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Dear Parents and Carers,
It is great to see the building work in full swing and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the classrooms will be ready for the start of the 2023 school year. Our staff and students are doing an awesome job of managing the restrictions on learning and play spaces, while maintaining their focus on learning. Teachers have been busy preparing the Student Reports and prior to them going home in Week 9.
Changes to Student Report document
The following information has been organised into the specific parts of the Student Report, describing the changes within the report document and the reasons for the change. Further changes will be made each year based on feedback from parents, staff and current research. The aim is to end up with a process of continual feedback for parents, where the actual Semester based report becomes a summary of what parents already know through different platforms or opportunities that are regularly updated or provided.
INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND CARERS
The information provided in this section is a guide for parents as to how the gradig system is applied.
GLOSSARY
The glossary was included so that parents and teachers have a shared understanding of the language used within the reports.
OVERALL ACHIEVEMENT
The Overall Achievement grade is no longer part of the Key Learning Area grading. Grades are given against more detailed descriptors within each Key Learning Area. This change provides parents with a clear picture of their child’s achievement in the different strands within each Key Learning Area. It is also a response to the difficulty that sometimes arises in averaging an overall grade when a student’s achievement pattern varies.
5-POINT SCALE
Achievement against the standard in each Key Learning Area is recorded using a five-point scale of words rather than letters. Feedback suggested that the words – Limited, Basic, Sound, Thorough and Extensive, held more meaning for parents than the previous A-E scale used. An explanation of the five-point scale is found in the ‘Information for Parents/Caregivers’ section of the report.
DETAILED DESCRIPTORS
Detailed descriptors within the strands of each Key Learning Area have been included to provide parents with more information about what their child is learning and what the teacher is reporting against. They include content and/or skills within the strands, and when read with the grade given by the teacher, provide a clear picture for parents on how their child is tracking.
The inclusion of descriptors allows for changes to the content within syllabus documents by the government to be included when they happen.
COMMENT BANKS
Teacher comments on ‘Areas of Strength’ and ‘Areas for Development’ in Religious Education, English and Mathematics are an important aspect of student progress in these Key Learning Areas.
Standard comments have been developed from the NSW syllabus documents and are aligned to the Literacy and Numeracy Progressions used by all Diocesan staff to support teaching and learning. Religious Education comments have been developed from Diocesan syllabus documents. These standard comments are used by teachers to provide consistency of feedback and language across Diocesan schools. Teachers focus on two areas of strength and one area for development in each report. These comments provide an opportunity to celebrate what a student is doing well and to identify goals for the following semester of learning. Teachers have used a combination of comments from the bank and their own comments.
The general comment remains specific to the student and is developed by the teacher.
NAPLAN
The growth in learning at Holy Name is something that our teachers celebrate regularly. We use information from many forms of assessment, including NAPLAN. This year our NAPLAN data reinforced the positive impact of the changes we have made to how we teach and where we need to focus our energy in the future.
It was pleasing to note that our Year 3 students were above or on par with similar schools and state in numeracy, reading, grammar & punctuation and writing, with spelling an area for focus. We are already working in this space and expect to see improvements for our students over the next learning period.
Our Year 5 students were above state and similar schools in all areas but just below similar schools in spelling. In numeracy, grammar & punctuation, reading and writing, our Year 5 students were well beyond state and similar schools. This is great news for the changes we have made to our teaching practice and the resources we have invested to support our teachers.
We are currently reviewing our PAT and Reading data that we collect throughout the year so we can also celebrate the learning growth of all students in the school. If you're interested in having a conversation about our learning focus, come along to the P&F Meeting this Tuesday evening at 6pm in the staffroom.
Enjoy the next fortnight,
Brooke Stephens
ICAS
For the first time in Holy Name history, one of our student's has been awarded an ICAS medal.
Max Isbel received this honour in the subject of Science. Max gained the highest mark in Science in Year 4 across the state! This is a wonderful achievement from a hard working student. Max received a medal, a book with all the medal winners acknowledged, some stationary and a certificate. Congratulations Max and keep enjoying such a wonderful subject.
Positive Behaviour for Learning
BECOME ME
UPCOMING EVENTS |
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Week 5 |
Thursday 10/11 |
Final Kinder Transition |
Week 6 |
Thursday 17/11 |
Year 5 Leadership day |
Week 8 |
Monday 28/11-Friday 2/12 |
Year 6 Canberra Excursion |
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Monday 28/11-Wednesday 30/11 |
Year 5 Aussie Bush Camp |
Week 9 |
All week |
SRC 2023 Voting process |
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Friday 9/12 |
Year 6 Grad Mass and Annual Awards Assembly |
Week 10 |
Monday 12/12 |
HNS Swimming Carnival |
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Monday 12/12 |
Year 6 Grad Dinner |
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Wednesday 14/12 |
P&F Christmas Stall |
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Wednesday 14/12 |
Christmas Concert |
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Friday 16/12 |
Students finish for 2022 |
Great Learning Happening in 5W!
Each fortnight we like to put a spotlight on the great learning happening in a particular grade or class in our school. In this report the spotlight is on 5W. During English lessons the Year 5 students have been learning various reading skills to support comprehension. The students are developing their understanding of a text’s structure, as well as identifying the audience, purpose and theme. During reading lessons Year 5 students have been exploring how grammatical features and techniques impact understanding. This has included lessons on identifying the language features used by authors and the cohesive devices used to help the flow and organisation of a text. This focus in reading has linked beautifully with their writing unit where students are working with the same theme of Heroes and Villains. The skills learnt in their Reading lessons have been applied to their writing tasks. The Year 5 learning focus for writing this term has been to write a narrative text so that they can entertain the reader. Students recently received formal feedback from Mrs Tull based on a marking rubric which matched the writing success criteria which was co constructed with the students. The students have really focused their energies on using techniques such as dialogue and vivid description to carry the plot and using language to create humour. It was pleasing to see students using their teacher feedback to go back and improve their writing. The photos show students effectively using the writing cycle to self assess their writing when comparing them to the levelled samples on the wall.
In Maths, Year 5 have been working with angles. Students have learnt to construct, estimate and measure angles using a protractor. During Maths lessons students have been working on identifying and naming angle types formed by the intersection of straight lines, including right angles, angles on a straight line, angles at a point that form an angle of revolution, and vertically opposite angles.
In Creative Arts students have been investigating a case study on Jess Lambert and using her work as an inspiration to design cardboard surfboards with line art. Students started by choosing a local landmark, such as the Forster/Tuncurry bridge or the Bullring, to sketch a draft using similar techniques to Jess Lambert onto an A4 piece of paper. Students then moved to designing their surfboard design. Students included their local landmark, an animal of their choice and a natural element such as a tree, palm, flower. Students then used computers to find and print one inspiration photo for each criteria to use for their design. They finally completed their drafts and transferred it to cardboard ‘surfboard’ and complete their designs. Check out the photos of their awesome surfboard artworks!
Well done Year 5 students and teachers keep up the awesome work!
Mrs Suzie Monks
Primary Coordinator
Mini Vinnies
Mini Vinnies hosted UNICEF World Children’s Day Friday November 18. To support this initiative our students were able to wear blue and bring a gold coin donation.
UNICEF World Children’s Day acknowledges every child in need. No matter what and Mini Vinnies have been talking about the rights of children everywhere. Mini Vinnies are currently discussing what children’s charities they will support and where they will donate World Children’s Day and 5c Friday money. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to sharing with you the charities who we donate too.
Christmas Wishing Tree
Our Christmas Wishing Tree has been assembled by our Mini Vinnies Team, as per previous years please feel free to take a card from the tree and return it with a gift for those in our community in need. In previous years our donations have been received by children and families in our community, the Great Lakes Women’s Shelter and CatholicCare. This is a wonderful opportunity to live our school motto “Concern for Others”.
Wellbeing Week
Lots of creativity happened in Art Club this week. Students made mindful breathing wands with beads and pipe cleaners all week, together we used over 1700 beads and 250 pipe cleaners!! Students could then practice breathing techniques and sliding their beads mindfully along the wand. This activity was wonderful for our younger students counting practice and fine motor skills which also supports their wellbeing and confidence.
Zen Zone was held in the Learning Hub this week. This space is a quiet zone for students to enjoy a calm, relaxing and mindful break from the playgorund. Students are able to make and colour mandalas and kindness cards. Thanks to Mrs Monks who helped facilitate Zen Zone this week.
Heart to Heart
Week 5. Heart to Heart art and wellbeing…. Adding backgrounds and finer details today. We were blessed to have a special visitor, Koran from CatholicCare and we were so grateful Koran was able to spend the afternoon with us today. Again, we witnessed lots of mindfulness in action whilst our Heartists continued working on their masterpieces, and they are looking spectacular. We were also fortunate to sit in our school garden space to share our afternoon tea and our heart to heart with each other.
Playgroup
Our Playgroup recommenced this week and will continue until the end of this term. Our playgroup friends enjoyed making breathing sticks, drawing picture of themselves, playing, listening to a story and having a dance. Playgroup is every Thursday, 9-10am in our school hall. It is open to all families with early learners, we also enjoy a shared morning tea together.
Kristie Banham
Pastoral Care Worker
Check out the latest news from St Clare's High School via their newsletter!
THE LATEST NEWS FROM OUR SAFEGUARDING PROMOTERS
The Promoters of Safeguarding, continue to endorse a culture of safeguarding within the Diocese by visiting the ten National Catholic Safeguarding Standards and highlighting safeguarding issues within these standards.
This information refers to eSafety, in this case specifically to https://www.esafety.gov.au/earlyyears which is pertinent to Safeguarding Standard 8: Safe Physical and Online Environment.
The eSafety Early Years program provides families and educators with advice about how to build and foster positive online experiences for those who are young. It focuses on four simple messages to help children develop online safety awareness and habits which they can take to school and beyond. These four messages are:
- BE SAFE – Help children understand the connected world and how to protect their private information.
- BE KIND – Show children how to be kind and respectful online and how to model good habits around electronic device use and online sharing.
- ASK FOR HELP – Teach children to ask for help and let them know they can come to you with any issue.
- MAKE GOOD CHOICES – Help children think critically about the content they watch and how they spend their time online.
Using this type of language prepares your child for being safe when accessing the online environment.