Dear Friends,

Tomorrow we celebrate World Teachers Day! This week I am once again reminded of the incredible impact our teachers make to the students in our care each and every day.  To see the love and care shown towards our students as they slowly venture back to school has been so admirable.  I know teachers at Holy Trinity school and ELC and all our staff have been invigorated again with the presence of students in our classrooms; we look forward again to next week when we can welcome our Year 3,  4 and 5 students back also.

As we move into the middle of Term 4, we begin planning for 2022, with staffing and class structures.  When considering class compositions there is many factors to take into account. As  a PYP school, collaboration is an essential component of your child's learning, and although students are placed in home rooms with a specific teacher, there are many occasions throughout the day or week, where classes are mixed or opened for differing groupings, based on the learning occurring. If a parent has a particular concern regarding the placement of their child/ren in classes, this should be written in an email to me by Friday Week 5, 5th November, and this concern will be considered seriously. However, there are no definite guarantees regarding parent requests as there is much to consider as stated above.  Please note, teacher requests are not to be included in these emails. 

As we have done in previous years, I will not be asking teachers to have students complete and send home sociograms to be considered in their class for 2022.  It is an unreal expectation that school can accommodate all requests, including friendships, and teachers, as professionals, who spend the majority of the day with children, need to be trusted to make the right decisions around learning.  Even with the best designed plans in place, every year there are always students and parents who feel their child's friendships or circumstances have changed between the time of drafting class lists and the start of the school year.  Many of these changes are out of control of the family or school.  For example, the child wants to be with different students or has a falling out with friends late in the term or over the holidays, a child leaves the school and leaves them without one of the friends on the sociogram and so on. 

Be assured your child's teacher and other key staff in the school know our students well and have information and data about them which assists in placing them in the best class for 2022.  Children are more resilient than we often give them credit for and they will able to learn and enjoy school in whichever class they are placed. There is also much time given to transition for particular students, depending on their individual needs, including a transition staff meeting, where staff from 2021 will share knowledge about students to their teachers for 2022.  On Tuesday 14th December, students (including those Year 1-6 new to the school) will also be placed in their class for 2022, with their new teacher (where possible) to spend some time together in preparation for the new year.  Class lists will then be emailed to all families on the last day of the year (Friday December 17th) and no changes will be made to the class lists after this. 

With every best wish for a holy and peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families,

Philippa