Curriculum Report – May 1, 2015

2015 NAPLAN for Year 7 and Year 9 students

The 2015 National Assessment Program -“ Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 7 and 9 students will be held on Tuesday May 12, Wednesday May 13 and Thursday May 14. Friday May 15 will be used as a -‘catch-up’ day for boys who were absent for tests held earlier in the week.

NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in writing, reading, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The results of the tests provide information for students, parents, teachers and principals which can be used to improve student achievement. All Years 7 and 9 students are expected to participate in the NAPLAN tests.

Support can be arranged for students with learning disabilities if the student regularly uses similar support for classroom assessment tasks. Large print, braille, electronic and black and white versions of the tests are available for students that require them.

Exemptions may be granted to students with significant intellectual disabilities and to students who have been learning English for less than one year. If your son is eligible for support due to disability or an exemption, you should discuss this with the relevant staff member from the Enhanced Learning Team prior to the tests. Parental consent is required before any support due to disability or exemption is granted.

Students may be withdrawn from NAPLAN by their parent or carer. This is a matter for consideration by parents and carers in consultation with the Headmaster. If, after consultation, you decide to withdraw your child, you must sign a Student Withdrawal form. These forms are available from the school upon request.

Parents of Years 7 and 9 boys will receive a personal NAPLAN report later in the year. The report will describe each boy’s particular skills in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The report will also show how the student performed in relation to national minimum standards (which describe the minimum acceptable standards for students across Australia).

The information parents receive as a result of their son’s participation in the NAPLAN tests will be valuable in helping to assess his progress in the key areas of literacy and numeracy.

For more information about the tests, please visit the VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au or the NAP website at www.nap.edu.au.

Headmaster’s awards

This week’s Year 9 assembly provided the opportunity to acknowledge Tim Costa with an Academic Endeavour Award in recognition of his effort and success in completing the recent Persuasive Essay task in Year 9 English.

Tim’s success with this task can be attributed to his use of a number of learning strategies including:

– Taking time to construct a substantial draft based on an identification of the key ideas from the film, Rabbit Proof Fence.

– Presenting this draft to others for feedback

– Acting on this feedback to further the draft

– Making explicit use of the writing strategies presented by the teacher and,

– Clearly understanding what will constitute success by taking the time to comprehend the assessment rubric distribute by the teacher.

Congratulations Tim!