Welcome everyone to the 2024 school year! It has been so pleasing to see how well the students have settled into their new grades, reconnecting with their peers and getting to know their classroom teacher.

We warmly welcomed our Foundation students and their families to their first school day here at Donvale Primary School on Tuesday. All the children walked in with smiles on their faces, ready for the next step in their educational journey.

SunSmart

A gentle reminder that ALL students need to wear their school hat this term. As we are a SunSmart school, we take very seriously the need to be sun smart. This includes

Wearing the approved broad-brimmed Donvale school hat outside
If students do not wear or have a hat, they will be restricted to play in the designated shade areas
Encouraging students to come to school wearing a broad-spectrum water resistant sunscreen (30+) and to reapply it during the day

NAPLAN – Years 3 & 5

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. As NAPLAN is the only national assessment all Australian students do, it allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards over time.

NAPLAN tests provide parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is only one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting; they do not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.

This year the dates for NAPLAN at Donvale Primary School are as follows:

Wednesday 13th March - Writing

Thursday 14th March - Reading

Friday 15th March - Conventions of Language

Monday 18th March - Numeracy

You can help your child prepare for NAPLAN by reassuring them that the tests are just one part of their school program and that they simply need to try their best on the day. Classroom teachers will provide opportunities for students to familiarise themselves with the tests, such as the types of questions in the tests, and complete practise tests with the students.

Device Requirements

Each student in Grade 3 and Grade 5, will be completing their assessments online, except for the Year 3 writing assessment. The children will continue to hand write on paper with this assessment task.

As a result of this all students need to have the Locked Down Browser (LDB) installed on their device. This is required so that students do not have access to unauthorised websites, applications and spell-checking features during NAPLAN testing. This LDB needs to be downloaded every year as it continually gets updated.

We ask that all students in years 3 and 5 have the newest version on their iPad by the 26th February. This will give teachers the opportunity to check that each child has all the required software and hardware needed prior to testing.

Finally, ALL students in Year 3 and Year 5 need to have a set of headphones, earphones or earbuds. These are required so that students can hear the spelling items delivered by audio, and for the optional audio player in the writing test. It is also highly recommended that students have an external keyboard, as this will making typing their answers and completing the writing assessment easier.

More information about NAPLAN will be sent to parents of students in Year 3 and Year 5. If you have any questions or concerns regarding NAPLAN, please feel free to contact me or your classroom teacher.

Get to Know You Interviews

At the beginning of every year we conduct Get to Know You Interviews. These meetings are a great opportunity to share any relevant information about your child, so that our staff can best meet your child’s academic and social learning needs.

This year we will be conducting these meetings online, between 3:45pm and 4:45pm, on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd February. More information will be sent out next week.

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