Term 3, Week 6 - 15th August, 2024
From the Principal
Dear parents and carers,
Welcome to Week 6!
2024 NAPLAN Results
In the past couple of weeks, whole school NAPLAN data has been released to schools and parents and it is pleasing to see how our students performed in their cohorts.
The data collected from NAPLAN 2024 provides leadership and teaching staff at St Maria Goretti important baseline information to better understand the strengths and opportunities for growth of our students and to evaluate school programs to ensure they are best meeting our students’ needs.
As a school:
- In Year 3, our students are performing well in Reading, Spelling and Grammar & Punctuation when compared to students from like schools.
- In Year 5, our students are performing well in Spelling and Grammar & Punctuation when compared to students from like schools.
How to read the results?
Student achievement in NAPLAN is reported using proficiency standards for each assessment area at each year level. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing. There are 4 proficiency levels:
- Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
- Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
- Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
- Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.
When interpreting your child’s results, please keep in mind that children change and develop rapidly, and a single test cannot possibly assess all their abilities. A variety of factors can affect how well your child does on any test, including their motivation, attention, mood, physical wellbeing, and opportunities for learning.
The consistency of a whole-school implementation of the Diocesan Approach to Reading has supported our positive results in Literacy this year. Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to speak to your child’s teacher.
Communication with Teachers
Creating and maintaining open channels of communication with parents and carers is something that we do well at St Maria Goretti school.
I would like to remind our parents and carers that the wellbeing of our staff members is paramount, so I ask that you limit your communications between the hours of 8:00am-5:00pm, Monday to Friday as per our Right to Disconnect protocols which can be found on our school website.
Teachers can be contacted via the Sentral for parent app, or via email. If you would like to request an extended meeting time with your child's teacher, please contact the school office and we will be happy to accommodate your request.
Parent teacher interviews will be held in Weeks 9 & 10 of this term, and we will book these through the Sentral for parent app.
Annual Action Plan Priority - Valuing Our People - Parent Engagement
The terms parent engagement and parent involvement describe how parents and families support their children's academic achievement and wellbeing. Parent involvement usually focuses on school-based activities such as attending school events (Awards Night, Working Bees, etc.) or volunteering (Cent Sale, Colour Run, etc.).
Parent engagement encompasses children's learning at home, and at school. There is strong evidence linking parent engagement with improvements in academic achievement for children. Parent engagement in children’s learning is about working closely with your child’s teachers to help your child to succeed. Parent engagement means knowing what they are learning at school, finding ways to bring school learning into the home, and helping teachers to know and understand your child so that they can help your child to thrive at school.
How can I engage with my child's education?
- Sit down with your child while they complete their homework
- Regularly communicate and check in with your child's teachers
- Attend parent-teacher interviews in Term 1 and Term 3
- Attend parent information sessions held at school (e.g. Home Reading Info Sessions, Meet the Teacher)
- Attend school assemblies (Thursdays at 8:45am)
- Stay up to date with what your child is learning at school through the school newsletter and Facebook page
- Speak with the school principal about volunteering in class
Strong partnerships between schools, parents and families are essential for children to be successful in their learning. Please feel welcome to speak with your child's teacher or myself if you have any questions about how to engage in your child's learning.
Yours in education,
Casey Robinson
Principal
Library News
Book Week, where we celebrate that “Reading is Magic” is almost here!
Our dress-up parade takes place on Thursday morning after assembly. Please join us for some fun and magic around books as we celebrate with this important Book Week event.
Lunchtime activities will include some themed activities drawn from the short-listed titles and the "Reading is Magic" theme.
All are welcome to walk through the library to look at the displays that celebrate how reading can add some magic to our learning and to our lives.
Library Lessons
All classes have worked with a selection of books from the Children's Book Council of Australia short-list this term. Next week, the Prep -1 class will vote for their favourite book, while the older students will have time to explore all the books from the younger reader, picture book and information categories.
Last week, the Prep -1 class drew their version of the concrete garden from Bob Graham's book on the plant boxes, Years 2-4 created a poster for a pet needing a new, forever home, based on the novel "Scout and the Rescue Dogs" and Year 5-6 wrote about their choice of a magical portal and fantasy world they would enter for adventure, mystery and challenges.
Life in the Library
I hope you can find some magic through your reading this week!
Anne Anderson
Teacher Librarian
Students of the Week - Week 5
Students of the Week - Week 6
Sight Word Certificates
Phonics and Reading Awards
Happy birthday!
Parent Engagement Network (PEN)
Parent Engagement Network
2024 Parent Engagement Network Executive -
| Chairperson | Melissa Callaghan |
| Secretary | Gabe Groves |
| Fundraising Coordinator | Michelle Walker |
Our next PEN meeting will be on:
Wednesday the 21st of August in the
school library at 3:30pm
Please contact Casey, Melissa, Gabe or Mandy to add an item to the agenda.
All parents are very welcome to attend the PEN meeting as a rewarding way to get involved with the school community and keep up to date with school events, policies and projects.
________________________
Strategic Plan 2023-2026
St Ursula's College Come and Try Day
St Ursula’s College Toowoomba Fun & Fitness – Come and Try Day 2024 is on Thursday, 5 September. The event will run from 8:30am to 2:30pm, with morning tea and lunch provided and is open to current Year 5 & Year 6 students. This day offers your daughter the opportunity to meet other students, participate in fun-filled activities and experience what it is like to be an 'Ursie Girl'. Following this, we also extend the invite to families who would like to try out Boarding. Spend the night at our Boarding House, enjoy dinner with our fellow boarders, breakfast is included. Please email sucenrolment@twb.catholic.edu.au or call 07 4631 0870.
Notices
