Issue 28, 30 October 2020, Week 3 Term 4

It was wonderful being able to celebrate Book Week this week. As usual our students demonstrated the great support and enthusiasm from families our young people get for this annual event. It was sad that families could not attend this year but there were lots of photos and videos taken, showing the delight the children had dressing up in their favourite book character costumes. You can see lots of footage in this week’s ECE Virtual Assembly on Facebook or Seesaw.

This week the Year 5 students have been fortunate to have the opportunity to develop bike riding and road safety skills with a week of Bike Education. This culminated today with a ride around the quiet streets of Kingston Beach. It is so wonderful to see the persistence and determination of the less confident riders as they develop throughout the week, being able to achieve the feelings of achievement and success after five days of practice.

Last week the Primary students enjoyed two excellent mornings of Athletics events. Again it was sad not to have families able to be present, however the days were full of excitement and the usual competitive energy but most of all everyone involved had heaps of fun.

After the Show Day holiday teachers came back to work to continue the Inquiry work which we are doing around Writing and in particular looking at our practice to think collaboratively about what makes a great lesson, what should be included, what should teachers be doing and what should students be doing to achieve and develop their individual skills and competencies. We also got started on our Reporting process for End of Year reports and again went through a collaborative thinking process and discussed what makes a good report.

Interestingly the State Government is presently surveying School Associations and families around the State asking for feedback around the Reporting to Parents process. What do parents want from the reporting process and what sorts of changes would they like to see? You can have your say by following the hyperlink in this newsletter or on Konnective or Facebook.

We look forward to welcoming Ms Dyer back next week.

Dorothy Raymond
Acting Principal

Welcome to Term 4.  The canteen is open for counter sales again this term as well as lunch orders.  We will continue with the current menu from Term 3 going forward which is still a little reduced due to limitations on the number of people allowed in the canteen.  

Garlic bread, pizza bread and yoghurt pops will again be offered as counter sales but these cannot be included in lunch orders. There is a limit of 5 garlic or pizza bread slices per student and 2 yoghurt pops per student.

If you have any questions regarding the canteen or menu, please contact me via email mary.laing@education.tas.gov.au

Mary Laing
Canteen Supervisor

Teaching staff will soon commence compiling class groups for students from Kindergarten to Grade 6.  Factors considered when structuring class groups include the educational, social and emotional needs of the child, gender balance, equitable size of class groups, a balance of student abilities and pairing students with others they learn well with. 

Parents/carers may make class placement requests for their child for the following year, based on information they believe would assist the school in placing their child. This should be communicated to the Principal in writing by Friday 13 November.

Class placement requests will only be considered on educational grounds, not individual class teacher or friendship preference.  Information received will be considered in your child’s placement but we can make no guarantees.  Please address your envelope to Kelly Dyer and leave at the school office or email:                 kelly.dyer@education.tas.gov.au

Students will be asked to write down three friends that they would like to be placed with.  This is one of the many components that we will take into consideration.  We will guarantee at least one of the friendship requests.  The process is to finalise class lists by the beginning of December.  Families and students will be notified of 2021 class placements with the end of year reports.  These reports will be sent home on the last Friday of term (11 December).

Class lists will be final and will only be reviewed if enrolment numbers change significantly.

About the Review

We are undertaking a Review into Reporting to Families between July 2020 and March 2021.

School reports communicate to families their child’s learning progress and achievement.

The current arrangements for reporting to families have been in place since 2007. The Review will consider if these arrangements still meet learner and family needs.

The Review is underpinned by:

• The development of the Department of Education (DoE) Assessment Strategy 2020-2023.One of the key actions being to undertake a Review into Reporting to Families.
• DoE and the Australian Education Union committing to the Review as part of the current teachers’ award agreement.

In addition, innovations in technology are providing new possibilities for schools. This is transforming the ways families can engage in and support their child’s learning and wellbeing.

Review outputs

A Review Report will be submitted to the Department of Education Executive and the Minister for Education and Training by April 2021. The Report will include recommendations on:

• Procedures for reporting student achievements and progress that are timely, efficient and manageable
• Measures of progress and achievement to be included in reports
• Frequency of formal reports to families
• Format of formal reports to families
• Relationship between formal reports and other ways of communicating and engaging with families.

To achieve these outputs the Review will:

• Examine the purpose of reporting and whether current practice meets that purpose.
• Explore how meaningful information about learning progress and achievement can best be provided. This will include investigating the effectiveness of A-E ratings against national standards.
• Explore how learning progress and achievementcan best be provided in a timely manner. Including investigation of the usefulness of twice-yearly reporting to families for this purpose.
• Make recommendations that ensure clarity and consistency of approach across schools. At the same time enabling flexibility to suit local school contexts.
• Make recommendations that reduce the reporting workload. This is to maximise teacher time for quality teaching and in-class assessment practices.

Review governance

The review will be overseen by a Steering Committee which will meet every six weeks.

The Deputy Secretary, Support and Development is the Chair of the Steering Committee. The Department of Education will provide secretariat support/Project Manager.

The Steering Committee will include the following members:

• Deputy Secretary, Support and Development (Chair)
• Deputy Secretary, Learning
• Director, Curriculum Services (Project Manager)
• AEU representative
• TASSO representative
• TPA representative
• Director, Education Performance and Review
• Principal Policy Analyst, Curriculum Services (Project Officer/Secretariat).

Have your say

Phase 2 of consultation is open from 12 October to 13 November 2020 and will include:

• Ongoing consultation with School Associations, Teacher Reference Groups and the Principal Advisory Group
• Online surveys available for all teachers and families
• The gathering of student voice

Parents and carers are invited to participate in the Families Consultation Survey. Either click on this link or enter the following into your web browser:
https://www.education.tas.gov.au/community-and-engagement/review-into-reporting-to-families/

We encourage you to get involved and have your say.

Further information

For more information refer to the Terms of Reference (PDF, 421KB) and the Review FAQs.

Contact

Ms Andrea Robertson – Principal Policy Analyst
Email: curriculum@education.tas.gov.au
Phone: (03) 6165 5778

Year 5 have had a fun week honing their bike skills.  Today they tested their new skills and knowledge with a bike ride to Kingston Beach.