Dear Franklin Families,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the families who attended the assembly last Thursday morning. Despite the challenges the weather provided, students performed to their very best and overall the assembly was a great opportunity to showcase some wonderfully unique class performances.  As with all school events there were many staff that worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure it was a success. Thank you to Ella and Katie for organising awards, Rob Hyde for his incredible efforts putting up marques and seating, all our wonderful support staff who helped teachers with their performances, and lastly, the amazing Pam Monk for yet again stepping in to make sure the assembly went ahead.            

Staffing In 2022                                                                                                   

This time of the year we welcome new staff and anticipate all that they bring to the school. But it is also mixed with some sadness as we farewell colleagues and friends who have contributed so much to the school community. Mrs Amy Stals is transferring to Cygnet Primary School. Amy has been an important member of our school community. She is well respected by her teaching colleagues and those students fortunate enough to have been part of the Year 4/5 classroom. We wish her all the best with her new role. We welcome Mrs Alexander Frusher and Mr Jeremy Marcotte who will be joining us at Franklin in 2022. Mrs Brooke Schiebel has been successful in winning the role of AST and Quality Coach.

I would also like to advise our school community that I will be taking long service leave in Term 1. As yet, Learning Services has not appointed a replacement for my role, but I am hoping to notify everyone soon.

Our Learning                                                                                                        

This year all teaching staff has collaborated closely with Education Consultant, David Gilkes, to develop an Inquiry framework that supports learning across the school. We now have four conceptual lenses, or big ideas, that guide all planning and teaching: Change. Sustainability. Place in Space. Identity. Using this framework teachers are able to link learning to authentic contexts and purposes, focusing on helping students to become effective self-managers, researchers, collaborators, thinkers and communicators. We call these skills Learner Assets.

Our Inquiry framework is included in this newsletter and in 2022 we plan to communicate more regularly on how students demonstrate growth in their skills and understandings. In the interim, class teachers have shared examples of class inquiries and learner assets with the current end of year reports.

As this will be the final newsletter for the year, I would like to wish everyone a safe, peaceful and happy Christmas holiday break. We look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year.

Linda Heerey

Principal