Principal

Continuous Reporting

As we move well into Term Two, I thought it might be timely to remind parents and guardians that they are able to read specific feedback on tasks undertaken across their child’s subjects by logging into the PAM module of our Learning Management System SIMON. 

Sometimes in schools it is easy to become caught in the routines and structures of schooling as it has been done for decades or even centuries, and to just think that we complete tests and assignments and get grades and do exams, because that is just what happens in a school. It is worthwhile however, to occasionally step off this treadmill and ask why we do all of these things. Perhaps with the exception of Year 12 exams, to my mind all assessments that teachers make of student learning are about future change and improvement. Partly it’s about demonstrating and showing what’s been learnt, but if it’s not also so students can see and correct mistakes and do things better or more fully next time, there seems little point to examinations or tests or assignments. 

Continuous reporting and immediate feedback about what needs to happen next or be done differently is much better at achieving these goals than the traditional semester report, arriving once every six months. If you haven’t done so for a while, I encourage you to log in to PAM to read your child’s teachers’ feedback and to discuss it with them. 

As a side note, I know that it would be very helpful to have a notification when a new piece of feedback is available on PAM. We are working with our LMS provider SIMON on this, and looking at other providers too so that this information can be most easily accessible to parents.