Hi All,
Please find below the information from our recent school newsletter re the NAPLAN tests, which will be implemented on May 12, 13 and 14 across the Nation.

NATIONAL ASSESMENT PROGRAM LITERACY AND NUMERACY 2009
In 2008, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) commenced in Australian schools. The program continues in 2009 with all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 being assessed using common national tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy.

Who will sit the tests?
All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to participate in the assessment program. If your child has special circumstances, you should discuss these with the school principal.

Who will administer the tests?
NAPLAN tests are conducted at schools and administered by class teachers.

Who will mark the tests?
Tests will be marked by expert, independent markers.

What will be assessed?
The content of each test is informed by the National Statements of Learning in English and Mathematics, which underpin state and territory learning frameworks.
Test questions cover aspects of Literacy (Reading, Writing, Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling) and Numeracy. Questions are multiple-choice or require a short written
response. The Writing task requires students to write a narrative or story. All government and non-government education authorities have contributed to the development of NAPLAN materials.

Where can I find sample questions?
Sample questions and a sample Writing task are provided on the NAPLAN website.

Can I help my child prepare for the tests?
Teachers will prepare students for the tests and will provide support and encouragement before and during the test period. Parents should be reassuring and positive on the NAPLAN test days.

When will the tests be held?
The tests are scheduled for the mornings of Tuesday 12 May, Wednesday 13 May and Thursday 14 May. All schools across Australia complete the tests on the same days. The times shown on the timetable are student working times. Extra time is given for teacher instruction.

What happens if my child is absent from school on test days?
Wherever possible, schools will organise for individual students who are absent at the time of testing to complete a catch-up test at another time during the week. Individual students who are absent on test days are not permitted to sit tests after Friday 15 May.

What additional support can schools provide for students with special needs?
Students with special needs will be given assistance to access the tests. A formal exemption may be granted for some students who have severe intellectual disabilities or are recent arrivals in Australia from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Please contact your school for more information.

Will I receive a report on my child’s performance?
A NAPLAN report will be issued by your school later in the year. The same report format is used for every student in Australia. The school will notify you when the reports are being sent home. If you do not receive a report, contact the school. Your child’s results are strictly confidential. The report is only one aspect of the school’s assessment and reporting process, and does not replace the more extensive and informed judgments made about your child by teachers.

What information will be provided about student performance?
NAPLAN results provide an important measure of how all Australian students are performing in Literacy and Numeracy. The performance of your child on each test is shown on national achievement scales from Year 3 to Year 9. Six bands are reported for each year level. One of these bands will represent the national minimum standard for students at each year level. A result at the national minimum standard indicates that the student demonstrated the basic Literacy and Numeracy skills needed to participate in that year level. The performance of your child can be compared to that of other students in your state or territory and across Australia.

How will the NAPLAN test results be used?
• Students and parents may use individual results to discuss achievements and progress with teachers.
• Teachers use results to help them better identify students who require greater challenges or additional support.
• Schools use results to identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching programs, and to set goals in Literacy and Numeracy.
• School systems use results to review programs and support offered to schools.

Where can I get more information?
More information on NAPLAN can be obtained by:
• contacting your child’s school
• phoning your state, territory or system’s education authority
• accessing your state, territory or system’s education authority’s website
• accessing the national NAPLAN website.

Please be assured that our teachers are diligently preparing our students for these tests by ensuring they are familiar with the types of questions, the process and the expectations around the implementation of the tests. We have addressed areas of concern from last years results so that our children have the best opportunity to do their best in this years tests.
Till next time,
Anne Robinson
Head of Curriculum

Hi All,
This week as the classes settle back into routines, they are launching a new context for learning this term. With this they will continue their strong focus on literacy and numeracy, as we lead into the NAPLAN testing in Week 4 on May 12-14. The contexts for learning for this term are as follows:
Early Learners- On the Move-looking at all things that move and how they move. The children will participate in science and thinking investigations around how things move, particularly push and pull.
Year 2- School Yard Safari- beginning with a focus on life and living in the school yard environment before broadening their horizons by looking at the complex ecosystems of rainforests and jungles.
Year 3- Weather in My World- looking at weather patterns and forecasts and how it affects our work and leisure activities, as well as looking at severe weather phenomena and their impacts on communities.
Year 4- Waterworks-focussing on water, where it comes from and how we use it, as well as conducting a social investigation into the Traverston Dam issue.
Year 4/5- Material World-provides opportunities for students to develop an understanding of the properties of materials and how they relate to use. Students’ explore how to test the properties of materials fairly and how to use this knowledge to choose materials wisely.
Year 5- Spinning in Space- focussing on the Earth, Moon and the Sun and the relationship between them. The students will be designing a model to demonstrate their learning and creating a digital animation with their models.
Year 6- It’s Electrifying- looking at electrical energy and how it works as they participate in hands on activities around electricity and circuits. They will also look at renewable and non renewable energy sources and create a design for Utopia where life can exist and be sustained using alternative sources of energy.
Year 7- Global Lens on Australian Tourism- The students will imagine they are travel agents with a special interest in eco-backpacker trips around Australia, visiting places of interest that have links to Aboriginal history, culture and traditions.

We look forward to the students engaging in their learning around these new contexts and developing a deep knowledge and understanding around the Essential Learnings, which these units are based on.
Till next time,
Anne Robinson
Head of Curriculum

Hi All,
This Friday morning following the Junior Assembly at 9:30am I will be holding another of the P-3 Parent Reading Workshops, which are aimed at beginning readers. I have plans to hold a follow on workshop in the near future around comprehension and the different levels of comprehension. If you know of anyone who may be interested in the workshop this Friday, please let them know it is on. It will be held in the library annex.

I have also uploaded the Powerpoint from this workshop to this Blog for use at home, once you have attended the workshop. We will be looking at our Yarrilee Hands Reading Strategies, which assist beginning readers to decode and make meaning of the text. With a consistent approach to these strategies we can assist our beginning readers to problem solve and develop their strategic activity to access the text.

Look forward to seeing you on Friday,

Mrs Anne Robinson
Head of Curriculum

Next Monday, March 2, 2009 we will be holding the first of the Parent Workshops for the year. This workshop will be for Parents of children learning to read. We will look at how children learn to read and how best you can support them at home to optimize their progress with literacy and language development. With ‘Parents as Partners’ in the students’ learning we have the best chance of improving the learning outcomes of our students. The sessions will be held at school in the library annex behind the admin block from 2-3pm or 6-7pm. Please pass the message on to any parents you may be in contact with.

We hope to hold further workshops during the year around other topics such as Maths. If you have some feedback around the parent workshops or ideas for workshops please email me on arobi77@eq.edu.au and we will do our best to accomodate your needs.
See you there,
Mrs Anne Robinson
HOC

The Qld Comparable Assessment Tasks, which all Yr 4 and 6 students across Qld will be participating in in the key learning areas of Science, Maths and English will occur between March 16 and May 18. This will involve students working through some contextualizing activities together as a class and then completing the tasks independently. Each task will take around 90 minutes to complete and may be implemented over a few sessions in a week.

Besides offering parents a comparative grade to our school-based assessments in these areas, they are also a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to participate in some qualtiy moderation with colleagues at our school and also across the other schools in Hervey Bay to further develop our consistency of teacher judgement when marking common tasks.

Teachers have been informed of the Essential Learnings to be assesssed through these tasks and they are now revisiting the knowledge and understanding that the students will need to complete the tasks.

We look forward to the students producing some great work on these tasks and the teachers benefiting from the moderation processes around them.
Till next time,
Anne Robinson
Head of Curriculum

Hi All,
Welcome back to our regular families and welcome to our new families. I hope to keep you updated around any curriculum initiatives via this Blog and I plan to make weekly posts. If you have any specific topics you would like information or posts about please email me at arobi77@eq.edu.au and I will do what I can.

Well 2009 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in Yarrilee’s short history. Besides the 10th year celebrations we are implementing the new QCAR (Qld Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework) and from that we have developed a new whole school curriculum framework. We had many teachers busily working on that framework at the end of last year and I think they should all be very proud of what we achieved and have in place to start this year.

In addition to that, we were able to make a start on reviewing our school based English and Mathematics Programs and we have drafts of those in the early implementation phase this year also. Obviously, these documents are living documents and will continue to be refined and reviewed over the coming year.

If you attended the parent information evenings for your children you will have no doubt have heard about NAPLAN (National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy) and the QCATS (Qld Comparable Assessment Tasks). The Naplan tests will take place on May 12, 13 and 14 for all Yr 3, 5, 7 and 9 students across the country and the QCATs will take place across March and April in English, Maths and Science for all Year 4 and 6 students in Qld.

There has been much media coverage around the NAPLAN results of Qld last year, so we are currently analysing our students’ performance on last years tests and putting strategies in place to improve our performance on this years tests. If you would like more information on NAPLAN I have posted the lastest parent information link on this Blog.
Till next time,
Mrs A. Robinson
Head of Curriculum

This term we welcome back Anne Robinson from her Long Service Leave. Anne will be Acting Deputy Principal for the first five weeks of this term and I will continue in her role of HOC for this duration.
This term has already shown to be a very busy term with the athletics carnival taking place, the Westpac Mathematics competition on the horizon, preparation for the OptiMinds challenge, parent-teacher meetings, the commencement of Year 2 Intervention and the Upper Literacy Grant, just to name a few.
On the Student Free Day all teachers engaged in further Professional Development in regards to the implementation of QCARF where they gained a deeper understanding of the Essential Learnings and Ways of Working and how these would impact on each of the Mini Schools. Other sessions included looking at Spelling Strategies and utilising Literacy Circles in the classroom.
Each Mini School has commenced their units for this term and are well and truly engaged in their learning with many exciting activities planned.

Yours in Learning,

Veronique Canellas
Acting Head of Curriculum

Anne Robinson, our Head of Curriculum, is currently on Long Service Leave. I have stepped into her role in an acting capacity until the end of this term. This provides me with the challenge and opportunity to play a major role in the implementation of the new Essential Learnings into our curriculum as well as continuing the hard work completed to date by Anne Robinson in the areas of planning, implementing and reflecting on our programs offered at Yarrilee.

There is much happening in our classrooms this term and teachers are busy implementing the teaching and learning programs planned last term. As I walk around the school it is pleasing to see the students engaged in their learning and taking up the opportunities provided by their teachers and support staff. The Early Learners have their ‘Eye on the Sky’ investigating our weather conditions. The Juniors are investigating the world of insects and other small creatures in their unit “Books and Beasties”. Middle school are stepping back in time and learning all about the life and times of either Ancient Rome or Medieval England. The Senior school are either continuing with their discovery of “Being Aussie, Being Proud” or “I didn’t expect that”.

Teachers are entering an extremely busy period of the school year with assessment and reporting. For an explanation of the grades on the report card you can refer to Anne’s Blog entry on 30th November, 2007. It is important for parents and guardians to understand that a ‘C’ grade is satisfactory.

Until next time.

Yours in Learning

Veronique Canellas
Acting Head of Curriculum

This will be my last post for a while as I am taking Long Service Leave next term to join my family in Brisbane. Whilst I am on leave for all of Term 2, Mrs Veronique Canellas will be acting in the role of Head of Curriculum. I trust the school community will support her in this role, as you have done myself over the past 15 months of being in this position. It will be an exciting term for her in this role as we continue to implement the new Essential Learnings, the NAPLAN Tests and the Qld Comparable Assessment Tasks (QCAT), not to mention our regular work on end of semester assessment and reporting and our continuous planning, implementing and reflecting on our teaching and learning programs on offer at Yarrilee. I hope that she will be able to continue to use this forum as an effective communication tool with the wider school community, during my absence.

I will be thinking of you all as I am spending time with my family, catching up on my studies and enjoying some rest and relaxation prior to my return to work.

Till next time,
Mrs Anne Robinson
Head of Curriculum

You will notice that over the recent holidays we have had 9 water tanks installed around the school, thanks to the generous Green Vouchers Project. This project enabled our school to access $50,000 to install either water tanks or solar panels, but as the Healthy Schools Committee had been investigating water tanks and applying for grants for some time, we decided to put the money towards the tanks. It is envisaged that the tanks will enable us to water our school’s ovals and gardens economically, thereby making them self sufficient. As the ovals are an important part of our Health and Physical Education, Sports and Fitness Programs and the gardens, particularly the Never Ending Vege Patch are integral to some of our integrated units across the school, it is important to abe able to independently maintain these resources- not to mention becoming water smart and reducing our ecological footprint.

A big thankyou must go to the Healthy Schools Committee, for their initial work into the idea of water tanks and initial grant applications and a special thankyou must also go to Mr Pat Edwards, our Facilities Officer, who did an enormous amount of work on planning, quoting and liasing with tradesman. Finally, thanks to Mr Bob Hodge, Mrs Anne Greiner and Mrs Judy Robinson, who supported me in chasing, applying for and implementing the green voucher- on its ups and downs through to its culmination. Here’s to some rain to fill the tanks!!

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