Principal's Report

Yet another great fortnight of learning has happened for the students of FNPS!

Our Year 6 JSC students have now independently planned and delivered two assemblies since the beginning of Term 1. These students are representing themselves and our school confidently and enthusiastically and we are so proud of their efforts and achievements to date. 

Our Junior School students have been deeply immersed in an exploration of our School Values, with our Preps working closely with their Year 6 buddies this week to develop an understanding of our school value of Kindness. We are so very proud of our youngest community members and their buddies for their amazing commitment to displaying the FNPS values in all that they do.

Parent / Carer / Teacher Meet ‘n’ Greet

Our recent Meet and Greet sessions were met with incredibly positive feedback from both teachers and families. These important meetings allow teachers to hear from families insightful information about your child’s personal learning style and preferences and develop a strong school – home partnership. Whilst these formal meetings are incredibly important, please also remember that you are always welcome to contact your child’s teacher with any questions you may have or information you would like to share.

Grattan Institute Research Paper into Reading

Many of you will be aware that recently, the Grattan Institute published a paper around the most effective way of teaching students to read.

The paper includes the following research informed methods of what is best for all students:

• “Your child should be taught systematically how letters relate to sounds, so they can sound out the unfamiliar words they see on a page. They can then practice these skills using ‘decodable’ texts.
• Your child’s teacher should read books aloud with the whole class, to make sure all students get to experience exciting stories and learn new vocabulary, even if they can’t yet read on their own.
• Your child should be taught new words explicitly, right through school. By the end of school, they should have a rich vocabulary and background knowledge so they can understand more complex texts in subjects such as Biology and History.
• Your child should be given catch-up support, such as small-group tutoring or one-on-one help, if they are falling behind.”

At FNPS, we are proud that our practice is underpinned by all of the above approaches. Our teachers focus on the development of strong phonics based skills to foster early success and a love of reading. Through shared texts and exposure to rich literature, our children hear texts read aloud and have the opportunity to develop their vocabulary through explicit instruction at every year level. We are also very fortunate, through our tutoring program, to be able to provide those students who require additional assistance the opportunity to receive focused support at their individual point of need.

And the outstanding commitment of our teachers towards teaching in line with current best practice is leading to results we can all be proud of.

Our 2023 NAPLAN results in Reading (and Maths), see FNPS operating as a school of Influence. The expanded Reading data below also highlights our performance in relation to schools across our network, schools similar to us in terms of demographics across the state, along with our performance against the state overall.

I’m sure you will agree that this data is a huge celebration for us all. It not only demonstrates the outstanding work of our teachers and our students, but also of our families and the work you do at home to consolidate school learning in the home environment. We really can’t thank you enough for your support.

One of the things I am most proud of is that this is a true reflection of our children’s abilities. FNPS will never discourage a child from participating in NAPLAN and we are proud that we are also considered a school of Influence when it comes to NAPLAN participation.

You can read the full Grattan Institute article by clicking on the following link.

How Your Child Should Be Taught to Read - Grattan Institute

Call For Volunteers – Contacting Party!

Speaking of Decodable Readers, in addition to the suite of decodable readers obtained by the school in 2023, we have recently purchased more than 1000 new readers for distribution to our students. These books have been purchased using the funds our amazing community have donated to the Library Fund and will replace many of the older texts here at the school.

But with these new books, comes the need for a ‘contacting party’! After speaking with a few parents in the yard this afternoon, a group of us are going to get together next Friday, 8 March, straight after morning drop off and spend some time getting into contacting as many of these books as possible. This will mean we can start distributing the books to students as quickly as Tuesday 12 March.

If you can’t help out next Friday but would have some time to get some contacting done at home, please speak to the front office who will provide you with a selection of books and some contact that you can take home.

Thanks everyone, both for your donations to the Library Fund and your continued support of our Literacy Program. We are really looking forward to sharing all of these new texts with our students very soon.

School Council Elections

It’s that time of year where we call for nominations from our parent and carer community to join School Council. The FNPS School Council is a group of active and passionate individuals who are dedicated to improving the outcomes for our students and our school. 

Joining the FNPS School Council or one of our sub-committees is a great opportunity for our families to gain an insight into the governance structure under which our school operates and be actively involved in our school community. With regards to the minimum time commitment, School Council members are required to attend eight School Council meetings per year, along with eight one hour sub-committee meetings per year.

Joining School Council involves a nomination and, if the number of nominations exceeds the number of vacancies, an election process. For further information on the election process, including how you might nominate yourself or someone else, please refer to the attached School Council Elections – Information for Families document which also includes the timeline for this process. 

To view the Notice of Election, which outlines the number of vacancies for 2024, please refer to the attached document FORM 2 – Notice of Election.

Unfortunately, electronic nominations are not permitted. To self-nominate, or to nominate another community member, please pick up a nomination form from the front office. 

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact me via email: tania.sorbello@education.vic.gov.au

Policy Update

Mobile Phone Policy

Please be reminded that all Victorian Government Schools are required to operate in accordance with Ministerial Order 1125 and the Department of Education and Training’s Mobile Phone Policy.

For the purpose of the policy, “mobile phone” refers to mobile phones and any device that may connect to or have a similar functionality to a mobile phone such as smart watches.”

Fitzroy North Primary School understands that students may bring a personal mobile phone to school, particularly if they are travelling independently to and from school, however, at Fitzroy North Primary School:

• Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours
• Exceptions to this policy may be applied if certain conditions are met (see below for further information)
• When emergencies occur, parents or care givers should reach their child by calling the school’s office.

Further information on these policies, along with many other FNPS policies, please head to our website:

Policies — Fitzroy North Primary School (fitzroynthps.vic.edu.au)

NAPLAN 2024

The week beginning 11 March 2024 will see our Year 3 and 5 students undertake NAPLAN. Over the past couple of weeks, teachers have spent their time preparing students about what to expect from the assessments and how to complete the tests on a digital platform.

To support the transition and help students become familiar with the online environment and format, students will be participating in a coordinated practice test this term prior to the official NAPLAN testing period. 

We ask that families do not withdraw their child/ren from participating in the assessments as, whilst the assessments are a moment in time snapshot of student performance, when triangulated with other data sets collected by the school, they provide important information about student learning growth and areas for future improvement. This information can then be used to identify strategies to best support student learning across the school.

That being said, a message to our students:

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best in your upcoming NAPLAN assessments, but before you take the tests, there is something important we need you to know. 

We want to remind you that whilst NAPLAN provides information about your learning journey, there is so much more that makes you exceptional and unique. 

NAPLAN can’t tell us that some of you love to sing and dance, are amazing artists, or can teach others to use a computer. NAPLAN can’t see that you speak confidently to a large group, or that your friends count on you to brighten up their day when they are sad. The people who mark these tests do not know that you play sports, or what a kind, thoughtful and caring person you are, or that every day you do your very best. 

The scores you get from NAPLAN will tell you how you did on that one day, but they will not tell you everything. They can’t tell you that you have improved on something you once found difficult. They can’t tell you how you make your teacher’s day a little better just for being you. They can’t tell you how amazingly special you are. 

So, come ready to do your best, but remember there is no one way to ‘test’ all of the wonderful things that make you, YOU!

The NAPLAN schedule is as follows:

Wednesday 13 March 2024 – Writing

Friday 15 March 2024 – Reading

Monday 18 March 2024 – Language Conventions

Tuesday 19 March 2024 – Mathematics

*Assessments begin at 9:30am sharp, so please ensure your child arrives on time to allow them to settle into their day before beginning these assessments.

All other days in the testing window (Wednesday 13 March – Monday 25 March) will be used to allow students who are absent to catch up on their assessments.

Further information can be found by accessing the following document:

NAPLAN Information Brochure for Parents and Carers

Go gently,

Tania