NAPLAN

On Monday this week we sent home the Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN result letters to families. While NAPLAN is a source of data for giving feedback to families and teachers on how students are progressing at age appropriate skills in Literacy and Numeracy, it is one test on a particular day. Remember to see what the results help you to understand about your child’s progress in general, as it doesn’t show all of the facets of students or capture their individual strengths and qualities. As a school, we use NAPLAN data as one of the sources of information to see trends in student cohorts and to make goals as a school and for individual students.

PARISH MASTER PLAN

Our school Design Team gathered with Design Teams from the other education sites in our Parish on Monday. The team consists of four students from Year 5 and 6, eight members of staff from various parts of the school and one parent. We worked with Jeremy and Chantelle from NOTOSH, to understand the ways in which we can work with our school communities to seek information about our school currently through the eyes of the different stakeholders. From the start of Term 4 when we are all back from holidays, until 11th November when NOTOSH work directly with our school, we will be seeking information from our community in a variety of ways. We understand that all families and members of our community have different needs and like to engage with the school in different ways, so we are aiming to provide opportunities to hear from everyone.  

Our “Project Nest” will be located in our school Hall (at the end of the Year 4 and 5 classroom block) where ideas collected from families, students and staff will be literally all over the walls! From the start of Term 4 we will be inviting you at varying times to wander in and take a look, have a cuppa or refreshments, chat with some of the Design Team and add your ideas to our display. Knowing that not everyone would like to or can come in physically, there will be other options for engaging in the thinking. We will kick this off in Week 1 Term 4, by sending home an activity where students can interview their families around a small number of questions and bring your thoughts back to place in the Project Nest. Each week in the newsletter, we will highlight an aspect of the work in the Project Nest so you can be there in virtual form.

We would like this to be an authentic and collaborative process, so we value all contributions. Please don’t think that any idea is too big or too small to be included. Jeremy and Chantelle will then return to our school in November to assist us in collating the responses and draw out the themes to work with.  

We would really love to hear from a few parents who would like to assist in this process by sitting with some of our Design Team early in Term 4, and then be available at some key times during October and November to help other families share their ideas with us. This is not a big investment of time, just some conversations with our Design Team members in the Project Nest to help other parents and community members know what we are seeking to understand. Please contact our office if you are interested.

On Wednesday, Kellie from Paynters (our other project partner) visited our site to see what physical facilities we have and seek what can improve our future planning and development. The outcome of all of this work will be the culmination for the Parish, and all of our educational settings, of how we can strategically plan for the future.

DANCE EISTEDDFOD

It has been a big term for the Creative Arts, with our students in the Dance Eisteddfod working hard right to the end of term. We are so proud of all of our students who participated not only in the Glasshouse concert, but the Eisteddfod this afternoon and evening. A very big thank you to Mrs Toole for the organisation behind the scenes, Miss Elisa for the creativity and organisation of the items, the teachers who worked with her each week in Term 3 to prepare for their events and all those ensuring costumes and props were ready.        

TERM 4 - PEER SUPPORT AND LEARNING JOURNEYS

During Term 4 we will be working in vertical groups for our Peer Support program, led by our wonderful Year 6 leaders. Each Tuesday from Week 2 to 8 in the afternoon session, our students will move into groups that have students from all grades in the school mixed to create Peer Support groups. This will be a wonderful opportunity for students to be with other age groups and work together to build community and learn about how we work together. We will publish in our newsletter the areas we are working on so you can talk about these at home and support the work of the groups.  

In addition to Peer Support and our regular weekly learning structure, we are making an effort for parents, carers and special people in our lives to learn more about what we do at school. We have successfully held open classroom sessions in individual grades to showcase a particular project, which parents and carers have told us they enjoyed. There is no pressure, just an invitation to come in and let children explain what they have been learning about.

We will be holding an Open Classroom session in Week 2 for all grades at the same time, to coincide with Grandparents Day and our Book Parade. We will send home more information about this in the first week of Term 4, but remind you to mark your calendars for Friday 25th October to join us for a day of sharing. Don’t forget to get those dress up clothes ready for the Book Week parade. 

This Open Classroom experience will replace our individual Learning Journey sessions that have previously been shared in the MPA for Term 4 on Friday afternoons, so that it is a “one-stop shop” for parents, especially if they need to visit more than one classroom during the day. There will be other opportunities for sharing learning throughout Term 4 too, look out for more ways to come in and enjoy learning with us!  

CHANGE TO SUMMER UNIFORM

Students are required to wear the full summer uniform from Week 1 of Term 4. Please ensure that the items your child/ren are wearing are correct, paying particular attention to shoes and accessories.  We will send reminder notes home next term for any items that need adjusting and ask for your support to follow these up. I have included the link to our uniform requirements.

THINKING OF OUR COMMUNITY

Congratulations to Harmony Amanatidis and family on the safe arrival of identical twin girls named Willow and Wynter. A wonderful addition to their family.

THANK YOU - HOLIDAYS

Thank you to each and every parent, carer and family member who has worked with us in this super busy term to achieve so much. There are the very obvious events that have been supported by you all with such enthusiasm, and the small things that are less obvious but still so very important. There is not often now in schools a time when we have nothing going on, so it can all seem like we just strap in and get ready for the ride! Once we start Term 4, it will be busy again and we will fit it all in, even when it seems impossible. For the two weeks of holidays, we wish you a safe and restful time with your children and we look forward to seeing you again on Monday 14th October. St Joseph’s does not have a Pupil Free Day at the start of Term 4, with our last Professional Learning Day for teachers on 4th November 2019.  

Tess Koning
Principal