Katie Brody – Director of Students K-6

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. The invitation to request meetings was emailed at the start of the week and closes at 3.30 pm today. Schedules will be sent next week and can be amended up until 3.30pm on Friday 17 March 2023.

Parent Teacher Night is a wonderful early opportunity to consider academic goals together with your child’s teachers, as well as any social or emotional aspects to begin the year. 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. K-2 parents will be able to book class teachers, Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachers as well as specialists. 3-6 parents will be able to book to see class teachers, Hebrew teachers and Jewish Studies teachers. 3-6 families will be able to book to see specialists in Semester 2. Meetings with specialist teachers are 5 minutes and 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 an important snapshot of each student’s literacy skills, numeracy skills and writing ability at a point in time. These tasks provide teachers with helpful data relating to student progress and it helps to inform next steps for teaching and learning for the weeks ahead. This type of task isn’t reflective of the rich learning that occurs throughout the weeks. 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 have been supporting the students to prepare for the tasks they will face and to recognise the effort needed for 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 should feel proud when they have completed each task.   

Here are 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 overall success is not determined by this one set of tests.

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.

Click here for further information about the adaptive nature of NAPLAN online.