Toolamba Primary School

Principal's Report

Dear families,

 

CHANGE OF DATE FOR TOOLAMBA ATHLETIC SPORTS

Due to time limitations, we have moved the Toolamba Athletics Sports to Friday 13th September to enable students to have more time to practise for the events.

 

TREE PLANTING 

This week all students had the opportunity to participate in tree planting. Many thanks to Kylie Hoskin from the Greater Shepparton Council who led the project. Students certainly enjoyed the activity. They came away from the session with many reasons why it is so important to look after our native vegetation and the positive impact on the environment.

 

ROBOTICS

Coding was at the centre of the robotics workshops this week. Students were challenged to program their robots to complete an obstacle course. It was a fantastic learning experience for all students. The level of engagement was high with both students and staff.  

 

TOOLAMBA COMMUNITY COOKBOOK

Thank you to those families who have sent in items for our Community Cookbook. I have been inspired to do some cooking at the weekend. Friday is the last day to send in your recipes so that we can begin the collation and have the books ready for sale. Proceeds will go towards the Grades 5 & 6 camp which was originally $700 per person. With fundraising we are hoping to reduce the cost to parents by $100. 

WELCOME BACK 

The Grade 3 students were very excited to welcome back Mr Argus this week from parental leave.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Harry and Louis W as well as Rachael J who took their sporting talents to Melbourne to compete in their respective sports of Tae Kwon Do and Gymnastics. Well done!

P&F UPCOMING EVENT

Father’s Day Stall-Tuesday 27th August. Any donations for our stall would be greatly appreciated. They can be left at the office. If you are able to come along and help with set up or selling on the day that would be fantastic. 

FATHER’S DAY BREAKFAST

Please keep this date free, Thursday 29th August. Fathers are welcome to come along and enjoy breakfast with their child/children. If you plan to attend, please let us know via Xuno.

 

NAPLAN RESULTS

David Howes

Deputy SecretarySchools and Regional Services

 

Victorian Year 3 students achieved the highest scores for reading and numeracy of any jurisdiction – the third year in a row in which this has been achieved. Victoria achieved the first or second highest mean scores of all jurisdictions in 7 out of 8 measures in reading and writing and achieved the top results in the country for writing in Years 5, 7 and 9.

The results for Years 3, 7 and 9 reading were an improvement on the 2023 results. This was despite the national trend in which the average score for reading declined in Years 3, 5 and 7 and improved only in Year 9.

Victoria’s reading performance improved overall in 2024, with 5,000 more students reaching the ‘exceeding’ proficiency level for reading across all year levels compared to 2023.

As is always the case, the results also remind us of further work to be done.

We want to continue to reduce the number of students in the “Needs Additional Support” categories across all domains and year levels, but especially in Year 3 reading. I expect this to occur as we ensure the universal implementation of evidence-based practice in teaching reading across our whole system in the coming years. We will also focus on how we better engage and support the learning of our secondary students, especially in years 7 to 9.

And while Victorian Aboriginal students performed better than Aboriginal students in other states and territories, we will together identify the further steps we can take to close the unacceptable gap between the performance of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in Victoria, and between the attainment levels of metropolitan and rural and regional students.

Overall, however, these are very strong results that reflect the very hard work that has been done staff.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WEEK 5 (12th -16th August)

  • Friday 16th last day for Recipes 

WEEK 6 (19th - 23rd  August)

  • Book Week
  • Tuesday 20th. Dress Up Day.  Come dressed as your favourite book character. Parade at 9.05am in the amphitheatre. 

 

WEEK 7 (26th - 30th August)

  • Monday 26th Curriculum Day (no students)
  • Tuesday 27th Father’s Day Stall (9am-11am)
  • Thursday 29th Father’s Day Breakfast (7am-9am)

WEEK 8 (2nd - 6th Sept) 

  • Grade 3 / 4 Camp Toolangi (Wed, Thur, Fri)

WEEK 9 ( 9th – 13th) 

  • Wednesday 11th ASHE Fest Foundation -Grade 3
  • Thursday 12th ASHE Fest Grade 4-6
  • Thursday RUOK Day wear something yellow.  Students from Foundation to Grade 3 are encouraged to wear something yellow. Students in Grade 4 -6 will be required to wear full school uniform to the Ash Fest.
  • Friday 13thToolamba Athletic Sports

WEEK 10 (16th – 20th) 

  • Monday 16th Footy Colours Day
  • Tuesday 17th Tatura Athletics Grade 3 -6 
  • Friday 20th Final Assembly 

 

Have a lovely weekend,

Regards Heather