Assistant Principal Update
Dear Parents and Carers,
Wow I can’t believe it is already the end of week 4! The year is off to a great start with a real focus on students being ready to learn and engaged in the learning program. Staff have been getting to know your child and how they learn as they build positive learning environments with their classrooms. Across the school there have been formal and informal data gathering opportunities to assist in informing teaching and learning plans. Please find included in this article information about NAPLAN, homework and junior school reading.
NAPLAN
Please find attached an information brochure for parents/carers about the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). This is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national proficiency standards. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.
With the exception of the Year 3 Writing Test, your child will do the NAPLAN tests online. These will take place in our Computer Lab and Year 3 and Year 5 classrooms using school devices. All students require headphones so please ensure that your child has a set of working headphones at school or please arrange to purchase these as soon as possible. Online NAPLAN tests are designed to provide precise results and are engaging for students. The tests are tailored (or adaptive) which means that each test presents questions that may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. This helps students remain engaged with the assessment. Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway. NAPLAN testing will take place at MEPS between Wednesday 11 March – Thursday 19 March in the following order; Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy. If your child is absent on the day of a NAPLAN test, they will have a ‘catch up’ session scheduled when they are next at school.
Prior to the assessments, classes are all becoming familiar with what questions may look like and will undertake practice sessions so that students know what to expect from the online testing platform. If you have any questions regarding your child’s participation in NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher. If you wish to withdraw your child from any test(s), please contact me via email at jessica.merritt@education.vic.gov.au by Friday 27 February.
Homework
Please check your Compass News Feed for updates regarding homework for all year levels P-6. As we begin a new year, it is the opportune time to establish strong routines both at school and at home. We value the partnership between home and school and also acknowledge that learning happens both within and beyond the classroom. As such, we have designed our homework as opportunities for students to engage with learning at home that will complement the classroom program.
Junior School Reading at MEPS
Thank you to our wonderful learning specialists for facilitating our Parent Information session regarding learning to read following a systematic synthetic phonics approach in the junior school and how parents can support this at home. I have also sent information home regarding what to expect in your child’s reader bag and library bags. Reading is something you can enjoy as a whole family with read to and read with, there is nothing better than enjoying a good book with your child – Happy Reading!
Jessica Merritt
Assistant Principal
Respect, Resilience, Responsibility, Connectedness and Challenge