From the Deputy Principal

Reports

End of Year Reports will be available to parents on Friday afternoon. Reports will be in their usual format but printed copies will no longer be sent home. Copies of reports will be available on St Paul Parent Portal which can be found under the ‘Contact Us’ tab on the school website. 

These reports are an important check point for families in terms of growth. However, as teaching and learning evolves to account for, and encourage new skills and dispositions required for future success, our understanding of achievement, success, feedback and assessment also needs to progress. 

Most of us went to school at a time when student assessment and success was based on a paradigm of accountability. Teachers and schools proved they were good by meeting a very set criteria and model for assessment; tests and exams. Education was a cyclical process of curriculum delivery and student recount. Throughout this process, student success was clearly defined by percentages and university entry and an entire generation (or more) of children had a very clear notion of how ‘smart or dumb’ they were. Unfortunately, this archetype is still very much an influence on the practice of schools and universities, but the world that awaits children outside this model has changed. 

A simple grade or mark does not give the true, detailed story of what is taking place in the classroom. As the focus of the teacher turns more to the process of learning than the product, feedback on a day by day, lesson by lesson basis rather than grading, becomes the teacher’s priority.

Children will be mindful of reports going home and anxious about the follow up conversations at home. It is easy to focus on the grades in these conversations but this dismisses the hard work and progress of learners. If we can demonstrate to children that we value their effort prior to the report coming home, we might learn a lot more than what the grade can tell us.

Accessing School Reports

When End of Year Reports are made available later this week, they can be accessed via the school portal on our website or the St Paul App. Information on how to access this information is below.