A message from the Principal
Reports with a difference
As we approach the end of term 2 and the halfway point of the school year, it is great to get a sense that things are starting to return to normal.
Almost all of our students have returned from remote learning and it is amazing to see the resilience and adaptability they have shown to take this in their stride and settle back into routines, happy to be with their friends and teachers again.
As well as the students, I need to acknowlewge the families and staff for understanding and supporting our altered operating arrangements - the socially distant drop-offs and pick-ups and the staggered start and finish times might all feel strange but are helping to keep us safe and manage anxieties amongst the community.
The end of Term 2 also means the publication of our semester one student reports.
Due to the huge disruption to our teaching and learning program that has taken place since March, the Education Department has issued new guidance to schools over these reports
The difficulties of remote and flexible learning have prevented our teachers from getting their usual strong, accurate understanding of a child’s learning progress and their independent abilities and understanding. Time usually spent during term 2 working closely with children to assess their learning progress has not been possible and so it would be impossible to provide the usual teacher judgements against the progression points of the Victorian Curriculum.
We could have chosen to welcome our students back to school at the tail end of this term with a barrage of testing and assessment to allow us to try and make these judgements but our professional judgement was that instead we should prioritise connection, relationships and kindness at this time and focus on the wellbeing of students who have been through a challenging and confusing time over the last three months.
These choices have meant that our reports this semester will look quite different. They will be comprised of;
A personal comment from the class teacher, focusing on School Values, Language of Learning (persistence, risks, growth mindset), Personal and Social Capabilities and Critical and Creative Thinking
- A personal comment from the class teacher, focusing on School Values, Language of Learning (persistence, risks, growth mindset), Personal and Social Capabilities and Critical and Creative Thinking
- A comment on achievements from term 1
- A comment on their Remote and Flexible Learning engagement and achievements from term 2
- A student self-reflection comment on their learning, focussing in particular on their remote and flexible learning.
- Specialist teacher report comments covering the learning from semester one.
As mentioned, the reports will not include the progression points that allow parents and carers to understand how their child is travelling against the achievement standards of the Victorian Curriculum.
Instead, teachers will take the time at the start of Term 3 to assess the students’ academic achievement and get a clear picture of their learning and also their learning goals.
We will hold parent teacher interviews in the middle of next term so that in depth discussions can be held around this data.
These reports will be distributed via Compass on Thursday afternoon (25th) of next week.
I hope that all of our families have a relaxing school break and keep warm.
Neil Scott, Principal