Week 3, Term 2
Welcome
Sunday, May 9th is Mother’s Day. We extend our best wishes and love to all Mothers and Mother Figures; we pray to our Mother Mary for her protection and guidance of all Mothers in the St James Primary community.
As a community, we gathered to honour Mothers this morning and it was tremendous to see many families socialising and celebrating together. We especially thank everyone involved with the organisation and carrying out of the BBQ breakfast and Mother’s Day Stall.
Happy Mother's Day!
NAPLAN
NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing or failing, but about assessing learning progress at a particular point in time and helping inform the next steps in learning for students. Students in Years 3 & 5 will complete NAPLAN on May 11th, 12th & 13th.
Week 5 & 6 (advanced notice)
Please note two important things:
- I will be attending an important Principal's meeting in Coffs Habour on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday (May 18th, 19th & 20th); Mrs Cree will be Acting-Principal during my absence. -
- The St James Primary Athletics carnival will be held on Friday, May 28th. Students may come dressed in their House colours as they participate in track and field events. There will be a pop-up canteen down on the bottom oval and parents/visitors are most welcome to attend this event (please sign in upon arrival via the QR code).
Reporting to Parents
At St James, we believe in celebrating learning with families (glows) and working together to focus on students' next steps (grows). To this end, we have developed a cyclical process of reporting to families, which is termed 3-Way Conferences. In 2021, the 3-Way Conferences will occur as follows:
- Term 1: A 3-Way Conference was held early in the term where three families gathered to meet their child's 3 educators (teachers), which was followed up with a 1:1 meeting with a teacher where a social/emotional goal was created, and a discussion was held on the child's current learning profile. Then, later in the Term, student's individual English and Mathematics goals were uploaded to Seesaw. These goals became the student bump-it-up walls in the classrooms so that students can track their own learning and understand their next steps.
- Term 2: 3-Way Conferences will be held on Tuesday, June 8th & Wednesday, June 9th. At these meetings, families will meet 1:1 with a teacher, and the discussion will focus on glows from previous goals (with supporting evidence) and look towards the next steps in learning as the student/parents/teacher co-create the Term 2 social/emotional, English and Mathematics goals. Again, these goals will be uploaded to Seesaw and form the bump-it-up walls for students in the classrooms. In Term 2, families will also receive their child’s A-E formal report, which from this year will not contain a written comment from teachers as this has been replaced with this ongoing cycle of assessment and learning.
- Term 3: 3-Way Conferences will be held in late Term 3. At these meetings, families will meet 1:1 with a teacher, and the discussion will focus on glows from previous goals (with supporting evidence) and look towards the next steps in learning as the student/parents/teacher co-create the Term 3 social/emotional, English and Mathematics goals. Again, these goals will be uploaded to Seesaw and form the bump-it-up walls for students in the classrooms.
- Term 4: In Term 4, families will receive their child's second A-E formal report, which again will not contain a written comment from teachers as this has been replaced with this ongoing cycle of assessment and learning. During the final stages of Term 4, all grades will have a Celebration of Learning Day where families can attend school together to view the accumulation of glows and grows from the year; during this gathering, families will touch base with educators to celebrate achievements and congratulate the students on their wonderful efforts, thus rounding out the yearly cycle.
Please note that due to logistics and the volume of families requiring appointments, 3-Way conferences may only occur on the specified dates/times, unless teachers invite parents to attend at a different day/time due to the number of students they have. Therefore, please do not request a different time for a 3-Way conference or request a double-up appointment (e.g. a meeting for each parent).
It is our aim, through this cycle of assessment and reporting to have ongoing communication with families so that in partnership we can continue to focus on student achievements and celebrations and look towards the next steps in learning.
As you can see, this cycle of assessment and reporting is a yearly matter and will be repeated each year with students/parents. Then, at the end of the primary school journey (Year 6), the Seesaw portfolio can be downloaded by parents, which is a lovely keepsake for families and illustrates the amazing glows and grows that occurred during the primary school years.
Zone Cross Country
Congratulations to the 48 St James students who competed in and represented our school at Zone Cross Country on Friday 30th April at Murwillumbah. We had 6 children who placed in their events: Lucia (Y2), Cormac (Y4), Yohanna & Ella S (Y5) and Hailey (Y6). They will now travel to Grafton for Diocesan Trials. We especially congratulation Cade (Y4) who won his event and was the 10 years age champion. Well done to all of our cross country runners!
Thumbs-up
- Parents who assisted with the Mother's Day stall and breakfast.
- Year 6 students and teachers for their great behaviour and work during the Year 6 camp.
- All students, teachers and families for assisting with the 2021 open day and school tours.
To conclude
On Monday, May 3rd, we celebrated St James Feast Day with a special liturgy and "party" at the pool. It is truly a blessing to call St James Primary our educational home, and on our feast day each year it is wonderful to take some time to pray, reflect and give thanks for being part of our beautiful community.
With blessings,
Nic.
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