All the research shows that students do better when their families are involved in their education, and at Ripponlea we foster strong home-school partnerships to achieve the best results for all of our students.

We communicate through several channels to keep families up-to-date and engaged.

Please see our Communication Channels here.

Online Communication
To keep parents informed about what’s happening in and out of the classroom, teachers provide regular curriculum updates on Seesaw. Specialist teachers also have access to each class to showcase what’s happening in their subjects. We strongly recommend that you subscribe to both of these platforms. Login details are provided at the start of each school year.

We also use the COMPASS parent portal that allows the school to efficiently deliver communication to parents. 

COMPASS enables you to:

• receive year level or school wide updates;
• monitor your child's attendance;
• log your child’s absence;
• view the school’s calendar of events;
• provide permission for an incursion and excursion
• provide consent for a range of school-related activities at the start of the school year i.e. media, photography etc;
• update your family contact details; and
• read fortnightly newsletters.

Newsletters
Once a fortnight - on a Wednesday - we publish a newsletter to share key updates. These are circulated via email and Compass. You can also see our archived newsletters here.

Parent-Teacher Communication
We schedule the following Parent-Teacher meetings:

• Held in February, You Tell Us sessions are an opportunity for you to share information about your child.
• Student, Parent and Teacher (Three Way) Conferences take place in June/July when you meet with both your child and their teacher to discuss your child’s learning journey.
• You can always schedule additional meetings by emailing your child’s teacher.

Parent Information Sessions are held throughout the year, including:

• Open classrooms allow families the opportunity to witness the learning in action and participate in one of the key learning areas.
• Year Level Curriculum Information Sessions are conducted by teachers to provide parents with a snapshot of the year ahead. 
• School Council Information Sessions are held throughout the year.
• Special parent workshops on a range of topics can be held throughout the year. 

Student Reports and Portfolios
Student reports are written by your child's class teacher, and specialist teachers and available via the COMPASS communication portal in June and December.

Student portfolios are a key tool that students use to reflect on and assess their progress over time. Throughout the year, students collate examples of key learning activities undertaken as a record of their educational journey. Parents are welcome to review their child's online portfolio at any time. Students post their term goals and reflect on their achievements. Seesaw Portfolios can also be used as a reference for discussion during Three Way Conferences.