NAPLAN

This week our grade 3 and 5 students have been sitting NAPLAN testing. NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake. As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

I would like to congratulate all our grade 3 and 5 students on their effort and no fuss approach to sitting the tests (we have 2 more to complete tomorrow and Monday. This is one of many ways we evaluate student outcomes and progress as individual students and as a year level. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.

Swimming

It has been a busy week for our grade 1/2 students who started their swimming program at Aquazone on Tuesday. I have loved going down to the pool and see all our wonderful grade 1 and 2s having a go, participating in activities and following instructions so that everyone is safe. Thank you to all parents for supporting us with being organised with swimming gear, towels etc… I understand this can add extra ‘work’ at home when swimming is happening every day. No doubt your children are coming home a little more tired than usual too. Let’s keep going and enjoying this wonderful experience.

Foundation

This week we also congratulate the smallest people in our school as they no longer have a rest day on Wednesday. I am in awe of them each time I walk through their classrooms and see them learning, listening, smiling and chatting with their friends and teachers. We are looking forward to having a celebration night for foundation children and their parents on Monday 27th March for their positive start to school life.

School Council

We were in an extremely fortunate position to have 10 parent self nominations this year (2 withdrawals), resulting in a school council ballot. Thank you to all parents who took time to submit their vote. The votes have been counted and finalised. We congratulate and welcome the following parents to 2 year positions (2023 and 2024)

Phil Dennis – parent
Sam Pereira – parent
Davi Long – parent
Billy Gardner – parent

Likewise, our staff have also self nominated for school council DET positions. We welcome the following staff;

Ann Dwyer – DET
Alison Smith – DET
*Essie Rogers – DET (casual 12 months)

The following parents and staff will continue in their positions for another 12 moths.

Clinton Hill – parent
Eli Cowling – parent
Hafey Rock – parent
Garth Baulch – community
Michael Smith – community
India Thomas – DET

School Council AGM will be held on Tuesday 4th April with the new school council team.

School council meetings must:

be held at least 8 times per year (unless the Minister has approved less meetings) and at least once per school term (there is no maximum number of meetings)
achieve a quorum for a meeting to proceed (a quorum is achieved at a school council meeting when not less than one half of the school council members are present, and the majority are not department employees)
be attended by members of the school council in person or if unable to attend personally, by videoconferencing or teleconferencing
be conducted in accordance with the school council’s Standing Orders if the school council has established any. Further information is available in the Guidance tab.
be resourced with support and relevant information by the principal, for the efficient conduct of meetings
be open to members of the school community, unless the council determines the need for a closed meeting or a closed component of the meeting.

If a member of the school community would like to attend, please notify the office at least 24 hours before the meeting of your attendance.

Harmony Day

March 21st