Myrniong

NAPLAN - 2023

Next Wednesday, March 15, we commence the 2023 NAPLAN testing with our Year 3 and Year 5 students. ACARA (the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) has brought the testing forward from May to March, with a view of having results to schools earlier in the year. Except for the Year 3 Writing paper, all tests will be online. The students will sit Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy papers. Our testing windows will be 9.20 am to 12.00 pm. If a child is absent, we have catch up days in Week 8 to complete the testing.

Science of Language and Reading (Solar)

This term, a number of Junior School staff have enrolled in online professional learning courses run by La Trobe University. The focus of these courses is the Science of Language and Reading. In the introductory and intermediate courses, the staff looked at the following.

Oral language foundations as the basis for learning to read.
The Simple View of Reading and how it informs and supports classroom practice with respect to decoding and language comprehension.
An introduction to linguistics for reading instruction: letters vs sounds, phonemes, graphemes, digraphs, consonants, vowels, the schwa vowel, stress in words, morphology and etymology.
An overview of different types of phonics instruction and their pros and cons
Cognitive Load Theory, explicit instruction, and leveraging neuroscience research in the classroom.
Progress monitoring in reading: Making the most of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
Developmental Language Disorder: The most common disorder you've never heard of.
Learning Difficulties: Early identification and intervention to close the achievement gap.

It is an exciting time to be a teacher at the Junior School, as we shift our thinking and challenge ourselves to look at teaching and learning in new and exciting ways.

Assembly Awards - Week 6

Omar Diab - Pride in Uniform

Violet Shrive - Junior School LOTE Award.

Annie Barber - a diligent and organised approach to her learning. What a great start to Year 1!

Fred Nagorcka - confident reading with correct reading techniques, and most importantly animated and original character voices.

Lucy Cameron - being a helpful class member, always willing to assist others whilst still completing her own tasks to a high standard.

Maggie Wallis - excellent attitude towards her work, both at school and in her home learning.

Camilla Edgar - working in a focused manner and displaying a positive attitude in her learning.

Sid Whitehead - settling in well at his new school and working hard to learn new routines.

Stephen Nelson

Head of Junior School

Junior School House Athletics

The Junior School House Athletics Carnival was held on Wednesday 8 March in cool and blustery conditions. Congratulations to all of the students who participated in a positive and determined fashion throughout the day. Our College students certainly have worked hard in PE lessons to prepare for our Athletics Carnival and there were many personal achievements made yesterday. Perhaps for some it was getting over the hurdles, or completing the 800m alongside their peers. For others it was trying hard to surpass a track or field PB and challenging each other for the title of Age Group Champion. Each of our magnificent athletes should be so proud of their effort and achievements yesterday.

Congratulations to the following students who were our Age Group Champions:

9yo Champions: Violet Shrive (Runner Up: Olive Monk) and Thomas Kennedy (Runner up: Harry Diprose)
10yo Champions: Arya Bourchier (Runner up: Elsie Dyer) and Lachlan Sweeney (Runner up: Johnny Fenton)
11yo Champions: Poppy Shepherd (Runner up: Grace O’Sullivan) and Hugo Toma (Runner up: Sid Hawker)
12/13yo Champions: Yolanda O’Sullivan (Runner up: Elsie Brown) and Jimmy Dyer (Runner up: Dru Mayfield)

Many thanks to all of the incredible parents who helped the entire day run so smoothly. Mrs Sara Dyer kept everyone entertained and informed on the microphone, Mrs Julie Templeton successfully trialled a new timing app at the finish line and so many other wonderful parents manned stop-watches and field events. All of the students and staff are very grateful for your contribution to our Aths day! Thank you also to Mrs Katie Pye and her lovely parents who provided a very welcome hot BBQ for our children yesterday, this was definitely a hit on a cool aths day!

Tennis

We wish Sophie Satchell and Camilla Edgar the very best of luck as they compete in the Warrnambool at the SSV Regional Tennis Championships today!

Mrs Louise Patterson

Head of Junior School Sport