Principal's Report

NAPLAN  

Next week, our Year 7 and 9 students will begin undertaking their NAPLAN testing online. 

The shift to completing NAPLAN online has a number of benefits for students, parents and schools. One of the biggest benefits is the adaptive nature of the tests, where a student’s test will adapt to provide students with questions to either extend students in their thinking with more challenging questions or provide students with greater scaffolding with some simpler questions. This means that the tests will provide students, parents, teachers and schools with a more detailed and accurate understanding of what students can do in each of the areas tested (Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language and Numeracy).  

 Whilst individualised results to students and parents won’t be released for some time, some initial whole school data will be provided for teachers in the coming months so they can individualise and target the needs to individuals and small groups of students in their classes.  

Students who are absent for the testing will be notified via Compass with details of when they will be scheduled to complete a ‘catch-up’ NAPLAN session.   

Learning Conferences 

Learning Conferences will be held online on Thursday 21st March from 11:00am to 7:00pm via the Cisco Webex platform.   

Bookings for Learning Conference appointments are now open via Compass and brief Progress Reports will be available to download via Compass at 3pm on Wednesday 13th March. Please check your Compass newsfeed for details to support you to use the platform and access teachers for your appointments.     

Learning Conferences are a valuable opportunity for a three-way conversation between parents, students and teachers. As active participants in their own education, students are expected to attend the learning conferences with you. Students are encouraged to reflect on their efforts and discuss future learning goals and challenges with both you and their teachers.   

Please note that this is a student free day and the school will not be providing supervision for students as there are no scheduled classes on this day.      

In preparation for the conversations, we encourage you to read the comments for all Learning Tasks on Compass and review the Progress Report work habit judgements. Descriptors for these are available in the Parent Reporting and Assessment Guide on the College website. Discuss with your child their learning progress to date and identify questions you may wish to ask of teachers when you meet. To further support these discussions complete Assessment Schedules for all year levels and subjects for the Semester will be made available via the College website in the Student Learning tab under Curriculum. 

We look forward to this opportunity to meet to discuss your child's learning. 

Promoting Student Voice 

Student voice and agency in their learning is valued at Brentwood and IS at the core of our Student Learner Model and Vision for Learning. 

Over the coming weeks, the leadership team will conduct student forums to learn more from students about their experiences at school and seek feedback on how we can continue to improve our practices. 

Sonja Ardley

Associate Principal