PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Welcome to our first school newsletter for Term 3.
It was wonderful to welcome our students back to school this term. The weather has been chilly, but that hasn't put a dampener on the learning and fun here at St Patrick's.
Staff were onsite on Monday 22 July to engage in professional learning targeting assessment in mathematics. There were a number of elements that made up this day, however one of the main focuses of the day was planning teaching and learning experiences with a focus on formative assessment, and using elements of regular mathematics lessons as a means of formative assessment to build a fuller image of students as learners, acknowledging what they can do and what they are working towards.
This staff development day continues our work towards our Annual Improvement Goal:
Through the use of high quality assessment in mathematics, students are appropriately challenged and engaged in their learning.
Staff also recently undertook student surveys to better gauge student's engagement in learning in relation to mathematics. This continues on from the feedback students provided in the Tell Them From Me Survey last term. As a staff we are analysing this feedback to better inform our teaching practice.
TELL THEM FROM ME PARENT FEEDBACK
I want to once again thank those parents and caregivers who took time out of their busy schedules to complete the Tell Them From Me survey last term. I want to share with you a synthesis of what we learnt from our parent community.
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Areas of Strength |
Areas For Further Consideration |
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*The school is warm, welcoming and inclusive of students and parents. *Children feel safe and supported at school. *Teachers are available are are willing to listen to concerns. *Teachers show a genuine interest in the learning of each individual child and there are high expectations for learning at school. |
*More advanced notice for school events for the term or year. (We have responded by sending home grade newsletters each term and creating a yearly overview of calendar dates) *School guidance for parents supporting learning at home. (We responded at school and information will be sent soon regarding some parent workshops) *Scheduling events at time that suit a wider range of parents. (This is always a difficult one, however we are actively considering the timing of school events and making changes where possible) *Reading resources for infants students. (We are investigating how to bolster our decodable text resources for our beginning readers and additional suitable reading interventions) |
Of course this is just a snap-shot of the feedback we received, however I am pleased with the overwhelmingly positive feedback. This information only serves to support what we already know, which is that St Patrick's is a wonderful community in which every student experiences continual growth in faith and improvement in learning and wellbeing.
Warmest regards,
Mr Mitchell Elks
Principal
