Term 1 Round up!

We have been really busy at Para Vista in the first term of 2021. We continue to improve our learning environments both inside and out with, for example, furnitute purchases and new blinds for the Hive and Orchard classrooms, a vinyl artwork outside the new Italian room and a huge external mural to upgrade the outside of the Para building. We undertook external native planting along the boundary line with Montague Road and kitted out our new STEM space. In the holidays we will be upgrading the Vista Corridor and the Preschool kitchen.

Our literacy improvement journey continued with students becoming increasingly aware of the language of learning, understanding language features and using these to increase the quality of their writing. Students have also been developing their reading goals.

We have been gathering feedback on learning from our students through a new initiative called A Postcard from the Principal. In Term 1 I talked with over 100 students about their learning, what is working well and what they would like to improve.

We have also had Swimming for R-5 students and Aquatics for Years 6 & 7. We were lucky to have great weather for both and our students had a great time! In other sports activities - our senior girls netball team won all seven of their matches to become division champions in week 10.

We were pleased to be able to reopen the Breakfast Club andd welcome back volunteers in a variety of roles around the school. We also had an Aquaintance Morning and Parent Interviews. Although there are still Covid restrictions in please around social density and additional cleaning we are pleased to be moving into a new normal that works for all.

NAPLaN for students in Years 3,5 and 7 : 11th - 14th May

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. NAPLAN is a nationwide measure through which parents, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments and the broader community can determine whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

As children progress through their school years, it is very important that checks are made along the way to see how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and mathematics – skills that will set them upon the path to success as adults.

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about student progress.

Federal, state and territory education ministers agreed to gradually transition NAPLAN online by 2022. NAPLAN Online is a tailored test that adapts to student responses, providing better assessment and more precise results. Year 3 Writing is a paper test whereas all other assessments for NAPLaN are online.

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing against national standards in literacy and numeracy and over time.

The tests provide an important contribution to monitoring and evaluating the performance of schools and school systems in these fundamental capabilities. They also provide schools, states and territories with information about how education approaches are working, the areas to be prioritised for improvement, and those schools requiring support in the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.

The results can assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress. To ensure that students are supported to participate as confidently as possible they are given an opportunity on 25th March to experience a practice online and can also work through some practice questions leading up to the assessment in May so that they are not anxious or nervous about the experience.

NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process, they do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance. Your child’s teacher will have the best insight into your child’s educational progress.

NAPLAN results do not measure overall school quality.

NAPLAN is made up of tests in the four areas (or ‘domains’) of:

Reading

Writing

Language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)

Numeracy.

For the most recent information about NAPLAN, including upcoming tests and resources for parents, students and schools, visit the NAP website.

If you want to help your child feel comfortable with the kinds of questions in a NAPLAN test, you can view past NAPLAN papers and answers for practice or visit the NAPLAN Online public demonstration site.

NAPLaN did not take place in 2020 due to Covid restrictions and so this year is an important year to help us be better informed about Literacy and Numeracy progress. Thank you for your support.

Our whole staff team would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and happy holiday break - see you in Term 2!

Sue

Para Vista Primary School Newsletter

Respect - Honesty - Courage

Issue 2 · 07 Apr 2021

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