From the Principal Team

Natalie Shanahan, Sam Fleming, Claire Johnston

A very warm welcome to this week's newsletter, as the Olympics wind down and the Spring weather begins popping its head up to give us a teaser of what's to come.

NAPLAN:

While the 2024 NAPLAN results have recently been distributed to parents, NAPLAN data has also recently been released to schools, allowing us to begin looking at how our Grade 3 and Grade 5 cohorts are achieving.

Student achievement in NAPLAN is reported using proficiency standards for each assessment area at each year level. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing. There are 4 proficiency levels:

Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing.

We like to use this opportunity to remind parents that at BPS 'additional support' can be in the form of many things already happening in school such as differentiated planning addressing specific needs, targeted teaching of specific concepts, small group intervention, in-school support programs or the tutor learning initiative. It is also important to know that other assessment data may indicate that in fact none of these 'additional supports' are required and the results of NAPLAN may indicate just a 'bad day'. Your child's classroom teacher is best to add clarity for anyone concerned by this.

You'll notice the term 'at the time of testing' is used consistently through these level descriptors and this provides a good reminder that NAPLAN is a measurement of what the student was able to do for this test at this time. It is also worth remembering NAPLAN is expecting children (some as young as 7) to undertake what is essentially a formal assessment exam- something that makes adults anxious. Knowing this, schools will never use the NAPLAN as a definitive assessment tool, instead a range of formal and informal assessment tools are used on an ongoing basis to allow teachers to develop a more comprehensive understanding of student achievement.

We are again tremendously proud of the results presented in the initial information available to schools.

Looking at what went well for our school, our results in all assessment areas and at each level are above the average of our 'Network Schools' for the percentage of students in the Exceeding or Strong proficiency levels.

Compared to 'Similar Schools' (schools that are similar to BPS in terms of student disadvantage, enrollment size, cultural diversity and remoteness) our results also exceed or are comparable these.

We are ecstatic that 100% of Year 3 students are exceeding or strong in Writing and 95% in Reading, and strongly validates our phonics-based approach to learning literacy, a journey we have been on for several years now.

Results are similar in the areas of Numeracy, which again is great validation for our dedication to continually improving our Numeracy teaching and learning over recent years.

The student achievement results for Spelling and Grammar results are also something we are proud of with the percentage of strong or exceeding students greater than 'Similar' and 'Network Schools' and almost all instances.

Should you have any questions about your own child's achievement, NAPLAN-related or not, making an appointment to discuss these with their classroom teacher is the best way forward.

3-way conferences:

We have had a tremendous amount of positive feedback from our community about the success of our recent 3-way conferences. This speaks volumes of the effort put in by students in the preparation for the event, sharing their goals and learning. It also provided opportunity for us to share our gratitude for the support provided to children before, during and after the conferences, by their teachers, support staff and parents. Developing children that can articulate their learning achievements and aspirations truly is an example of it "taking a village."

Happy Campers:

We wish our Grade 5 and Grade 6 classes well as they head off to camp next week. While camps can cause nerves for some there are some great ways you can help prepare your child for the unknowns of camp and staying away from home.

look up the camp website with your child
discuss the similarities with other camps or even family experiences away
reflect on other challenges they've overcome in the past and draw upon the things that help them on those occasions
pack bags together. Allowing a child to see what is located where in their bags can reduce anxieties about how they will manage
speak positively about the experience including the new experiences camp may bring
discuss the things they're looking forward to most
remind them that their friends will there- in their cabins, and their activity groups
discuss how this camp will help them prepare for the camps they will likely go on in secondary school
reassure them that it's okay to miss home, everyone will be (even the teachers!), but home won't be going anywhere, and they'll be back in the comfort of their own bed in no time!
reassure them that no child has never NOT been able to fall asleep on camp- it's often an anxiety children have, but everyone drifts of in the end.
send them with a small token to keep in their bag that keeps them connected with home
reassure them that the teachers and support are supportive and play the role of 'mum' or 'dad' exceptionally well

Traffic Report:

It is timely to remind the school community of the importance of being considerate of pedestrian safety, other road users and the parking rules around our school. We can report that parking inspectors have been out in force recently with a number of drivers being booked. If safety and considerations of others isn't incentive enough, we're sure all households would agree that the $99 needed to pay the fine could definitely be spent better ways!

Thanks From Us:

We would like to express our gratitude for all of the well-wishes received on last weeks International Principal's Day. As mentioned to the teachers last week, while we certainly don't do it for the accolades, it is always nice to be made to feel special.

See you around!

Natalie, Sam and Claire

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