Primary School News

Dear Parents,

There are five characteristics of Marist Education. These are: 

• Presence 
• Simplicity
• Family Spirit
• Love of Work
• In the Way of Mary. 

In my 19 years at Marist College, I have seen many examples of these characteristics in action. 

There is one that I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on here. Family Spirit in the Marist sense places an emphasis on communal well-being and mutual support of all members of our Marist Family. It is about building community through acceptance and belonging. In speaking with prospective parents during our Head of College Tours last Friday, I spoke of the fact that, once boys and parents join the Marist Family, they never really leave. Judging by the responses of our guests that day, I got the sense that this was something that they understood and were eager to be a part of. I hope that all families in our Primary School have a sense of that communal support and feel a part of something that reaches far beyond the boundaries of Marist College Ashgrove.

I witnessed this sense of Family Spirit first-hand as we attempted to navigate our way through the very sad events of the past week. I saw students helping students through sad times. I saw staff members reaching out to students to assist, and I saw staff supporting staff when they needed it most. Perhaps most touching of all, I witnessed students checking on the welfare of staff to see if they were OK when they sensed that they were not. Even without going into detail about each of these, one could not encounter more powerful examples of Family Spirit in action than those mentioned. Our emphasis on the well-being of our community continues to be a priority as we enter Week 4 together.

Primary Pastoral Leader – Anthony Graham 

We are pleased to share some wonderful news about our boys’ conduct during lunch break at school. Their exemplary behaviour has been commendable, and we are truly proud of their positive and inclusive approach. During this time, our young men have shown respect, kindness, and cooperation towards their peers. They actively engage in various activities, fostering a harmonious and enjoyable atmosphere for all. I’m most proud of the way boys from both year levels play across games without hesitation and everyone is inclusive. 

On Friday, 10 of our Year 6 students had an opportunity to help facilitate several sporting activities at the Under 8s Day at St Joseph’s Bardon. The boys lead with great passion and energy and helped to foster a strong sense of community and camaraderie among young students. I was incredibly proud of the way the boys conducted themselves and how they empowered the young minds of St Joseph’s to grow, explore, and dream big.

Primary Learning Leader – Jen Little

Student Monitoring and Goal Setting

Over the last 2 weeks, Primary boys have been reviewing their Semester 1 Results and they have been asked to use the feedback from their teachers to set realistic goals to move their learning forward this semester. 

Parents and Caregivers are encouraged to sit down and discuss these goals, looking specifically at the named strategies aimed to assist students. To this end, it is timely to remind students of the opportunities that continue to be offered in the Primary:

• Before school study – each morning from 8am
• Writing Workshops – Thursday mornings at 8am
• One Note Revision and Resources – available to all students through classroom teachers
• Library Guides to provide additional Study Resources for Students

NAPLAN

Today, Year 5 students received their NAPLAN results in sealed envelopes to take home to their parents. Although NAPLAN is a ‘point in time’ test, it does provide important information to parents and teachers as to how students are progressing in Literacy and Numeracy across the following areas: Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy. Due to alterations in the levelling, comparisons of previous student data are difficult to make. 

New proficiency levels this year include the following:

• Exceeding – results exceed expectations at the time of testing. 
• Strong -results meet challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
• Developing – results indicate that students are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support – results indicate that students are not always achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing and are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

For further clarification, please don’t hesitate to email me directly on: littlej@marash.qld.edu.au

Extension

Last week, all students who were selected to be a part of Mathematics and writing extension programs were emailed directly. For the purposes of transparency, criteria for these programs are as follows:

1. Elligible students must have received at least an A- on their Semester Report Card.
2. Outstanding End of Semester Grades must also be verified by their previous standardized testing e.g. NAPLAN results or ACER Testing.

Please note that our extension programs for Year 5 will commence this week during class ASH lesson times. 

Australian Mathematics Competition

Last week, I contacted selected students/ parents to inform them of their child’s inclusion in the Australian Mathematics Competition. The competition will take place on August 3rd in the Champagnat Centre. Students will require the following materials:

• Fully charged device
• Charger
• Calculator (preferably a pocket calculator that students know how to use)
• English Dictionary
• Pencil
• Eraser

Should students wish to prepare for the testing, I would direct them to the following website: Dashboard - Problemo