FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Term 3 - Week 8
Today we break open our Year 5 NAPLAN writing for 2024:
Situational Analysis
In March, 86 St Nicholas School students sat the Year 5 Writing NAPLAN Assessment, 39 (45%) were female and 47 (55%) were male. Four (5%) students identify as of Aboriginal origin. 18 (21%) students are on a Personal Plan. 76 Year 5 students were enrolled at St Nicholas in Kindergarten (2019), 10 students were enrolled in Year 1 or later, and 6 students have enrolled from Year 3.
NAPLAN WRITING ANALYSIS 2024
Since 2023, Australian students have been categorised into one of four standards for their writing proficiency:
Table 5B illustrates the percentage of St Nicholas School students in each standard. This data measures very well against the Nation (Table 5A). 74% of our students achieved a ‘Strong’ or ‘Exceeding’ proficiency standard, compared to 67.3% of their national peers.
When we drill into the top two proficiency scales, the challenge and current strategic direction (2024 Annual Improvement Plan) for the learning and teaching of writing at St Nicholas is both clear and justified. Our students have the foundations of effective writers, though the sophistication in the learning and teaching of our writing needs to develop, enabling more students to reach the "Exceeding" band.
Table 5C presents St Nicholas School Year 5 Writing average alongside the System, Nation, State and NSW Inter-regional School averages. Along with the State, the St Nicholas School Year 5 cohort has achieved the highest average.
Table 5D highlights, 45% of our students scoring above the State average, 59% above the National average and 70% above both System & NSW Inter-regional schools. This data once again highlights our strong foundations, though also our current improvement agenda which will ensure more children are writing to their vast potential.
St Nicholas School and the Systems united message of “regular attendance at school is` essential if students are to maximise their potential” (CSO Policy & Procedures for Student Attendance, paragraph 1.1). Once again, this statement gains extra weight when viewing Table 5E.
Our Year 5 students whose attendance rate was above 90% in 2023 (Year 4), on average, scored an additional 20.27 marks than their peers whose 2023 attendance rate was below 90%. Even while we continue to develop the sophistication of St Nicholas learning and teaching of writing, our children with consistently high attendance are being set up for success!
While table 5E clearly shows the importance of our children being at school, what do our NAPLAN Year 5 writing results tell us in regards to the consistency of teaching across our school? Table 5F breaks our results into three cohorts:
- Year 5 St Nicholas students enrolled at St Nicholas in Kindergarten 2019
- Year 5 St Nicholas students enrolled between Year 1 (2020) and Year 5 (2024)
- Year 5 St Nicholas students enrolled between Year 3 (2022) and Year 5 (2024)
As cohorts, Table 5F supports the theory of the longer our students are at St Nicholas, the higher their likely achievement.
Conclusion
A deep analysis of our Year 5 NAPLAN writing provides reason to celebrate. It also justifies the current strategic focus, “Writing: Embedding the Systems agreed shared practices in the Teaching and Learning of Writing” (2024 Annual Improvement Plan). An approach and commitment to developing “literate and numerate students with a hope filled future”.
Confirmation
Congratulations to those students who made their Confirmation over the weekend. The children were beautifully presented and prepared and I hope that you enjoyed the special moment with your families. Please see the 'Our Faith' and 'Spotlight' sections of the newsletter for more.
Message Stick
Tomorrow we will be receiving the Message Stick from St Joseph's West Tamworth. It will be at the St Nicholas Parish Masses on Sunday and then will remain at St Nicholas for Week 9
Have a great week!
John Clery
Principal