We have officially been at school for

3 Terms, and it feels like we were trying to fit in all the missed opportunities in COVID into this term.

Camps, swimming, CERES excursion, Zoo excursion, Father’s Day breakfast, History Extravaganza, Gold Rush Displays, Footy Day, 80s dress up, Trivia Night and the list goes on.

Thank you to our dedicated staff who always provide such wonderful learning opportunities for the students at Great Ryrie.

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth the second, our school leaders honoured our Queen by playing God Save the Queen at assembly and the Flag leaders lowered our flags as a sign of respect.

NAPLAN Results

As children progress through their school years, it is very important that checks are made along the way to see how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and mathematics – skills that will set them upon the path to success as adults.

NAPLAN allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about student progress.

The school has distributed individual NAPLAN results to our Year Three and Five students via mail. This data, along with Victorian Curriculum Teacher Judgement Data is also used to identify the school’s successes and improvement areas. Both the individual and cohort achievement data reflected excellent achievement – especially considering the past two years of education.

Regarding measures of the school’s performance, the staff and the School Improvement Team, measure our successes against the school’s targets per the Annual Implementation Plan and the results of the Similar (socio-economic profile) and Network (geographically close) schools.

Year 5 NAPLAN results exceeded our expectations with 90% of children in the middle and top two bands in the areas of Writing, Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling which placed us well above similar and network schools.

Students achieving in the Top two bands:

Year 5 Writing 25% above similar schools and 10% above network schools
Year 5 Spelling 15% above similar schools and 14% above network schools
Year 5 Grammar and Punctuation 12% above similar schools 8% above network schools
Year 5 Numeracy 8% above similar schools and 2% above network schools
Year 5 Reading 7% above similar schools and the same as network schools
Year 5 Reading 7% above similar schools and the same as network schools.

Students achieving in the Top two bands.

Year 3 Results were also excellent with the students achieving great success particularly in Writing, Grammar, and Punctuation.

Year 3 Writing 14% above similar schools and 3% above network schools
Year 3 Spelling the same as similar and network schools
Year 3 Grammar and Punctuation 15% above similar schools and 3% above network schools
Year 3 Mathematics above 8% above similar schools and the same as network schools
Year 3 Reading 7% above similar schools and the same as network schools.

Writing, Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling have been the focuses of our last school Strategic Plan and the results reflect the work in this space. We have now turned our attention to our reading pedagogy which is the intense training the teachers have been attending around the multisensory Spalding Approach to teaching Reading.

Congratulations to our students who achieved outstanding results.

Playground Progress

It has been long time coming but the playground is taking shape and nearing completion. The students are so excited about the ninja course and the climbing tower and hopefully we can open early next term. The finish line is in sight, and we are ready to cross it.

COVID

COVID-19 isolation requirements have changed.

Any student or staff member who tests positive to COVID-19 must now isolate for a minimum of 5 days instead of 7. If they are asymptomatic, they may return to school on day 6. If they are symptomatic, they must remain in isolation until day 7. If they have symptoms after 7 days, they are strongly advised to stay home until their symptoms have resolved.

As an additional risk mitigation, the Department of Health strongly recommends that those leaving isolation wear a face mask when away from home, both indoors and outdoors, and when they cannot physically distance. Those leaving isolation on day 6 should wear a mask for 5 days but particularly the first 2 days. Those leaving isolation on day 7 should wear a mask for 4 days but particularly the first 2 days.

Those leaving isolation should consider taking a rapid antigen test before attending school.

Selamat Tinggal Ibu Sia

We are very sad to be farewelling Jeslyn Sia our Indonesian Teacher this term .

Jeslyn has successfully secured a position at a regional secondary college teaching mathematics, science, and physical education.

Jeslyn not only brought her Indonesian language skills to the school, but was also a regular participant in the morning running group and could be spotted most lunchtimes, on the basketball court, shooting a hoop or two with the students.

We wish you all the best Jeslyn in your new position.

We are currently advertising for a replacement teacher but with the current shortage of teachers have been unable to fill the position. We will continue to advertise in Term 4 for 2023.

Miss Beddome will be returning next term from family leave to run a skills and fitness program to enhance our Physical Education Program. The students will be attending physical education 50 minutes per week coupled with a health and fitness session 50 minutes per week.

Have a wonderful term break and go the Tigers - oh thats right they didn't make it this year, but watch this space.

Thank you to the community for my birthday wishes. The children ask me how old I am and I say 21. The good thing is they believe me .......

I hope your team wins !

Karen Rouda

Principal

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