FROM THE JUNIOR SCHOOL
Term 2
Welcome to all Junior School students, families and staff to the new school Term. The excitement of learners from Early Learning to Year 5 as the campus came to life on Tuesday morning was a joy to see. We particularly welcome students and their families who are new to the College this week, including the eight 3-year-olds who had their very first school day!
This Term we welcome new staff, including Year 3 Class Teacher Mr Scott Gillett, Year 5 Literacy Teacher Ms Julie Rosevear and Prep-Year 1 HPE Teacher Mr Mike Wall to the staff.
We look forward to a Term filled with exciting, engaging and challenging learning experiences and enrichment for students of all ages – individually and collectively.
We also look forward to continuing to create opportunities for parents and families to be actively involved in many aspects of their children’s learning this Term. It was wonderful to see a good number of parents able to drop into Laneway for a coffee and chat on Tuesday morning and the capacity number of guests at the Mothers’ Day Breakfast today. All families are encouraged to look out for coming events for their child(ren)’s year level and to join us wherever possible.
Kindergarten (EL Erina) Reading Program
Young children learning to read is one of the most exciting times in life’s learning pathway– not only for the students but also for their parents and the staff who work with them. This Term we are very excited to launch the 2022 EL Erina ‘Read-Ins – Nurturing a Love of Reading Program’.
Across all Early Learning classes nurturing a love of reading through engagement and discussion of picture books is a central aspect of our daily literacy program. In Early Learning Erina this is complemented with next week’s launch of the ‘Read-Ins – Nurturing a Love of Reading Program’. This is a further opportunity for each student to engage with quality literature chosen at school and taken home to read and enjoy multiple times. Each classroom has a basket of ‘Read-In’ books from which child and parent(s) can select a book to read at home together.
All EL Erina families received details of the program late in Term 1 and class teachers look forward to meeting parents in their individually booked appointment time next week to provide more advice on how the program operates, the part that parents play in this, and the choosing of the first ‘Read-In’ book. This is a very special time and an extremely important phase in the learning to read process for every student.
NAPLAN – Years 3 and 5
Students in Years 3 and 5 (also Years 7 and 9) will participate in the annual National Assessments in Literacy and Numeracy during the next two weeks. Online tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling and Grammar) and Numeracy will be undertaken.
The tests provide data on learning trends across the country in these specific areas as well as offering one more indicator of individual student progress and their strengths and areas of need – for themselves, their teachers and parents.
The tests are all marked externally and when the school receives the results individual reports are sent to families.
It is important to note that the nature of these assessments does not require specific preparation. Students are given guidance in relation to test techniques (valuable learning in itself) but the content assessing their thinking and problem-solving skills is designed to give one more snapshot of their learning development as it is at this point in time.
Lachie Wright
Head of Junior School