a list of students who received awards.

NSIT School Review

The school is going through a three-day Review process this week using the NSIT model.

What is it?

Comprised of nine domains, the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT) assists schools to review and reflect on their efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

Using an evidence-based framework, the NSIT supports school-wide conversations about aspects of current practice, areas for improvement and evidence that progress is being made. When used as an ongoing reference point over a period of time, the NSIT also provides a basis for monitoring long-term improvements in practice.

How can the NSIT help our school?

Research is revealing the powerful impact that school leadership teams can have in improving the quality of teaching and learning. The NSIT synthesises findings from international research into a practical framework that can be used to investigate and evaluate current practices in any Australian school.

By using the NSIT in the process of developing a School Improvement plan, schools can ensure they are adopting the practices displayed by highly effective schools and school leaders, and are supporting the development of their school improvement objectives with a solid base of evidence and research.

What areas does the tool address?

The National School Improvement Tool consists of nine interrelated domains, which combine and overlap to provide a comprehensive framework for school improvement:

• An explicit improvement agenda
• Analysis and discussion of data
• A culture that promotes learning
• Targeted use of school resources
• An expert teaching team
• Systematic curriculum delivery
• Differentiated teaching and learning
• Effective pedagogical practices
• School–community partnerships

Last Thursdays Incident

Please note that I communicated to all families via Care Monkey last week regarding an incident that occurred in the yard on Thursday at lunchtime.

If you did not receive that message, please email principal@sfcc.vic.edu.au.

Lock Down Drill

We had a change of plans at last Thursday's lock down drill as part of the College’s Emergency Management Plan. Students participated well and followed all instructions. We intend to run an Evacuation Drill late this term or early next.

Year 7 Camps

All the best to our Year 7's on camp next week from 18th - 21st March. All families have received information on CareMonkey. I am sure, that as in previous years, all Year 7 students will thoroughly enjoy their camp experience.

Someday We Will Fly By: Rachel DeWoskin

From the author of Blind, a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story set during World War II in Shanghai, one of the only places Jews without visas could find refuge. Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is 15 when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, and a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive? Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment.

Swing By: Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess

Things usually do not go as planned for seventeen-year-old Noah. He and his best friend Walt (aka Swing) have been cut from the high school baseball team for the third year in a row, and it looks like Noah's love interest since fifth grade, Sam, will never take it past the “best friend” zone. Noah would love to retire his bat and accept the status quo, but Walt has got big plans for them both, which include making the best baseball comeback ever, getting the girl, and finally finding cool. In Swing, bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo) present a free-verse poetic story that will speak to anyone who's struggled to find their voice, and take a swing at life.

The Library Team