Welcome to the Week 5 Newsletter. We have reached the mid-point of the term already and while I myself have only just returned from Long Service Lead, I can clearly see the energies and efforts that have already been committed to making our Term 4 the best of the year. There are many proud moments as a Principal of a school and no more so than hearing some good news while I was away and upon my return (Lets call them Principal Prouds - PP) 

PP#1: I was in London when I heard the announcement via Facebook that our school had won the Decorate your Space Competition. What a great collaborative effort to have every classroom door promoting Child Protection Week's message that "Every Conversation Counts"  and how very special to hear the Bishop say our name as the winning school across our Diocese.

PP#2 I returned to the news that one of our Stage 3 teams also won the Stem Mad competition for our Diocese  and will compete in Nationals next week. What a credit to the work that is being done in STEM in Stage 3. Congratulations and Good Luck to the students and teachers attending this exciting event.

PP#3 This week, the cast list for Aspire 2025 was released and I was so pleased to see one of our SBE students who was successful in her audition. A huge congratulations to Hope Fenwick who will be part of the Vocal Ensemble for next year's Aspire production. It will be so exciting to see one of our own up there on stage.

PP#4 I had a very proud moment this morning as we began the orientation process for Kinder 2025. As part of our information session for new families our current Kindergarten students sang a song and showed just how much they have grown in just one year of schooling. It did not seem so long ago that long ago that they were in the red shirts beginning the orientation process and here they were on stage, singing proud as SBE students. Well Done Kinder 2024. (Our Orientation process goes for 4 weeks so we will update in weeks to come on how our newest members are going) 

Staffing - Remainder of 2024 and Class Allocations for 2025 

I want to thank our Executive Team for your leadership in my absence with Kate Wilson (Acting Principal), Michelle Collins (acting Assistant Principal) and Megan Hunt (acting Religious Education Coordinator) alongside Wayne Bailey as Primary Coordinator. Ironically, as I return, Wayne goes on his Long Service Leave for the remainder of this year so Megan Hunt will continue her executive role, this time as Acting Primary Coordinator. As it turns out, our Exec team transitions once again but it is the collaborative nature of the team of 5 that makes these transitions seamless. 

Long Service Leave and Secondments

1. As Wayne does take the remainder of this year for Long Service Leave, I can now confirm that Wayne will be extending that Long Service Leave for the whole of 2025. Wayne is a long serving member of staff (20+ years ) and leader within our school. So, his decision to take a year’s LSL is very deserving as he recoups his career energies and focus. With a lifetime of teaching and playing/coaching football behind him, his boots are not being hung up but the shoe laces are being untied for a year. As a leader, a colleague, a mentor and a friend, Wayne is many things to many members of SBE and he will be sorely missed but we have no doubt that he will not be far from us in 2025. As Wayne himself said, my handover will be my phone number. 
2. I can also now confirm that Mrs Kareena Coleman has received a secondment for 12 months to teach at St Patrick's Cessnock in 2025. This a great opportunity for Kareena, a highly experienced teacher and a member of our school for 5 years to positively impact another cohort of students and work with another staff to further build her skill set. We wish Kareena all the best at Cessnock next year. 

Replacements for these changes

1a) Congratulations to Megan Hunt who will continue in her Acting Primary Coordinator role in 2025 while Wayne Bailey takes his Long Service leave. 

1b) Congratulations to Mr Aaron Searle who will be teaching Year 5 next year on 5 Black (in Wayne's absence). You may know, Aaron has been working with us on a casual basis, completed his internship in Term 3 on Year 1 and now is covering our RFF lessons as well as working with Kareena Coleman on 1 Black. 

2. Congratulations and Welcome to Tessa Mills-King who will be replacing Kareena in 1 Black for 2025. Tessa has spent the past 5 years teaching Kindergarten and Year 1 classes in a school outside Melbourne. She is moving back to Newcastle in December to be closer to family.

Class Allocations for 2025 

Below is the current list for Teacher Allocations for 2025. Current teachers of each grade cohorts will now begin to work through and assign class lists for 2025 with these allocations in mind. We use extensive data, insights into learning styles and student wellbeing patterns to arrange the classes in the best interest of learning and wellbeing for every child. It is a considerable process and one that takes significant commitment from the teachers who know each child best in their learning setting. We will announce these class lists on Friday 6th December before bump up day on the 9^th December, but for your reference the teacher allocations are below.  

Next week I will unpack the Mathematics and Science content descriptors, followed by the HSIE, CAPA and PDH/PE content descriptors in week 7. 

Reports are due to go live on Friday 6th December. 

To thank our wonderful School Volunteers for their invaluable time and support throughout the year. An invitation to our Christmas Morning Tea and International Volunteers week celebration.