FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Term 3 - Week 10

Welcome to the final Principal's address for Term 3 2024, and our final NAPLAN 2024 Report.

Year 5 Numeracy

Situational Analysis

In March, 87 St Nicholas School students sat the Year 5 Numeracy NAPLAN Assessment, 39 (45%) were female and 48 (55%) were male.  Four (5%) students identify as of Aboriginal origin. 18 (21%) students are on a Personal Plan. 76 Year 5 students were enrolled at St Nicholas School in Kindergarten (2019), 11 students were enrolled in Year 1 or later, and 7 students have enrolled from Year 3.

Table 5B illustrates the percentage of St Nicholas School students in each standard. This data measures well against the Nation (Table 5A). St Nicholas School has an additional 7% of our students in the top two bands: ‘Strong’ or ‘Exceeding’, with only 2.3% of students in the “Needs Additional Support” band.

If there is a flag of concern with this data, it relates to the number of students in the middle two bands. 93.1% of St Nicholas School students in the middle two bands could reflect a learning and teaching approach to Mathematics which provides our students with the basic foundations, though potentially lacks depth.

Table 5C presents St Nicholas School Year 5 Numeracy average alongside the System, Nation, State and NSW Inter-regional School averages. This data highlights the flag from our proficiency data. While our top two proficiency bands measure well against the State and Nation, our school average is below both the Nation and NSW average. In the case of the State, St Nicholas School Year 5 Numeracy average is 10 marks below the NSW average.

The inclination that St Nicholas School Year 5 cohort has a strong basic understanding in Mathematics, though may struggle when a question is presented differently or is challenging, is again reinforced in table 5D. While 74.7% of our cohort is classified as having at least a ‘Strong' proficiency in Numeracy, only 45% of our students beat the State average.

When we compare Table 5D to a similar breakdown of our Year 5 2024 Reading data (58% of students beating the State average) it provides evidence of success and clarity of future direction. The data highlights what we have achieved in the learning and teaching of reading (success), and why we are now committed to embedding a similar sophisticated and rigorous approach to the learning and teaching of numeracy (future direction).

“Regular attendance at school is essential if students are to maximise their potential” (CSO Policy & Procedures for Student Attendance, paragraph 1.1). 

While St Nicholas School NAPLAN reports for 2024 have shown a strong correlation between high attendance and higher achievement, this is not reflected in our Year 5 Numeracy Data (TABLE 5E). Similarly, the Year 5 Numeracy NAPLAN data does not show any real correlation between when our students commence at St Nicholas School and their achievement (Table 5F).

Conclusion

A deep analysis of our Year 5 NAPLAN Numeracy results provides confidence in the current direction of St Nicholas School. St Nicholas School 2024 Annual Improvement Plan details the implementation of the Systems MaST (Mathematics Specialist Teacher) Program into our Primary grades in 2024. 

With NAPLAN assessment conducted in March, after only a few weeks of MaST being implemented in the primary grades, our 2024 NAPLAN data could not possibly provide any evidence of impact. Rather, this data highlights the reason why we need the program embedded.

Our Year 5 Numeracy NAPLAN results show why as a school we are focused on improving the learning and teaching of Numeracy (Numeracy will again be a key component of the 2025 Annual Improvement Plan). Yes, our students have a strong foundation, though they require a more rigorous and sophisticated approach if they are to achieve their potential. This will be achieved through embedding the MaST program, thus developing “literate and numerate students for a hope filled future”.

Morning Drop-off

We have noticed that students are arriving at school increasingly earlier, sometimes as early as 7:55am. There is no teacher supervision at school until approximately 8:10am, coinciding with the arrival of the first bus. Therefore, it is not safe for students to be on the school grounds unsupervised before this time. 

Please note that commencing next term, the gate will be locked until the teachers are on supervision (8:10am). No students will be able to access the school grounds until then when the teachers on duty unlock the gate. 

If you require supervision before 8:10am, please contact William at Esteem to arrange before school care. 

Kindergarten teachers for 2025

We are now in a position to announce the 2025 Kindergarten teachers. I am delighted to announce that Miss Rachel Mierau, Miss Jess Harris, Mrs Amy Iles and Mrs Dayna Bevan will be the Kinder team next year. These quality educators will be involved with all the orientation days next term and they are looking forward to getting to know all of the kindergarten students joining us next year. 

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I wish everyone an enjoyable two weeks with their children as our students rest up and recuperate for a fabulous Term 4.

Have a great week!

John Clery

Principal