NAPLAN & Year 9 Curriculum

Year 9 Curriculum Development

Deep Learning, championed by educator Michael Fullan, is all about preparing students for the challenges of the real world. It provokes teachers to consider how they are structuring their learning programs to develop six global competencies: Character, Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. The school is currently exploring ways greater opportunities for deep learning with our Year 9 students.

 This year we are running a Year 9 civics inquiry project which will include an overnight city experience camp. During this camp, the students research a topic of their interest as they explore the heart of Melbourne. They will collect data to inform their inquiry project and present their findings to the school community.

As parents, supporting projects like this recognises that education isn't just about what happens in the classroom; it's about providing opportunities for our children to apply their knowledge in meaningful ways. By encouraging their participation in immersive experiences like the city camp, we empower them to become active contributors to society, equipped with the critical thinking skills and civic awareness needed to effect positive change in their communities and beyond.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is a set of national assessments used by schools to guide their strategic planning and our Year 7 and Year 9 students completed NAPLAN in Weeks 7 and 8 of last term. Many of the tests are adaptive, getting easier or harder as the student progresses through the test. As a result, even our most literate and numerate students would have been presented with challenging questions. The students this year coped well with the organisational disruption of the tests and it was wonderful to see them apply themselves fully to do their best. 

Students and parents will be provided with the results of these assessments in Term 3. 

While we wait for this year’s NAPLAN results, late last term, we received more good news about our 2023 results. Each year, the department compares students’ results to their results on their previous test. Students are categorised as having high relative growth if their results are in the top 25% of students with the same result on the previous test two years earlier. 

In 2023, we had 36% of our Year 9 students achieve high relative growth in Reading and 39% of our Year 9 students achieve high relative growth in Numeracy. This demonstrates that not only are our students achieving high results overall, but that they are also developing their reading and numeracy skills further than students in other schools.

Parent-teacher conferences

We had our first parent-teacher conferences in the first week of this term. Interview slots were quite short so that there was opportunity for more parents to meet the teachers. If you have any feedback about the conferences, then please email Mr Greg Breese at gregory.breese@education.vic.gov.au