Semester 1 2020
Reports and Parent-Teacher Conferences

We thank you for your support of the home learning program offered for the majority of Term 2, 2020.

In recognition that schools have adopted revised teaching and learning plans for Term 2, the Department of Education has provided revised assessment and reporting advice for schools. This advice acknowledges that home learning will likely have been different for many of our students.

This means report cards and parent-teacher conferences will look different for Semester 1, 2020. Please see the information below regarding how this will look at BPS.

Regards,

Steve, Sonya & Joel

What are the guidelines?
In line with DET guidelines, schools are required to provide: A description of the areas of the Victorian Curriculum taught and a short description of student learning achievement A personal comment on the student as a learner and how they engaged in learning during Semester 1
What will the report card contain? Our BPS report card will contain the following information: A semester overview of the curriculum A summary of learning goals targeted during Semester 1 in English, Mathematics, Unit of Inquiry and Specialist areas A personal comment on the student as a learner including some future learning goals where possible An indication of student self-management skills (e.g. effort and behavior) via a 4 point scale based on Term 1 and Term 2 A reflective comment from the home learning supervising parent/carer (completed via Google Forms)
What won’t be in the report card?
Given the disruption to normal classroom learning it will be difficult for teachers to accurately assess student progress while students learned from home. Therefore, schools are not required to allocate the usual 5 point grading scale (e.g. working towards standard, at standard, above standard). We would like to stress that upon returning to school teachers will be working to complete regular assessments from our assessment schedule that informs their teaching and learning, and the 5 point grading school will be used in the Semester 2 report. Extended descriptive reports are also not required, so the narrative comment usually received will be replaced with the shortened personal comment.
When and how will the reports be distributed?
Reports will be available via PDF in Compass in the last week of Term 2, Thursday 25th June. Click the Reports tab in your child’s Compass Profile.
What about Parent-teacher conferences?
Parent-teacher conferences will occur during the first 2 weeks of Term 3. These conferences are an opportunity to: reflect on your child’s learning for Semester 1, 2020 in line with the report card, consider future learning goals and discuss any other matters relating to your child’s schooling. What is the format and how do we book? Conferences will be booked using Compass Booking Period Monday 22nd June - Sunday 12th July Parents will be able to select a time slot for a 10-minute meeting. We will be conducting online conferences using Google Meet to practise social distancing and provide families with greater flexibility with managing time. Parents will be sent a meeting link from the classroom teacher at the start of term 3 and instructions for logging in to the meeting.
An opportunity to rethink Assessment & Reporting
During meetings and information sessions with parents in the second half of 2019, Steve received some valuable feedback from parents and teachers around our current reporting process. This feedback centered around the lengthy narrative comment on the existing report. Many parents commented that this seemed a very long text for teachers to write and they would prefer more frequent updates during the Semester linked to samples of student learning. We began discussions late last year and early this year around tweaking and revising the reporting process to make it more streamlined, however, recognised that the main focus of 2020 was to be our PLC work on reading. This current disruption has allowed us to bring this process forward. Sometime in early Term 3 we will call on a working party of interested teachers and the Education Committee to begin to look at this. We have already started this project by collecting report samples and models from a range of schools. We envision the end result will be a shift to a more ongoing reporting style with learning tasks shared on Seesaw and a shorter Semester report that contains clearly defined essential learning goals in key subject areas and a 5 point scale and general academic/social comment.

What are the guidelines?

In line with DET guidelines, schools are required to provide:

A description of the areas of the Victorian Curriculum taught and a short description of student learning achievement
A personal comment on the student as a learner and how they engaged in learning during Semester 1

What will the report card contain?

Our BPS report card will contain the following information:

A semester overview of the curriculum
A summary of learning goals targeted during Semester 1 in English, Mathematics, Unit of Inquiry and Specialist areas
A personal comment on the student as a learner including some future learning goals where possible
An indication of student self-management skills (e.g. effort and behavior) via a 4 point scale based on Term 1 and Term 2
A reflective comment from the home learning supervising parent/carer (completed via Google Forms)

What won’t be in the report card?

Given the disruption to normal classroom learning it will be difficult for teachers to accurately assess student progress while students learned from home. Therefore, schools are not required to allocate the usual 5 point grading scale (e.g. working towards standard, at standard, above standard). We would like to stress that upon returning to school teachers will be working to complete regular assessments from our assessment schedule that informs their teaching and learning, and the 5 point grading school will be used in the Semester 2 report.

Extended descriptive reports are also not required, so the narrative comment usually received will be replaced with the shortened personal comment.

When and how will the reports be distributed?

Reports will be available via PDF in Compass in the last week of Term 2, Thursday 25th June.

Click the Reports tab in your child’s Compass Profile.

What about Parent-teacher conferences?

Parent-teacher conferences will occur during the first 2 weeks of Term 3. These conferences are an opportunity to:

reflect on your child’s learning for Semester 1, 2020 in line with the report card,
consider future learning goals and
discuss any other matters relating to your child’s schooling.

What is the format and how do we book?

Conferences will be booked using Compass
Booking Period Monday 22nd June - Sunday 12th July
Parents will be able to select a time slot for a 10-minute meeting.
We will be conducting online conferences using Google Meet to practise social distancing and provide families with greater flexibility with managing time.
Parents will be sent a meeting link from the classroom teacher at the start of term 3 and instructions for logging in to the meeting.

An opportunity to rethink Assessment & Reporting

During meetings and information sessions with parents in the second half of 2019, Steve received some valuable feedback from parents and teachers around our current reporting process.

This feedback centered around the lengthy narrative comment on the existing report. Many parents commented that this seemed a very long text for teachers to write and they would prefer more frequent updates during the Semester linked to samples of student learning.

We began discussions late last year and early this year around tweaking and revising the reporting process to make it more streamlined, however, recognised that the main focus of 2020 was to be our PLC work on reading. This current disruption has allowed us to bring this process forward.

Sometime in early Term 3 we will call on a working party of interested teachers and the Education Committee to begin to look at this. We have already started this project by collecting report samples and models from a range of schools.

We envision the end result will be a shift to a more ongoing reporting style with learning tasks shared on Seesaw and a shorter Semester report that contains clearly defined essential learning goals in key subject areas and a 5 point scale and general academic/social comment.

Semester 1 2020Reports and Parent-Teacher Conferences

Semester 1 2020
Reports and Parent-Teacher Conferences