Principal's Update

Welcome back

Welcome back everyone. I would like to welcome our new and returning staff: Lisa Benn, Rose Hill, Caroline Tait, Angela Burke, and new staff, Carolyne Boothman, Nicole Ashton, and Nicholas Cummaudo. MNSC is fully staffed, which is absolutely fantastic. We are very lucky in our community to have such wonderful teachers. We also have two tutors again this year - Jeff Turnbull and Melissa Haw. We would also like to welcome Noel Hough who is taking a Trades Class on Mondays and Fridays. Yesterday we also employed a new Woodwork Teacher who we will welcome in our next newsletter. 

The students have also made a strong and positive start to the school year, and I am incredibly proud of everyone’s efforts over the past two weeks – well done students!

Whole School Assembly

We had a great first assembly this week with our School Captains running their very first assembly. Well done to all the students who spoke. I am hoping to put together snippets of this assembly so you can hear some of the excellent presentations.

NAPLAN tests for Year 7s and 9.

In recent years the NAPLAN tests have moved online. The online tests are much more engaging and ‘adaptive’ than the hard copy tests. The online tests are adaptive, which means the questions change depending on how the student is performing. This reduces stress for students.

We use the NAPLAN tests to inform our teaching and to do something called ‘triangulation.’ Any test for any student on any given day, is just that – their performance on that day. Triangulating data means that we have multiple data points which paint a much more holistic view of student performance. Other uses are, if student performance is high on NAPLAN but weaker in the classroom, that requires further investigation and vice versa. In the absence of NAPLAN and other testing, we often have an incomplete picture of student performance. 

I urge parents to encourage students to do their best. We are all about everyone doing their best no matter the task. The school is planning to implement exams and formal assessments across the school. Why? Because we know that our students in Year 12 struggle with exams. Why? Because they haven’t had enough practice. Practising in low stake environments is critical in developing the skills of working under pressure – something that we all will experience throughout our lifetime. The NAPLAN tests are simply an opportunity to practice demonstrating knowledge and skills within a designated time frame. They are nothing to be afraid of.

Vaya Dauphin

College Principal