Next week students will begin using some of the digital learning platforms that we are fortunate to have subscriptions for at Campbell Primary School.

Years 3-6 will start participating in the digital version of the ‘Cars and Stars’ reading program. ‘Cars and Stars’ provides diagnostic assessments for children in Years 3-6 on their decoding and comprehension skills, and then specifically targets instructional lessons based on the child’s reading level. Many families will be familiar with the ‘paper’ version of the program, which has recently been updated. After trialling the digital program last year, senior-years teachers found it to be a wonderful tool to use in addition to their own explicit teaching, particularly as it focuses on specific reading and comprehension strategies.  

Next week, PAT Testing will commence for our Year 2 students and new enrolments. Children in Years 3-6 will be familiar with PAT testing, as we have used it at Campbell Primary School for many years as one method of collecting student data and measuring their learning growth. Children in Years 2 and up participate in annual PAT testing on reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, mathematics and science. The PAT program allows teachers to use assessment data to identify starting points for learning, target their teaching and monitor each learner’s growth. The information provided to teachers following PAT testing is incredibly detailed and informative, and is a useful tool for whole-school planning.

Mathletics will also be up and running by next week. Which we use as a way for students to consolidate their learning and practise mathematical processes and skills as a part of their home learning program. Mathletics can also be utilised during class time for targeted activities selected by teachers. We are very excited to see who the first children to win gold, silver and bronze certificates will be this year!