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St Mels on PAM

 School Stream will no longer be used by St Mels from March 2023 for parent communciations and upload of absences.  We have moved to PAM (Parent Access Module) which can be accessed from your phone through Simon Everywhere.  Emails were sent out to parents last week with instructions on how to login.  If you have not recieved this please contact the school office.  Please see St Mels Simon / PAM page in this newsletter

 

 

Important Information for 2023

 

Maths Assessment Interviews ~ Friday 3rd March and Friday 10th March 2023

 

As part of our commitment to providing the best education we can at St Mel’s, all students will participate in a Mathematics Assessment Interview (MAI) at the beginning of 2023.   In order to complete the MAI, 

 

Friday 3rd 2023 and Friday 10th March 2023 will be dedicated closure days.

 

All students will be expected to attend a session on one of these days. 

 

Please note:  Friday 3rd March  and Friday 10th March  are not extra closure days.  They are part of our allocated pupil free days we use for staff professional development.

 

MAI Procedure

The MAI is a hands-on assessment, completed between the teacher and individual student, and should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Parents will be invited to stay and have a cuppa in the school lounge during this time, or will be welcome to leave their child/children here and pick them up after their session. 

 

An online interview schedule will be set up using Sign Up. Families will be required to book a spot from 3rd February. An email reminder will be sent towards the end of the holidays to remind families of their allocated time and day, so it is really important to include your email address when you sign up. 

 

Why complete assessments at the beginning the year?

Many schools have adopted a similar approach using assessment days at the beginning of the school year.  Feedback and research highlights several factors: 

  • It gives students the opportunity to work one on one with their teachers building rapport and trust.
  • It allows teachers to get to know student competencies and areas for potential improvement in all key areas of the mathematics curriculum.   
  • It helps teachers to immediately plan lessons and programs suited to individual needs. 
  • It eliminates ‘lag time’; time it takes to complete individual assessments. These can take up to 8-10 weeks for teachers to complete assessments on all students in a class of 24 students.   

 

I have provided a fact sheet summarising other key elements of the MAI assessment to highlight its potential to ensure we are giving all students the best opportunities to become better mathematical learners.  Further information can be found on: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/maths/assessment/Pages/mathsgrowthpoints.aspx

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact the school if further information is required.  Thank you for your continued support of our school and of your child’s education.

 

 

Math’s Assessment Interview ~ Summary

 

Background (the Early Numeracy Research Project)

The Mathematics Assessment Interview (MAI) was developed as part of the Early Numeracy Research Project (1999-2001). The interview consists of hands-on assessment tasks where students demonstrate Mathematical understanding and preferred strategies for solving increasingly complex tasks.

What

  • It is a one to one interview held with each child, with the aim of finding out where their Maths learning is at, in the form of ‘growth points’.
  • Growth points are the key stages of a child’s mathematical understanding. 
  • MAI is based on sound research. 

 

Why

  • MAI gives growth points under different areas. At our school we complete the four areas of number -counting, place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division.
  • In contrast to the traditional pen and paper test, a carefully-constructed one to one interview can provide greater insights into what children know and can do. Children’s strategies are recorded in detail on the interview record sheet. 
  • Provides our school with excellent summative data which helps track student progress. 
  • As teachers, we value the MAI as it helps us get to know our learners and where to move to next in their learning

 

 

Parenting News…

 

Why is perseverance important for kids?

Perseverance is very important for kids to develop because life is full of challenges-- and perseverance is what helps you get through the difficulties to get to what you want. Sometimes the challenge is something hard for your body, like raking the leaves out of the entire yard or staying strong at the end of a long sports match. Sometimes it’s a challenge for your mind, like learning a new math equation or staying focused on something you need to do when you really want to be doing something else. Sometimes challenges are emotional like when you’re sad after a pet dies or when a friendship is breaking. No matter what the challenge, perseverance is important because it is the drive that helps you get through the obstacle to the easier bit on the other side. Even though it feels so hard when you are working through a challenge, perseverance keeps pushing you through to your goal and to the good feeling that comes with knowing you did your best. Taking the easy way out by cheating, quitting, or avoiding a situation doesn’t make the challenge go away. It just makes you have to deal with it at a different time. Perseverance helps you get through the challenge, even though it’s hard, and gives you that warm feeling in your heart of knowing you did the right thing.

 

 

 

What’s the definition of perseverance?

Perseverance is the ability and self control that pushes you to work through challenges. Having perseverance means that when you are facing a challenge, you use your mind and your body to overcome it. Perseverance means you are able to wait and work through difficulties, whether they have to do with your mind, your body, or your emotions. It’s important to point out that the definition of perseverance is not “don’t give up no matter what” or “never quit”. Sometimes you’ll do your best but it will still be time to move on to a different goal. However, perseverance is the ability to do your best toward a goal, even though it’s a big challenge.

 

What does perseverance mean in real life?

You use perseverance everyday. If you figure out what you find hard to do, you’ll see where you use perseverance. Here are some examples:

Perseverance Example 1- School:

You’re doing school work and it’s your hardest subject. Maybe it’s a difficult math problem, or a long essay, or maybe you have to stand up in front of the class and present. Whatever it is for you, it’s tough. You’re struggling. You’re not sure you can do it. Maybe you even want to give up. You think about taking the easy way out and just doing the least you have to, even though you know it won’t be right.

 

But you know the work needs to get done and you know you have to do your best work. So you try harder. You stick with it and after some frustration and focus, you do it! You got it done and did it to the best of your ability. 

Defining perseverance: Perseverance is that drive that helps you keep working even when you want to quit. Why was perseverance important in this example? Because without perseverance, you wouldn’t have finished your work, or you wouldn’t have done your best work. Without perseverance, your grade would have suffered. Without perseverance you wouldn’t have learned what you needed to learn, and that might make the next lesson even harder. If you didn’t persevere and do your best work, your teacher might have had you do the whole thing all over again. Perseverance is important to get you through the challenge and because often spending the time and effort when it's needed keeps you from a more difficult outcome later.