Dear Parents, Students and Families

We are entering a very busy period of the school year with parent-teacher phone interviews and a number of incursions and excursions taking place. Due to COVID regulations many of these events are modified and we really appreciate the cooperation and spirit of our community as we keep moving forward, whilst remaining safe and healthy.

Parent Teacher Interviews – Week 5 and 6

Our phone interviews will be conducted by phone (similar to last time) at a time booked in by parents over the coming weeks. Please make a note of the time in your diary and expect a call from your child’s teacher.

NOIIE Symposium

On Monday and Tuesday (10-11 August) many of our staff attended the NOIIE (Network of Inquiry and Indigenous Education) along with our partner schools in Curiosity and Powerful Learning. This has been vital in helping us to maintain professional partnerships and focus on what really matters at our school – students being literate, numerate and curious and feeling a sense of connection and community.

Many of our partners (including Kath Murdoch) spoke about the importance of curiosity and inquiry in Australian schools around the following key messages:

• The mindsets of leaders and how they drive improvement in schools
• The Cultural Markers of an Inquiry School
• Inquiry Schools and Remote Learning: Inquiry to Foster Resilience and Solve Problems

Additionally, staff at Griffin opened their classroom doors for teacher instructional rounds, allowing visiting staff to observe teaching practice, reflect on inquiry strategies and share ideas to enhance learning.

Staff Meeting – Focus On Using Technology To Collaborate

Last week at our staff meeting, teachers were involved in using OneNote as a tool to help us work collaboratively. Clare Triggell, our Inquiry HOC prepared a number of quotes and videos to view and asked teachers and year level groups to respond to these using OneNote. This was powerful in that it allowed us to:

• Practice our problem solving skills when using OneNote
• See other people’s responses in “real time” and collaborate with them
• Work with people who were not physically in the room

Over the coming weeks, year levels will be working with their classes to keep our OneNote skills current. Some year levels are using it for simple questions, others for blogs or bookclubs. We want to maintain and build on the skills we have built using OneNote in 2020.

Tracy Freeman and Louise Vaggs