From the Principal

Firstly, a big thank you to families who were contacted by our External School Review team. Your open and honest feedback was extremely valuable and much appreciated. The review is centred around improvement that is directly related to supporting the best outcomes for our students, and assisting us to 'hone' in on some essential areas to work on over the next 3-4 years. All information is presented to the school in a way that does not identify any particular feedback from an individual but rather an overall summary of all the information collected.   

This certainly highlighted that we have much to be proud of, which was echoed from students, staff and families to the review panel. Some commendations and affirmations that came from this are....

Commendations (some things that were highlighted as doing well) 

• Interactions between staff, students and families are caring, respectful and polite. Staff articulate a knowledge that building relationships with students is the first step for learning. All stakeholders (staff, students, families) have an articulated sense of pride and belonging in the school. “Love this school”
• Classrooms are calm and orderly with students attending the learning. The school has created an attractive and stimulating learning environment that supports and encourages learning. 
• Professional, dedicated and committed staff - support and care of colleagues in the school. Investing time, energy and skill into great teaching for Norwood PS students. “This is a great school!”
• A variety of learning options (interventions and extensions) for the full range of students’ abilities and interests. Desire to support every child to succeed.
• Student leadership development – Student Parliament, Student Senior Leaders, Sports Leaders, cultivating leadership skills and dispositions.

Affirmations (things that we have started and should continue)

• Inquiry as a pedagogy to engage and take student learning deeper – elements of excellent practice ready to be expanded across the school. Student voice is beginning to guide inquiry learning sequences.
• Learning spaces that spark curiosity and interest -some with visual documentation of student learning journeys.
• Use of student data to identify intervention and extension 
• There is an articulated goodwill, generosity and readiness to work and plan together

It is clear from the recommendations for future work that our focus on developing Inquiry-based learning for students is an important factor for student engagement and participation in their learning. There is still much to be done to continue to build our skills and understandings in this area, however, we continue to be committed to an approach that is proven both by research, and by our students' feedback that sparks curiosity in learning, and therefore improved outcomes for our students. 

NAPLAN

We are well underway with NAPLAN which will continue this week and next week.  Our goal is always to 'normalise' the school day as much as possible during this process. We are careful not to over emphasise this in a way that causes stress and anxiety in children. We make adjustments for students in line with NAPLAN protocols where necessary.  

It is extremely important to understand that whilst NAPLAN is important information at a National, State and School level to determine areas of growth and also those requiring development, it does not determine the overall rating of student achievement. We use a wide range of data on an ongoing basis to inform reporting ratings and comments, and most importantly to inform the next steps for learning for our students.  

A few tips for grades 3 & 5 children over the testing period...

Our words are very powerful so expressing a calm approach to this is essential....discuss that 'having a go and giving their best effort' is the most important thing, and also how proud you are of them for trying their best.

Use phrases like 'give it a go' 'try your best' 'just do what you can' etc..

Ensure, as always, that children are well rested, have breakfast and nutritious food and water for morning tea and lunch. 

Don't make this the first thing you ask at the end of the day or the last thing before you drop them at school. Just stick to your normal morning and afternoon conversation.

Most importantly, keep perspective; this is just a test in time; one form of assessment, and keep in mind that success is not determined by a test! 

Kind regards,

Karen