Principal's Report
I hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend.
Mathematics Reporting
Yesterday during the Pupil Free day, the staff spent time working on the new reporting requirements for the revised mathematics curriculum (Mathematics curriculum 2.0).
All Victorian government schools will start using the Mathematics curriculum 2.0 in 2024 or 2025. At Preston PS we are using the revised mathematics curriculum for school reporting from Semester 1 2025.
On your child's previous report, the teacher reported against the achievement standards for the 3 strands of mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability). Under the Mathematics curriculum 2.0, your child’s teacher will report against the achievement standard as a whole, providing a single, aggregated score.
As the achievement standards reported on have changed, the first time you receive a report under the Mathematics curriculum 2.0, it will only show achievement and not progress. For all reports after this, progress will be shown against the single achievement standard.
The VCAA made these changes to help teachers plan their teaching and learning programs in mathematics, giving them more flexibility to support students to link ideas within mathematics and also with other curriculum areas.
For further information, refer to the department’s policy on Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10.
If you have any queries about your child’s report, please contact your child’s teacher.
Assessment and Reporting
The end of Term 2 is always a busy time in schools as teachers have been doing assessments with the students and writing reports. These assessments are carefully scheduled throughout the term. The teachers use the data gained through the assessments and moderation to inform their reporting to parents and the DE.
Teachers are currently finalising each child’s report and assessment checklists. Once this is completed, I will be reading and signing the reports.
The assessment portfolios will be sent home on Tuesday July 16th.
3 Way Conferences
In Semester 2 we will be holding our 3 Way Conferences on Wednesday July 30th between 1.00pm and 7.30pm. Parents will be able to make a booking as of Monday July 21st.
We will be using the normal format and ask that those parents who can keep their children at home for the day do so.
These conferences will provide parents with the opportunity to discuss their child’s Assessment Portfolio and report with the classroom teacher. The conferences are an integral part of the reporting process, so it is imperative that all families attend.
Building Update
We were very excited to hear that work on the new art and music room project will be starting next Monday. Before the building works begin, they have to move one of the relocatables off site and reposition one of the others. Next Monday they will be erecting the temporary fencing around the two relocatables.
As part of the current stage, we have had to move PAA and PAB into the main building. As they have currently set up their classrooms in the open space at both ends, we ask that parents who have children in Grade 1 and PAE please enter your child’s classroom through the external doors.
During this stage we will not have access to the school via the Ellison St and Shakespeare St gates.
Everyone will have to enter the site via the Bowden St gates. We hope that once the relocatables are moved and the building works begin we will once again have access to the school via the Shakespeare St gate.
Student And Staff Illness
With the onset of winter, we are having an increasing number of illnesses within the school which are affecting both the students and staff. While we no longer have any children with Whooping Cough, we still have reports of Covid, RSV, influenza, pneumonia, and coughs and colds. Students and staff who are unwell should not be at school as they are potentially spreading their illness onto others.
If your child is unwell, PLEASE keep them at home.
Communication
It is important that parents ensure they have access to Compass as it is our primary means of communicating with parents.
If you have Compass set up on your phone, you will receive an alert when items are sent out.
Please ensure that you read what is sent out otherwise you will not know what is happening in the school.
- All excursions, incursions and camp information are sent out on Compass.
- Consent and payments must be made on Compass.
- All important dates are on the Compass calendar.
- Newsletters are sent out via Compass.
- School policies are on Compass (Community / School Documentation).
Regards
Janet Paterson,
Principal.