Principal's Message
Welcome to the final three weeks of Semester 1 - always a very busy time of the school year. Please continue to check the calendar section of this newsletter. Of note are the postponement of the K-2 disco, and change of date for the 3-6 athletics track events.
Student leadership camp
Last Thursday and Friday, I accompanied a group of our Year 6 leaders on overnight camp at Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre. This is our second leaders camp and it perfectly complimented the learning from their Sydney trip, with a dual focus on developing leadership qualities and developing skills to successfully lead change.
I want to thank Mr Matt McKenzie, Principal of Thalgarrah EEC and Mr Pat Cavanagh, Former Principal and Director, Educational Leadership for supporting the learning of our leaders over the two days. Thanks also to Mrs Clayton for accompanying students with me overnight.
Sydney Principals visit
In Week 6, I hosted a small group of principals from Sydney schools at Ben Venue. The purpose of the visit was to participate in a shared learning opportunity, and for the visitors to learn more about the great things happening at Ben Venue.
The visiting principals were particularly interested in our success in developing intrinsic motivation through the focus on recognition rather than reward. They were also impressed with the calm and welcoming learning environment, and the school's focus on student wellbeing.
Excellent progress in vocabulary
Regular readers of this newsletter will know that improving instruction in vocabulary and thereby student achievement, has been a focus for Ben Venue over the past twelve months. A key measure of success in this area is the data collected through the Department of Education Check-in Assessments. These involve students from Year 3 to Year 6 at different times through the year. With the test questions and difficulty varying each year, we focus on our results in comparison to statistically similar schools and the overall state average, in order to gauge our progress. Year 4 and 6 completed their Check-in assessments recently, with results now available to schools, and we have reason to celebrate our efforts to enhance vocabulary instruction.
The graphs below show the 2021, 2022 and 2023 difference in the percentage of correctly answered questions between BVPS students, statistically similar schools, and the state average.
A clear improvement in achievement in vocabulary is evident in our students' 2023 results, with BVPS now outperforming both similar schools and the state average. This improvement and performance is also reflected in overall Year 4 and 6 Check-in reading results. Additional analysis through tracking the performance of current Year 4 and 6 students on their previous Check-in assessments shows that these improved results reflect academic growth, rather than a cohort effect.
We also look forward to receiving our NAPLAN results later this term, which will provide a further data point for measuring improvement.
School Bytes
Our new payment system is now operational and is our preferred method for completing permission notes and making payments. Please click here to register your School Bytes account. Log in to the parent portal to make payments, view balances and see payments made, once you have a registered account.
We ask that School Bytes be used in preference to sending cash in with children, as the new system is more convenient for families, more streamlined for our administrative team, and allows teachers to focus on teaching in the mornings, rather than collecting and accounting money.
A link to School Bytes and guides to completing tasks in School Bytes are now available under the 'Make a payment' tab at the top of the school website.
If you experience any difficulty using School Bytes, please contact out team in the school office, who will be happy to assist.
Cam Pryce
Principal