the Nor'Wester

Message from the Principal 

NAPLAN

Next week, schools across the country begin NAPLAN. NAPLAN (National Assessment Program - Literacy & Numeracy) moved online a few years ago to provide schools and families with more timely information about student achievement. This means that schools now have a two-week window in which to arrange a schedule that allows students in grades 3 and 5 to complete all assessments, unless otherwise withdrawn.

Next week, our schedule includes:

  • Tuesday: Writing for Grades 3 & 5
  • Wednesday: Reading for Grade 3
  • Thursday: Conventions of Language for Grade 3
  • Friday: Numeracy for Grade 3

All other tests, including make-up sessions for missed tests will be completed in the following week. If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher. Please note, last year NAPLAN was cancelled due to COVID restrictions.

SCHOOL REVIEW

This week saw the third and final day of our School Review. Our Review Report will be provided to the school and the Department of Education soon and is set to fulfill many of the elements of our School Strategic Plan.

John Haines, our School Reviewer, was impressed with many aspects of our school, our community and our improvement journey. The informal feedback so far has been to continue along the path we have been taking this past 3-4 years to refine our teaching practice and increase consistency in our approach.

John made special mention of two elements of our school that he was particularly moved by and had not seen in his 100+ School Reviews so far. Firstly, he said that our students demonstrated a level of articulation, compassion and maturity that really struck him. He was taken with the way the students expressed their ideas, considered others’ points of view and the level of ownership and connection they felt to the school. John also commented that it was evident that students felt ‘heard’, ‘seen’ and ‘valued’ within this environment. This was most pleasing to hear, as it has been a priority for our school for some time now. The second honourable mention went to Sprout, who catered the three days, but was also the setting for an afternoon discussion and an early morning coffee. The school sincerely thanks Stacey & Kris as well as the Sprout volunteers for demonstrating how important (and unique) this space and service is to our community - we love you each and every day, but it’s at times like these that we can toot your horn with pride!

While I am saying thank you, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Tanya Pittard, our School Council President, for her engagement in this process. Tanya dedicated three full working days to participating in the Review - attending classroom observations, focus groups and round-table discussions on our strategic direction. Tanya demonstrated an excellent knowledge of our school and community and fiercely advocated for the students, the staff and public schools in general. Thank you for your time and expertise, it was truly appreciated.

VISION & VALUES

The report from the School Review will form much of our next School Strategic Plan, however two very important elements will be reviewed by our school community - our Vision and our Values. In preparation for this, I wanted to share our school’s vision and values with you all so you can start thinking about what our school (and our community) stands for as well as what we want to highlight to our children and grown ups as well as to others outside our community.

BNWPS Vision: A caring and welcoming school where parents, children, staff and the broader community work

together to create a positive learning environment in which confident and happy children develop a love of learning and a sense of their value as individuals and members of our community.

BNWPS Values: 

  1. Respect - Valuing each other’s points of views, accepting people as they are, being polite and kind, treating others the way you would like to be treated.
  2. Connectedness - Developing a sense of community through friendship, care, compassion, cooperation, acceptance, belonging and sharing.
  3. Resilience - Recognising strengths and maximising potential; developing self-management, self-confidence and self respect; and nurturing optimism, perseverance and wellbeing.
  4. Achievement - Attaining personal success in a range of human endeavours, pursuing individual excellence and displaying pride and satisfaction in personal achievement.
  5. Creativity - Valuing original ideas, demonstrating enterprise and innovation, and engaging with and responding to aesthetic qualities of the natural and constructed world.
  6. Integrity - Acting honestly, ethically, and consistently.
  7. Responsibility - Accepting both individual and collective responsibility and contributing to sustainable community development.
  8. Equity - Developing tolerance and commitment to social justice, acknowledging diversity, respecting difference and encouraging distinctiveness.

NEW SCHOOL COUNCIL

This week our new School Council met for our first official meeting since the School Council nomination process. At the first meeting after elections each year, the Council must take a vote for each office bearer position. I would like to formally acknowledge and congratulate the following successful candidates:

  • School Council President - Tanya Pittard
  • School Council Vice President - Van Sowerwine
  • School Council Treasurer - Lilian Lim
  • School Council Secretary - Drew Roberts

We had an excellent meeting this week, with robust and respectful discussions that took lots of viewpoints into consideration. We are excited to be working together on school improvement and to identify how we can best support our students, our staff and our families!

 

BNW - You are truly amazing people. It was so wonderful to see so many of you back on site today for the plant and produce market. Thank you for your kindness and dedication to our community. Take care of yourselves this weekend and I look forward to seeing you all for more learning and fun next week!