Year 6/7 High school selections

All Year 6 and 7 students should have received a package on how to enrol their child in a high school in 2022. Parents enrol their child using the information provided and do this through an online submission. If this is confusing or you wish to chat about the process please join us on Thursday May 6th at 2:30pm (in Para Vista Meeting Room), where staff will be available to support you. Please sign in at the front office and follow COVID safe procedures. Thank you,

Chris Burdett, Nicola McManus and Pauline Codd.

The Year 6/7 Jackets have arrived. Make sure you collect yours from the office. They look great!

NAPLAN testing 2021

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 may participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The assessment provides parents/carers and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. This year, the NAPLAN Online test window is 11 to 21 May. Most schools in South Australia will undertake testing online, however all Year 3 students will complete the writing test on paper. There are contingency measures to revert to paper testing if required.

Supporting your child: On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for and students are not expected to do so. You can reassure your child that NAPLAN is just one part of their school program and remind them on the day to simply do their best. It is not recommended that students use services by coaching providers or excessively prepare for NAPLAN testing. Teachers will ensure students are familiar with the types of questions in the tests and provide appropriate support and guidance.

NAPLAN reporting: Individual student performance is shown on a national achievement scale, and a NAPLAN individual student report will be issued by your child’s school later in the year. Students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers, while teachers use results to better identify students who would benefit from greater challenges or extra support.

Participation in NAPLAN: Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 may participate in NAPLAN testing. If a child is absent on a testing day, the school may arrange for them to complete the missed test/s another time during the school’s test schedule. If a student has a disability, they may qualify for adjustments to their tests. Students with a disability that severely limits their capacity to participate, or students who have recently arrived in Australia with a non-English speaking background, may be granted a formal exemption. There are provisions for parents/carers to withdraw their child from NAPLAN testing. Schools are familiar with this process and a decision should be made with your child’s school. Speak to your principal in the first instance.

More information: For queries about NAPLAN, speak to your child’s school. You can also find information about NAPLAN testing at www.nap.edu.au.

Communication

Please note that we no longer use the Skoolbag app. School communication is via Edmodo, Facebook, email and phone as well as face to face where we can.

If you need to contact the school please telephone or email parent.support483@schools.sa.edu.au

Class teacher emails have also been provided to follow up on individual issues. Please do not use Edmodo messages to ask teachers to follow up on individual student issues or to report absences as these have to be documented appropriately,

Please refrain from sending individual messages and emails to teachers and Leadership staff out of working hours as we cannot guarantee a response after 5pm. Urgent matters should be communicated to the Front Office between 8am and 5pm and will be responded to promptly.

Mentor Reading

Para Vista Primary School has an Aboriginal enrolment of nearly 10% of the school population. In Australia 3% of the population is Aboriginal. Para Vista School educators recognise the need to improve learning outcomes and opportunities for Aboriginal students. The 2021 Site Improvement Plan focus is around reading growth as this impacts learning in all curriculum areas.

At Para Vista an Aboriginal Reading Mentor Program has been in place for over 2 years. Each Aboriginal Student in years 1-7 has a reading mentor. They work individually with their mentor once per week on targeted reading skills. This term the mentors will be Melissa Mills, Chris Burdett, Lisa McMahon, our ACEO Aunty June, Paul Bairstow (EALD teacher), Nicola McManus, Pauline Codd, Renee Donnelly and Carla Huddy. Every 5 weeks goals are reviewed and reading passports updated. We are seeing positive outcomes for the extra support educators are providing our Aboriginal students.

Out of School Hours Care