Greetings from Shaun
It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of Week 4! Students have settled wonderfully into the routines, expectations and learning of their new year levels. I’ve enjoyed visiting classrooms to see the learning taking place and chatting with students out on yard duty. Term 1 is proving to be busy as always, with a range of events coming up. Please remember to check the Dates to Remember section on the next page of the newsletter.
Welcome Picnic
It was fantastic to see so many of our families at our Welcome Picnic and BBQ on Wednesday. The weather was slightly warm, but this time the rain stayed away! It was a great chance for everyone to catch up, relax and welcome our new families and teachers into our Northcote PS community. The sausage sizzle was a hit, a big thank you to our parents for organising and running it and to Mickey D’s Meats for donating the sausages.
NPS Fete
Preparations are well underway for our school fete on Saturday 18th March. Today was the final day for donations for the second hand stalls. I would like to thank all of our community for your generosity in supporting this, our sheds are definitely at capacity!
School Council
A reminder that nominations for our 4 parent vacancies on School Council close this Monday 20th March. We are looking for people who are committed to improving the educational outcomes for all our students and to upholding our school values of respect, collaboration, and community.
Effective school councils have a broad range of experience, skills, and expertise. This is important because as a school councillor, you represent the voice of the wider school community. Face-to-face and online training is available to help new and returning councillors develop the skills and knowledge for the job.
Meet the Teacher
Our Term 1 Meet the Teacher interviews are taking place this Tuesday 21st March, from 12:30pm to 7pm. This is a great opportunity to chat to your child’s teacher about any information that will help your child’s learning and wellbeing. Please remember there is an early dismissal at 12pm on Tuesday. Just remember OSCH is available on this day from 12pm for supervision. If you are unable to access the OSCH program, we are running a supervision program onsite as an alternative, please contact the office if required.
NAPLAN Changes
This week information was sent out to our Year 3 and 5 families regarding NAPLAN.
This year NAPLAN has moved from May to March and along with the change of timing, there is also going to be a change to the manner in which NAPLAN details are provided to schools and families.
New proficiency standards with 4 levels of achievement for each year level will replace the previous 10-band structure that covered all 4 levels tested and the old national minimum standard set in 2008 when tests were on paper. The new proficiency standards include a baseline benchmark to identify students who are likely to need additional support. This will mean students in Year 3 and 5 will have numerical NAPLAN bands replaced and the national minimum standard will be replaced by the following 4 levels of achievement:
• Exceeding
• Strong
• Developing
• Needs additional support.
I encourage families to read the information in ACARA’s (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) media release - link here
There is also a FAQ information brochure about the new Proficiency Standards here:
https://nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/proficiency-standard-faqs.pdf
We will provide further information about NAPLAN to our Year 3 and 5 families in the coming weeks.