I am pleased to announce that from the beginning of Term 3 we will be transitioning the Calvin Newsletter to a direct email format.
In recent weeks we have been conducting a review of our communication to the community. The importance of our weekly newsletter was affirmed. I am pleased to announce that from the beginning of Term 3 we will be transitioning the Calvin Newsletter to a direct email format. This will allow parents to read the weekly newsletter within their email. This will reduce the number of screens to navigate through and remove the necessity to visit our website and then download a PDF file. I hope that this makes for a more convenient encounter.
There will also be a number of changes with the format. The appearance of the regular first page, ‘From the Principal’, will change. The opening lines of the article will be visible and by clicking ‘read more’ the remainder may be accessed. This article will also be available in full length as a communiqué via our website.
In addition, there will no longer be a regular article by our Deputy Principal – Head of Primary, Mr Nash. This information will be offered as content within the magazine, or as part of our Facebook feeds, or when Mr Nash authors a front-page article. The Deputy Principal – Head of Secondary, Mrs Moroni will also contribute a front-page article from time to time.
If you have any feedback about these changes I invite you to complete a feedback form available in the Parents section of our website.
These changes bring our school into line with industry best practice and we are confident that this will improve your experience with our communication.
Staffing News
I want to express my appreciation to Mrs Alison Whiteley for her work this term as the Acting Head of Students during Mrs Carmichael’s long service leave. Mrs Whiteley has fulfilled the duties of this role with energy and competence. She has provided effective leadership to the Heads of Year as well as making valuable and insightful contributions to the meetings of the school’s Senior Leadership team. Mrs Whiteley will return to her accustomed role as Careers Officer and Head of Year 12 just in time for the busy period of subject selection, career planning interviews, and the journey with our Year 12 students to examinations.
Reporting News
At the conclusion of the semester we issue a formal report to summarise the academic progress of students. I am delighted to observe that students are engaging in developing their learning habits and orientation to progress their grades in a more universal manner. It is my opinion that the contribution of the work that has been done in the Primary School around the theme Attitude Matters, and around goal setting in the Secondary School, has been significant in this shift. As is my preference, I have just written a remark on every student’s report from Year 4 to Year 12. From this perspective, there is a noticeable difference from previous years.
Again, I affirm the importance of parents, students, and teachers connecting at the parent/teacher evenings in the Secondary School at the commencement of next term.
Holidays
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all families the best for the school holidays. I am well aware that many parents and carers work through this time, or have to take leave. In light of this, I am appreciative of the challenge that some families experience with the extra week of break that affords us the opportunity to have a concentrated time of professional development with our staff. The initiatives that we are able to undertake in this week directly affect the safety and educational quality of the offering at Calvin. In addition to the activities of the third week, which is compulsory for all staff, a dozen or so teachers are attending the International Christian Worldview Conference in Adelaide in the second week.
Iain Belôt - Principal