Teaching and Learning
NAPLAN 2025: Helping our students shine
NAPLAN is just around the corner, running from 12 to 24 March 2025. This annual assessment for Years 3 & 5 helps us understand student progress in literacy and numeracy.
Why It Matters
NAPLAN is a valuable tool that helps teachers tailor learning to support each student’s growth. It’s not about passing or failing—it’s about celebrating progress and identifying areas where students can improve.
News from Miss Howden P/1
Kevin the Koala’s Family Adventure!
In the Prep/1/2 class, we have been learning all about families – how they can be different, yet share common experiences of love, care, and connection.
To help us explore this idea, we have a special classroom visitor – Kevin the Koala! 🐨✨ Kevin is going on a special adventure, spending time with each student’s family to learn about the different things families enjoy doing together.
Each child will have the opportunity to take Kevin home for two nights, and we are asking families to share a photo about what Kevin experienced. Whether it’s having dinner together, playing a game, reading a book, or spending time outside, these moments help our students see the many ways families connect.
This learning experience supports our students in developing their oral language skills by giving them something familiar and meaningful to talk about. Sharing their experiences with Kevin helps build confidence in speaking, storytelling, and understanding that while families may look different, they all share love, traditions, and time together.
At the end of Kevin’s journey, we will put together a class book filled with stories and pictures, celebrating the wonderful diversity of our families at Raywood.
Thank you to all our families for being part of this exciting learning experience! We can’t wait to see where Kevin’s adventure takes him next!
The Prep/1/2 Team🐨💛
News from Mr Collins in Years 2/6
We are well and truly back into the swing of things in the Senior Room. In Maths we have taken a deep dive into place value with a series of games and tasks allowing us to have conversations about columns, ordering and rounding.
In English we have just finished doing some reading assessments so you may see a variation on the books coming home soon. In preparation for NAPLAN testing we are reviewing writing Narratives with a focus on idea development and text organisation.
A reminder that it is an expectation that all students have their reading diary signed each night.
Mr Collins.
Supporting Student Wellbeing at Raywood
At Raywood, we are committed to ensuring that every child feels safe, supported, and ready to learn. Our teachers are currently undertaking intensive training on the mental health and wellbeing of children through Melbourne University. This training is designed to equip us with the knowledge and strategies needed to support our students' wellbeing, helping them build resilience, confidence, and a strong foundation for success before they begin high school.
Through our studies, we have learned just how important it is to prioritise student mental health and wellbeing alongside academic learning. By fostering a supportive and nurturing school environment, we can help our students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.
Leading this initiative is Jess, our Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader, who will take the reins to ensure we have the resources and supports in place for all students. One of the first programs Jess will be introducing is the Life Skills GO program. This program will help students identify their feelings, provide them with the vocabulary to express their emotions, and empower them with strategies to manage and regulate their feelings in a healthy way.
With a strong focus on early intervention and whole-school wellbeing strategies, we are dedicated to making sure every student at Raywood has access to the support they need to flourish.
We are excited about this journey and look forward to implementing what we learn to make Raywood an even stronger, more supportive school community.
The Raywood Team
Art with Miss Lehre
Frida
This week in Art, students explored how artists like Frida Kahlo used flowers as a symbol of self-expression and culture. They experimented with different materials and techniques to design their own unique flower crowns, using colours, patterns, and textures to communicate their personality and ideas. Through this hands-on activity, students reflected on their artistic choices and proudly shared their creations with others. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate creativity, individuality, and cultural expression!
MARC News from Mrs Gentry
Welcome back to another great MARC year! It was so lovely to meet all the new students at Raywood PS. Everyone has borrowed some books from the library that they can share with people at home. This week we read Peter Carnavas’ book The Children Who Loved Books and put ourselves in the illustration. Students have also made their library cards that we will use throughout the year. I’m looking forward to a fabulous year at Raywood 😊
