Student Leadership Conference
Last Friday, 25th May, 14 students went to the Mildura Grand Hotel to participate in the annual Student Impact Leadership conference. All students really enjoyed the experience.
The day is designed for students in Grade 5 and Grade 6 to come together and learn new ways of becoming better leaders back at school and in the wider community. It was also an opportunity to listen to what other school leaders are doing at their schools.
The students learnt how to lead like strawberries and not like watermelons. This may sound a bit strange, but to put it simply a watermelon leader is very different on the outside to who they really are on the inside. A strawberry leader is exactly the same on the outside as what they are on the inside.
Students were asked to consider what type of leader they were – a strawberry or a watermelon.
Students learned strategies to motivate others, watched lots of short video clips to see leaders in action and had a lot of fun playing ‘Loud Noises’ games. Students were encouraged during these ‘Loud Noises’ games to yell as loud as they possibly could and make sure their voice was heard. Students were told that to be an effective leader, they often had to think outside the box and approach their goals creatively.
Everyone looks forward to seeing what impact this experience will have on each individual student, and subsequently the school.
Well done to all students on representing Irymple Primary School enthusiastically and in a mature manner.
Supporting the School to Support Children with Additional Needs – Information for Parents
From time to time the school will ask parents to assist us with gaining additional information from outside agencies such as Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Paediatricians, Doctors or other health professionals. This is done when there are concerns that cannot be wholly dealt with by the resources available to our school. We have very limited resources available to our school as we share Speech Pathologists, Psychologist and Social Workers with all the schools in Sunraysia. If we are attempting to secure funding for children we often call upon resources from within DEECD and those provided locally to be able to meet the appropriate deadline and to get the best information available to secure funding.
Each year we have to finalise all applications for assistance by mid June. These applications then take some months to be processed at Regional and State level. We are usually advised of the outcome later in the year if applications have been successful. All applications will involve the parents in a final meeting and co-signing with the school. Not all investigations by the school or the use of health professionals result in a funding application, but all information is used to best meet the needs of the child concerned. The main thing to remember is that we will only ask for additional information if we feel it could benefit your child’s ability to learn and for teachers to enhance their day to day teaching.
Parents in Classrooms
We would ask that parents do not visit children’s classrooms after 9-00am to discuss their child with the classroom teacher. This is valuable learning time and it is not the appropriate time for these discussions. Please see the teacher before 8-45am or make an appointment for another time.
Yvonne Madden,
Principal
