Deputy Principal

End of Year Mass

This morning we celebrated the end of the school year as a whole school community. We gathered in the Church for our End of Year Thanksgiving Mass, thanking God for the year that has been. We acknowledged the students, families and staff who will be leaving Sacred Heart Kew this year, moving on to new schools and adventures. Thank you to James Millane and Fr Trevor for organising the Mass. Thank you to the staff and families for supporting our students throughout the year. 

At the end of our Mass this morning we acknowledged and thanked the following staff members who will move on from Sacred Heart Kew next year:

James Millane

Marianne Moore

Elise Saunders-Dow 

To the staff and students leaving:

An Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

The rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of his hand

The Leadership Ceremony followed the Mass with the giving and receiving of the light of leadership. Congratulations to our Year 6 students for completing a successful year and we wish our Year 5 students all the best as they begin their leadership journey in 2025.

Assessment days to begin 2025 school year

As was the case this year, to help minimise interruptions to the beginning of the school year, all assessment of children will occur in 1 hour time slots (Year 1 - 6) or 30 minute time slots (Prep), on either Wednesday 29 January or Thursday 30 January, before ALL children begin together on Friday 31 January. Over these first two days, each child will come into school for their relevant assessment time slot, with a small group of other children from their class. Please note, that Prep children will be required to attend an additional 30 minute assessment time slot, on a Wednesday (Prep free day), early in Term One. 

During this time, children will meet their new classroom teacher and participate in the usual literacy/numeracy assessment that occurs at the start of each school year. Parents will be able to book their child(ren) in for a relevant time slot that is convenient for your family situation (via the usual School Interviews online booking site). This link was sent via Audiri earlier today. 

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/bzdmf

Please ensure that you book your child in with their 2025 classroom teacher, not their 2024 one. 

The following assessments will form part of our planned assessment day(s). 

• Mathematics Online Interview (MOI) - Prep and Year 1 students complete the Mathematics Online Interview assessment in Term 1 each year. The Mathematics Online Interview (MOI) is an online tool for assessing the mathematical understanding of students in the early years of schooling. The Interview assesses students’ knowledge, skills and strategies in relation to key ‘growth points’ in the strands of Number and Algebra.
• DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) - DIBELS is a set of procedures and measures for assessing literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. By giving students a number of quick tests, this will allow teachers to have data to identify students who need additional assistance and later monitor the effectiveness of intervention strategies. All Prep-6 students will complete this assessment.
• BURT Word Test - This is a standardised reading test that is widely used to determine a child's reading skills. The test provides a list of 110 words, and a child attempts to read as many words as possible. The words increase in difficulty as you progress. All Year 2-6 students will complete this assessment.
• TORCH (Tests of Reading Comprehension) - is a set of twelve reading tests designed to assist teachers of students from Year 3-6 in their assessment of students’ reading comrpehesnion skills. TORCH provides an estimate of a student’s level of reading comprehension achievement. That is, information about the student’s performance on the sets of comprehsenion tasks from the TORCH tests.
• Reading Running Records - ​A Running Record is an assessment tool which provides an insight into a student’s reading as it is happening. A Running Record provides information on the following:

-a score of word reading accuracy

-an analysis of a reader's errors and self-corrections

-an analysis of the reading strategies used

Using a series of established conventions, the teacher can quickly and accurately record what the reader says as they read a text or section of a text aloud. After the reading, the teacher completes an analysis. All Year 2-6 students will complete this assessment.

• Essential Assesment - Students will be assigned individual assessment tasks and activities throughout the year that aim to support their mathematical knowledge and key understandings of concepts taught. Literacy and Reading activities are also accessed for teachers and students to work through systematically. All students in Year 1-6 will complete assessments in Literacy and Numeracy.

Semester 2 Reports

The Semester 2 Reports are ready for viewing on the new nForma Parent Portal app. Please ensure you have followed the attached instructions to download the app and access your child's report. A reminder that you will not be receiving an email to create passwords as has been the case in previous years.