Principal's message
Dear families,
Welcome back to Term 2! We hope everyone had some quality family time over the Easter and school holiday break.
It has already been an action-packed beginning to the term with Year 5 and Year 6 attending school camp. I would especially like to acknowledge the efforts of Kate Stear, Erin Minehan, Kate Herrington, Alistair Scherer, Timmy Holness, Peter Lawson, Sarah Ebbage, Nicole Carney, Fiona McKellar and Dani Hogan for all the behind-the-scenes organisation that goes into co-ordinating a camp. School camps are an amazing experience for students, building lifelong memories and strengthening collaboration between groups. I am, therefore, especially grateful to the staff who graciously gave up their personal family time to attend and supervise students so that they could access this wonderful opportunity.
As we move into the cooler months please remember to label all school uniform items and send your child with enough school uniform clothing to keep them comfortable throughout the day. The lost property that is found can be returned to classes when clearly labelled which is why it is so important to have your child's full name in all their uniform items. Parents are also encouraged to regularly check our lost property if your child has missing items. Could we also please ask families to regularly ‘double check’ the labelling in their child's uniform as sometimes children accidently take home the wrong jumper, hat or library bag.
Also, please do not send your child to school if they are sick. We appreciate the challenge of trying to juggle the complexities of work and home life when a child is sick, however, sending a sick child to school only increases the chances of the illness spreading to other students and staff. Children who are presenting at school with obvious signs of illness will be sent to sick bay and parents contacted to collect them.
We have had a few questions around whether children are still required to wear their hats. For the month of May, the children must be wearing a hat during break times. The months of June and July are the "hats off" months in Canberra as the daily UV levels reach 3 and above for part or most of each day between August and May. Sun protection is generally not recommended around the June and July period.
ACT schools will participate in NAPLAN Online testing from 11th-21st May 2021. ACT schools undertaking NAPLAN Online have participated in a practice/familiarisation test between 22nd March and 23rd April 2021. The practice test did not assess student performance and has been developed to replace one of the familiarisation activities that schools have traditionally undertaken.
As a parent, you can become familiar with NAPLAN Online tests by visiting the public demonstration site, http://bit.ly/naplanonline. The purpose of the site is to familiarise students with the type of items they will see on NAPLAN Online and related functionalities. This level of familiarisation is worthwhile to help students understand and be comfortable with the format of the test. NAPLAN Online allows for tailored testing. This means that student are presented with sets of questions based on their performance during the test. This model provides students with the opportunity to better demonstrate their range of literacy and numeracy skills and it is more engaging for students. Further information explaining tailored testing can be found at https://bit.ly/2PgG7rL.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss your son or daughter’s participation in this event, please contact Kate Herrington or Kate Stear on 6142 3580. Further information on NAPLAN Online, including the public demonstration site, is available at www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/naplan-online.
Students participating in the NAPLAN assessments will be sent the school assessment schedule via email this week.