Katie Brody – Director of Students K-6

Canteen closed on Monday

As many of you know, we will be celebrating Purim next week! In addition, the Fast of Esther is on Monday so the canteen will be closed. Please ensure your children come to school with any food they will need for the day and refer to the article from Adam Carpenter for details about our Purim celebrations.

Save the date! Parent Teacher Night 
Wednesday 22 March 2023 and Monday 27 March 2023
Zoom meetings

The first opportunity for parents to meet with teachers this year is coming up on Wednesday 22 March 2023 or Monday 27 March 2023 – these meetings will take place via Zoom. The invitation to request meetings will be emailed to you in the coming week. To avoid missing out, please take action and follow the booking instructions once received. 

Parent Teacher Night is a wonderful opportunity to establish academic goals together with your child’s teachers, as well as considering any social or emotional aspects as well. Teachers will have some preliminary feedback and observations to offer and are keen to establish beneficial working relationships with all parents. 

In Semester 1 we are conducting both nights via Zoom:

• Years K-2 parents and Years 3-6 parents will be able to book class teachers, Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachers, as well as specialists teachers
• Meetings with specialist teachers are 5 minutes and meetings with class teachers are 10 minutes.

Semester 2 meetings will be held in person.

NAPLAN – Year 3 and Year 5

NAPLAN gives teachers and parents a picture of several aspects of students’ learning. These include: their performance under test conditions, their basic use of punctuation, grammar, spelling, numeracy skills and their ability to write a persuasive text or an imaginative text (Narrative). This timed experience is merely a snapshot of literacy skills, numeracy skills and writing. This type of task isn’t reflective of the rich learning that occurs in our classrooms. Contrary to the exam environment, classroom life is a mix of independent and collaborative learning, creativity, scaffolding and support, problem-solving and discovery methods. All these are essential in the process of developing a breadth of knowledge, deep understanding and a wide range of literacy, numeracy, language, creative, technological, physical and interdisciplinary skills. In addition to this, learning is about equipping students with the self-management skills and interpersonal skills that make them successful, well-rounded young people. 

Our class teachers are supporting the students to prepare for the task they will face, but we also recognise the place of NAPLAN amongst the myriad of other tasks, assignments, tests and assessments we do throughout the year. We have explored the NAPLAN demonstration site to recognise the various question types and we have continued with our explicit teaching of knowledge and skills in all key learning areas, encouraging students to engage and persevere. 

As NAPLAN approaches, the students may feel some trepidation about working under test conditions. Please know that we aim to create a sense of calm in the structures required and whilst we will certainly encourage students to do their best and utilise sound advice in relation to test taking, they do need to keep the purpose of NAPLAN in perspective and feel proud when they have completed each task.   

Four tips to help your child in the lead up to NAPLAN:

Prepare for the day
Good preparation is the key. Going to bed early the night before, having a healthy breakfast to start the day. Keep stress levels low and arrive at school a little earlier. Don’t forget to wish them good luck! If you wish to spend time with your child further exploring the NAPLAN demonstration site, see below.

Discuss their feelings and concerns
Tests commonly bring out feelings of anxiety, so let your child know that these feelings are normal. Listen to their concerns, show empathy and maintain a caring and positive attitude. More often than not talking about their fears can help to lessen these feelings.

Encourage them ‘to give it a go’ and ‘to try their best’
NAPLAN is not supposed to be a test of the students but rather a check to make sure that Australia is providing the best educational outcomes for children. Encourage your child to give it a go and try their best.

Keep NAPLAN in perspective
Remember that NAPLAN is just one assessment and that teachers and the school use this information in conjunction with numerous other data to determine a students’ academic level. It is important for your child to understand that their success is not determined by this one test.

Additional information for parents about the National Assessment Program can be found on these websites:

1. Click here for the parent information brochure.
2. Click here for the public demonstration site mentioned above.
3. Click here to access further parent and carer information.
4. Click here for further information about the adaptive nature of NAPLAN online.