Semester 1 Reports Explained

Semester 1 Reports

Semester 1 reports will be available on your child’s Compass portal on the reports tab on Wednesday 26th June. Click on the link 2024 Semester One Reports to download and access this report.

“The Victorian Curriculum Foundation–10 (F–10) sets out what every student should learn during their first eleven years of schooling. The curriculum is the common set of knowledge and skills required by students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian priorities and standards.”  http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au

Each learning area in the Victorian Curriculum includes content descriptions explaining what is to be taught and achievement standards describing what students are able to understand and do. Achievement standards are provided in 11 levels for English and Mathematics and in 5 or 6 bands (each band spanning 2 or 3 years of learning) in all the other learning areas and capabilities. Schools are required to report student achievement twice a year in English, against the modes (reading, writing, speaking & listening), and in Mathematics, against the strands (number & algebra, measurement & geometry, statistics & probablility). For Science schools report student achievement, at least once a year, commencing in Year 3 or earlier if this is part of the teaching and learning program. From 2018 schools were also required to report student achievement twice a year against the achievement standards in Physical Education.  In the case of Health and all other learning areas and capabilities schools are to report student achievement in the year it is taught within the two-year band of schooling, in keeping with the whole-school teaching and learning plan. 

This is the first year that Essendon Primary School has trialled continous reporting over the semester.  This is also the first year that we have used the Compass platform to prepare our semester reports.  As a result our semester reports will look a little different to previous years. However, where possible, we have endeavoured to include the same information. The Semester Reports are intended to clearly communicate to families how your child has performed in relation to the semester’s learning goals and growth. It describes what students have achieved and how they have performed using a 5 point rating scale for teaching and learning goals that are directly link to the Victorian Curriculum standards.  

The subject reports, Literacy, Mathematics, Inquiry, Science, Visual, Arts, Physical Education and LOTE Japanese have a list of the learning tasks assessed over the semester. We hope that by including the learning tasks for each subject studied we are able to give families a good picture of what was taught and what your child has learned during the semester. 

Within each lesson teachers select a goal from a learning continuum to work with a group of students with similar learning needs.  Therefore, in each learning area there can be a number of goals students and teachers are addressing and assessing in a lesson. The goals and learning tasks selected by teachers for the purpose of reporting your child’s achievements are based on these differentiated practices.

The previous result in each domain will be the last time the area was reported on. You will be able to identify if it was reported on 6, 12 or 24 months ago by the number that is featured in the open circle. Teacher judgements for Inquiry and Specialist learning areas (such as History, Geography, Personal and Social Capabilities, The Arts, Japanese, Health and Physical Education for example) have been included in this semester’s reports if teachers have specifically taught to the content and had sufficient evidence to assess.  It is important to note that the content and the standards to be met in these 2 or 3 year bands is not on a developmental continuum in the same way as English, Mathematics and Science. The content is better taught and assessed within a unit of study some time during the 2 year band or Inquiry cycle. All of the goals and standards of achievement are aimed at being achieved by the end of the second year of learning in that band.  For example - your Year 5 child will receive a level 6 assessment and level 6 goals for learning areas that won’t be formally assessed again the following year when s/he is in year 6. In the case of Specialist areas your Year 5 child may only receive a level 4.5 assessment as not all of the standards in the band have as yet been assessed by the Specialist teacher.

Students will receive the graphic illustration (above) of their learning in all learning domains covered over the year. You will note the circle containing a number. The position of the circle is their previous result and the number contained in the circle refers to the number of months this previous result was reported. So, in the case of English, Mathematics, apanese, Science and Visual Arts  the prior score shown above refers to December 2023, 6 months ago. In other areas the previous result will be the last time it was reported on and may be as many as 24 months ago.

Students will also receive a rating of work habits and an overall learning comment given on the Home Group page that is consistent with the development the student has made in the Personal Learning and Interpersonal Learning domains. Areas for Improvement/ Future learning have also been included in the Home Group page to give families an indication of your child's next steps in Reading, Writing and Number.

Teacher observations, assessments and comments about each student can be identified through selected  goals, behaviour ratings and teacher judgements.