NAPLAN

This week families of students in Grade 3 and Grade 5 will receive NAPLAN results in the mail. As a school, we receive a raft of reports in NAPLAN, which we use to understand some of the achievements and challenges for our students. As for all schools, NAPLAN is one measure of a student’s performance at a point in time (May). As teachers, we are constantly gathering evidence in different forms, to assess the progress, achievement and determining the next stage of learning for every child. We understand that learning is a continuum of concept attainment and that every child will achieve conceptual understanding, knowledge and skills, at different times, or stages, from other children. Hence, the art and science of teaching is to ensure that goals are clear for all children and that all children are engaged in learning activities that are appropriate and challenging at that point in time.

 

At a whole school level, we can determine our overall strengths and challenges across all programs. Our 2016 school data indicates our high level of performance across Reading, Numeracy and Grammar and Punctuation. Over the last few years, we have had a whole school focus on our Reading and the results are evident in our data. As you can see, our Reading results are outstanding. This year, we have commenced some whole school approaches to the teaching and learning of Writing and Numeracy and will continue to develop these, along with implementing strategies from the Curiosity and Powerful Learning project. We are overall, very pleased with our school results. Our current writing approach that frames the study of a genre and the development of writing skills and knowledge is a whole school strategy that we are currently working on. We are already seeing evidence of skill improvement within our student area teams.

 

Year 7 Transition

Congratulations to our Grade 6 students who have received an offer of a government school placement for their secondary school last week. Families will have received this letter in the mail. This is an exciting time for our students as they take that step closer to secondary school. As you could imagine, the realisation of secondary school brings with it a range of emotions. Students start to view themselves in different settings, with different friendships and in different locations. We like to respect each child’s investment in this, but know that some children are grappling with the concept of change and what the future may bring. The teachers will be celebrating and supporting every student while at the same time, attempting to normalise this process to some extent. We still have over a term of Grade 6 and much learning to engage with. Parents of Grade 6 students may also be swept up in the emotion of this process and may be unsure of the next steps. If you require any support or have any concerns please contact either your child’s class teacher or myself.

 

Tournament of Minds (TOM) Teams

This weekend our TOM teams will be competing in the annual Tournament Of Minds competition at Latrobe University. The two teams have been preparing for this event for many weeks and we wish them all the very best as they showcase their hard work, organisation, creativity and collaboration.

 

We invite you to come and support the two teams consisting of Grade 5 and Grade 6 students. While attendees cannot watch the team’s spontaneous challenge, their long term presentations are open to everyone.

 

Team Edge (Team 1) Members: Tom Pringuer, Lucy Baker, Hershi Patel, Yoyo Zhou, Esther Mac Isaac, Mia Ison and Collette Mullen

  • Long term presentation is at 11am. Spontaneous challenge is at 10:10am in P2.

 

Nature Trees (Team 2) Members: Georgia Sands, Starla Shaw, Will Grage-Perry, Red Maher, Krishan Gurdon, Hudson Ford and Matilda Hoban

  • Long term presentation is at 12pm. Spontaneous challenge is at 10:40am in P2.