Schools Clean Up Day
Since 1992, schools across Australia have made a real difference to their environment and local communities through participating in a Schools Clean Up. Over 2,000 preschools and primary schools participated in the 2021 Schools Clean Up Day, and many more have signed up for an Everyday Clean Up since then. These sites make an immense contribution to the rubbish removed by volunteers - young and old!

We will participate in Schools Clean Up Day tomorrow, Friday 3 March 2023. This is a fun and engaging way to teach young Australians about the responsible disposal of rubbish, resource recovery, and the repercussions of rubbish dumped irresponsibly in the local environment. Students are asked to bring in a pair of gloves. All students will be closely supervised as they participate in this important environmental community event.

PB4L News
Our whole school focus for the next two weeks will be on our toilets. The expectations listed below will be shared and practised in each class. Teachers on duty will be reinforcing these expectations by acknowledging students who are demonstrating safe, responsible, and respectful behaviours in this area.

High School Visits
Over the last couple of weeks, Years 5 and 6 have been visited by the local Catholic High Schools in our area. The students have brought home information about Open Day and information sessions, as well as how to enrol. Please contact these schools for more information. (see advertisements at the back of the newsletter)

NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point-in-time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Each year students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar, and punctuation), and numeracy.

NAPLAN has now moved to Term 1 and will take place on the following dates:

The reason for the change of date to March is to enable results to be returned to schools earlier in the year, which will support teachers in addressing the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.
NAPLAN tests are just one part of our school learning assessment program, and questions are primarily based on knowledge, understanding, and skills gained from the prior year of schooling.
In preparation for NAPLAN 2023, our school will undertake activities to help students to become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked.

Students and parents can access the public demonstration site  (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN and the types of questions and tools available. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher.

PAT Testing
ACER’s Progressive Achievement approach is used in thousands of schools in Australia and around the world. The approach focuses on assessing and monitoring student growth over time and is underpinned by an understanding that students of the same age and in the same year of school can be at very different points in their learning and development.

 Why do schools use PAT tests?

• They provide a measure of student achievement in each learning area
• PAT Adaptive uses a sophisticated computer adaptive assessment model to accurately target students’ abilities and to provide richer and more accurate diagnostic information about students’ achievements and needs.
• Entry levels are automatically assigned according to students’ estimated ability, and their individualised test pathway is constructed as they progress through a series of ‘test lets’ – small blocks of test items.
• There is a common achievement scale for all tests within a learning area (PAT scale scores allow teachers to compare achievement on the tests within each learning area regardless of year level and the specific test completed and to monitor progress over time)
• They are mapped to the Australian Curriculum.
• They provide overall descriptions of the types of skills mastered and those still to be developed based on test performance.
• Individual and group reports have automatically calculated scores and sorting functions that allow comparison of scores across students, strands, etc.
• They can be used to inform teaching and learning and to assist in planning effective and targeted learning programs.

Students in Years 2-6 have been engaged in PAT Reading and PAT Mathematics Adaptive tests during the last two weeks. The results will now be analysed and used to guide the planning of learning activities.

Mr Rod Green
Assistant Principal