From the Principal Team

Welcome Back

It has been wonderful seeing everyone back at school this week. Despite the gloomy weather, constant rain and cold winds, the mood around the school has been bright and bubbly. 

Long may it last! 

Term 3 always shapes up as a 'quiet term' and then gets filled up before you know it. This year is no exception. We have our parent information night next Thursday, School Athletics, Parent-Teacher conferences, a PFA disco, Book week, the State Schools Spectacular and more. 

As I always tell people though, we move at the pace of the children, not the adults, so I'm sure they will take it all in stride. 

We do ask that parents encourage/force your children to wear pants to school and unless you have 5 sets of uniform, encourage your child as much as possible to avoid wet areas and move slowly when it's slippery. We do make announcements and teachers will remind students to stay away from mud and puddles, but children do have a magnetic attraction to mess. 

Wonderful Student Achievement

We are so impressed with the achievements of our Year 3 and 5 students this year. Their NAPLAN results demonstrate some exceptional work and concentration on learning and growing. 

There is a compilation of our results in the slideshow below but for those who prefer not to look at charts and stats, here are the headlines: 

• Student scores were better this year (compared to 2023) in 7 out of 10 categories. 
• The percentage of students rated as Strong or Exceeding was greater than the Maroondah Network in 9 out of 10 categories. 
• When compared to Similar Schools across the State, we matched or outperformed them in 6 out of 10 categories. 

At RNPS we pride ourselves on focusing on authentic learning, responsive to the child and meaningful. We never teach to the test or try to artificially inflate scores, so when we see the growth and improvement in these areas, we know that it represents strong foundations in student learning. And they are only getting stronger. 

Congratulations to our many wonderful learners and thank you to the teachers who have contributed to their growth. 

On Thursday July 25, we will be hosting our Maths Parent Information Night. It is designed to provide the same level of information and insights about our mathematics program as you received in February for reading. I encourage all families to set the date aside to attend. I know that some people have an aversion to mathematics and may not be excited at this prospect but I would say that especially for these families, we would love to have the chance to share how we are trying to teach mathematics in a way that promotes confidence and excitement in mathematics.