The Learning Page...

Learning Article

My School is a website that aims to ensure schools are transparent and accountable. It  can be found at: https://www.myschool.edu.au 

The website publishes nationally consistent data about every school in Australia. This includes data on student demographics and academic achievement (NAPLAN). We have heard from families that they used this website to find out more about our school, and that Grade 5 and 6 families often explore high school options on My School.

The My School website was updated last week with last year's NAPLAN results. NAPLAN is a series of tests that students sit in Grades 3 and 5. Whilst they occur only in those year levels, they reflect the foundational skills and learning that students receive in all years leading up to Grade 3 and 5. This week we want to share the My School results so that our community can see how our academic learning is progressing.

South Melbourne Primary Results

Here is the code to the results.

Here are our results when compared to all Australian students. They indicate that students at SMPS are working above their age-equivalent peers across Australia.

We are proud of these results. It is exciting to see the results improve year after year. We are on a great pathway of growth and are determined to continue to improve and be well above students with similar backgrounds in the years to come. We are confident that we are on the right track. Go SMPS!

High-Ability Opportunities

Wow - what a fantastic response we had to the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series in our last newsletter! Within a few hours of the newsletter being published, we had exceeded the amount of bookings available. We are in the process of seeing if our bookings can be expanded to allow all interested students to participate.

This newsletter, we would like to seek interest from families of Grade 5/6 students to participate in the Victorian Coding Challenge. 

Has your child got a passion for coding or are they curious to give it a go? Do they have a creative yet logical mind and love to problem solve engaging, real-world problems? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, your child may be interested in this coding challenge!

The Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV), in collaboration with Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV), are producing a 2-stage coding challenge, free of charge to students and aimed to extend curious minds, nurture passions and support students in refining their coding skills.

Target audience: High-ability students. 

Cost: Free of charge

Format: Virtual kit accessed via a website called 'Thinkific'.

Stage 1

In Stage 1 students will receive a virtual kit with a series of fun and engaging coding tasks. Students will participate in these tasks via a user-friendly online platform that is accessible from home. The challenges will require that students apply coding and algorithmic thinking in order to solve interesting problems. 

These tasks will be conducted at home - either during the term or during school holidays, at the student’s pace. Scaffolding and coding resources will be provided in case students need some support along the way. Our High-Ability Practice Leader (Maddy Morrison) will also have access to suggested solutions if your child gets really stuck.

Stage 2

Stage 2 allows student to compete with others in a state-wide coding competition (the aim is to run this face-to-face). In this competition, students will be competing in groups of 2-4, in an open-ended challenge, with an engaging, "real-world" application and will be eligible to win some cool prizes.

If your child is interested, please fill in this Expression of Interest by Thursday 31st March. There is no limit on the number of students who can take part in Part 1 of this challenge.