Learning and Teaching

St James Reporting 2017

Dear Parents,

This year all Victorian schools are mandated to fully implement The Victorian Curriculum, and whilst there are many similarities to our previous framework, AusVELs, there are a number of changes that affect how our reports are presented for this semester.

Schools have been issued with minimum requirements for the content of school reports to parents, and a brief summary of those requirements are listed below:

●Schools must provide a student report at least twice a year to parents/carers for each child at the school.

● Reports must be issued in the first half of the year and the second half of the year.

●  Schools must report on an approved curriculum framework.

● The standard curriculum frameworks approved for use by Victorian Catholic schools are the Victorian Curriculum F–10, the relevant diocesan Religious Education curriculum and the EAL (English as an Additional Language) Developmental Continuum P–10.

● Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science must be reported at least annually, with all other curriculum areas reported at least every 2 years.

● Where achievement is displayed graphically, it must be accompanied by a scale.

● Judgements must be displayed in a way that conveys progress since the last time the standard(s) were reported against in the school.

● The scale employed for English, Mathematics and Science must be an

age-level-expected, five-point scale.

As we are currently in a transition period with both our new curriculum and the associated reporting software, you will notice that the grades in your child’s report for this semester cover English, Mathematics and Religious Education.

Each of these graded subjects is accompanied by a general overview of the work covered to date, and a personal comment relating specifically to your child’s achievements.

We have consulted with St Joan of Arc, St Finbars, St Mary’s Hampton and St Joseph’s Elsternwick to create a ‘local’ consensus around reporting for 2017. At this point in the year we have decided not to allocate grades in the other subject areas covered this semester,

rather have staff provide a general overview of the learning covered in these subjects, accompanied by a personal comment of your child’s achievements. We feel that this comment can convey much more accurately your child’s learning within these subjects at the end of Semester One.

You will receive a further report at the end of the school year, following a similar format to this semester’s report, which will display your child’s grades in all subjects covered in the 2017 academic year. The two reports you receive this year will therefore exceed the minimum requirements set out by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

We trust that this report will give you a detailed account of your child’s learning journey this semester.

St James Homework Policy

St James School 2017