16th Aug 2024

Dear Families,

NAPLAN

This week, the complete NAPLAN data set was released, and we’re excited to share some positive news. For our Year 5 students who have been with us since Year 3, we observed growth in all NAPLAN areas. We are particularly proud of our very first cohort of students who started their education at Keelonith Primary School. These Year 3 students, who have been with us since Prep, showed impressive results. In every category—Reading, Writing, Spelling, Numeracy, and Grammar and Punctuation—Keelonith Primary School outperformed the average for our network of local schools. We also exceeded the state average in Numeracy and matched it in Writing and Spelling. This is a fantastic outcome for our first group of KPS students and indicates that the teaching approaches we are implementing are making a positive difference. As a young school with only 3 years of NAPLAN data, it’s challenging to establish long-term trends, as it typically takes 7-9 years to gain more accurate insights. Nevertheless, we are thrilled with the progress our students are making and the direction in which we as a school are heading. Well done KPS staff and Yr 3 and 5 students.

Parent and Carer Opinion Survey

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey and is seeking your feedback. The survey, offered by the Department of Education, is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement.

We sent you an invitation to complete the survey via Compass Monday 5th Aug. If you have misplaced this, please reach out and we can resend this invitation to you.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will remain open online until Friday 30 August 2024. So far we have had 17% or 44 out of 256 of our families have participated, we would love to hear from each and everyone of you. Your opinions are important to us and will contribute to identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies. The department will use the results from the survey for research purposes and to improve outcomes for students. The survey is being conducted online and only takes 20 minutes to complete. It can be completed on any internet enabled device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and is compatible with most browsers. The survey is available in English and 10 other languages: Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. If you require assistance in another language, resources may be available for you. Please reach out to the office if you require assistance in another language.

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

Over the past few weeks, we have introduced new language with our older students to address a recurring issue. We've observed that some children respond to inappropriate comments or behaviours with equally escalated responses, often claiming that the other child /ren started it. To address this, we are encouraging students to reflect on whether they sought support to resolve the issue or if they simply contributed to the problem. We are asking the following question; Were you part of the problem or part of the solution? We ask that parents reinforce this message at home by discussing the importance of not retaliating, seeking revenge, or engaging in payback behaviour. In future issues of the newsletter, specifically on the Wellbeing page, we will provide additional information and strategies to help families have these important conversations. Please be aware that all students who contribute to the problem will face consequences. We thank you for your support in helping us address this matter.

Activities and Camping Program

As our school grows and we face rising living costs, along with the expense of staff attending camps outside of school hours and a decrease in participation for overnight events in the lower grades, we have reviewed our Activities and Camping Program. The revised events will be as follows:

Prep: Prep Breakfast
Year 1: Disco and Dinner at school
Year 2: Long Day Excursion, including dinner
Year 3/4: 1-Day Camp Activity (no overnight stay; note that Year 3/4 students have already participated in a 3-day camp this year)
Year 5/6: 3-Day Camp

We understand this may be disappointing for some families and children, but we hope you appreciate the financial constraints both the school and many families are facing. Our goal is to balance providing excellent academic programs with offering meaningful experiences for our students. For families seeking additional camping opportunities, we encourage exploring programs such as Scouts and Guides Australia.

What new learning did you participate in this week?

Loren Peavey

https://keelonithps.vic.edu.au/

https://www.facebook.com/KeelonithPrimarySchool

Year 3/4 C News