Principals Parenting News

St Mels on PAM

School Stream will no longer be used by St Mels from 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

Volunteering at St Mel’s

A school volunteer is anyone who helps at school supervise, assist student learning or attends camps / excursions. As part of our commitment to keeping all students safe, all volunteers MUST have a current Working with Children’s Check (WWC), have signed a parent code of conduct and volunteer’s application form. These documents can be downloaded from our school website or collected from the school office ~ as attached to this week’s newsletter.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at St Mel’s please take the time to read our Volunteer’s Policy and complete the required documentation.

To apply for an online WWC please visit: