From the Principal's Desk - T1 Wk7

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

This week Wendy Dowling, the Executive and myself were able to formulate the school’s budget for 2009.

This budget determines the amount of expenditure for each curriculum area. This includes the purchasing of resources and teacher training which involves the hiring of casual teacher replacements.

As our school has committed itself to a journey which will significantly lift the Numeracy and Literacy levels of our students we have made changes to our general framework at Corrimal East Public School.

Each morning we have a Literacy focus right across the school, in the middle session there a K – 6 Numeracy focus. Technology incorporates elements of both and is no longer a stand alone subject.

Last year we purchased the “Maths Milestones” program which is a proven program that has had great success across several regions in Sydney. A number of schools in Wollongong have also begun implementing this program.

I look forward to seeing pleasing results in Numeration as the benefits of this program begins to kick in.

Our school has also purchased the “Writing Rescue” program which enhances Writing skills with an emphasis on Grammar and Punctuation. These were identified as areas of improvement after last year’s NAPLAN tests.

Staff from our school have also been participating in the Key into Comprehension program which provides wonderful strategies for the explicit teaching of both literal and inferential comprehension. Each of our teachers 3 – 6 has participated in the 8 week demonstration provided by a Department consultant, Kathy Dobinson, while the whole staff have participated in a staff meeting presented by the same consultant.

Again I look forward to seeing these strategies being used across the school and in the process enhancing our student’s learning outcomes.

David Schofield

Principal