Dear Parents,

St Mary’s Semester 1 Reports will go home next Wednesday 26 June.  When the A to E reporting format entered our system, over 15 years ago, there was a substantial amount of information provided to the parent community.  I thought it was time to provide this information to our current parent community.  The following information comes directly from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

An important point to clarify is the NSW Syllabus’ have been structured into 4 stages: Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2), Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) and Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6).  This means that students are exposed to different elements of the same outcome for 2 years and thus will be reported on these outcomes for this period.

The A to E grading scale lets teachers report student academic achievements at any point in time using clear standards.  The grade scale matrix is provided at the end of each report and each grade has a specific statement to indicate what a student requires to have displayed in order to gain that level of grade.  There is not a set number of A to E grades that teachers are required to distribute over their class, for example it is possible that every student receives the same grade.

Teachers will make a professional on-balance judgement to decide which grade best matches the standards their students have achieved, based on assessment information they have collected.  An on-balance judgement does not just focus on a single piece of work.  Teachers will weigh up the assessment information they have collected for a student up to that point in time.  This information will come from both formal assessment activities and informal observations and will be built up over time and in different situations.

NESA provides work samples and other information to help teachers determine the standards associated with each grade.  In making their judgements about the work samples, the teachers carefully consider the grade descriptions from the common grade scale and picture the types of knowledge, skills and understandings in the subject area that students at each of the grade levels typically demonstrate at the end of the relevant year.

How does the report system show progress during a stage?  If a student receives the same grade for two consecutive reports they have made progress.  For example, if a student receives a Grade C in the middle of the year and again at the end of the year they will be making progress. Between the two reporting periods the student will have learned new knowledge and skills of a more advanced nature.  In order to receive a Grade C on the second occasion the student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content in relation to this new and more challenging material. 

I hope this information helps to clarify our reporting system. If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact the school.

Mr Nielsen

Reports will be sent home on Wednesday 26th of June.

• creating your children (you can do all the children first),
• select one child at a time and choose their teacher,
• choose a booking time,
• review your booking.
• click next and choose to book again if necessary (ie.more than one child)

Mrs Emma McRae our counsellor will be visiting our school next week on Wednesday 26th of June.

 If you would like to make a confidential appointment for your child please contact the office.

Please note that at the start of Term 3 we have two pupil free days due to teachers professional development days.

This means students will not be at school on Monday 22 July and Tuesday 23 July.

Students will start Term 3 on Wednesday 24 July.  

Happy Birthday to

Larna Pilon, Woody Ambrose, Claudia Murdoch  and Max Cuthbertson

who celebrate their birthdays next week.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

House Points

McAuley 431

MacKillop 371

Tenison Woods 250

(House Captain of McAuley, Ellie McDonell, is shown with the athletics plaque for the winning house)

Age Champions

Last Friday our Year 3 and 4 students attended the Todd Woodbridge Cup at the local West Wyalong tennis courts.

This was an absolutely amazing day with all students participating and show casing the tennis skills that they had been practising during sport.

We had the opportunity to compete against Ungarie Central School and Toppy Public School, where our students displayed wonderful sportsmanship.

The day was action packed and filled with much fun.

P & F Meeting

Thursday 27 June at 7pm in the school library.

All parents and carers are most welcome.

Bland’s Bust the Dust

 

The Bland Shire Council have kindly asked St Mary’s P&F to host a cake stall at the upcoming Bust the Dust event on Saturday 29th June.

More information will be provided on the P & F Facebook page this week.

  

Special Lunch - Friday 5 June

We are having a special lunch order on the last day of term, Friday 5 July.

Canteen Roster

Open Day 2019

Assembly Winners Week 8