Dear Families,
We hope you all had a lovely two week break with your children. Students have returned back to school settled ready for learning, and have enjoyed sharing their holiday outings. Everyone seems to have returned refreshed and ready for another term of successful teaching and learning.
We also have Parent Interviews at the end of this term where teachers will be sharing your child's report and discussing their learning with you. We are aiming for 100% attendance.
We are in the process of updating our computer records and will be sending home various forms that require to be signed. Could you please fill them out and return them to the front office so that our records are accurate. If you have any questions of any of the forms that may be sent home, please don't hesitate to speak to our front office staff.
Sports Day
I would like to thank everyone who came out on Sports Day to support our students. Your ongoing support is much appreciated and highly valued. There is a great deal of 'behind the scenes' work to be done, including on the day - I would like to thank EVERYONE who contributed in some way. I don't want to name people as I would hate to accidently leave anyone out. A huge shout out to our parent volunteers in the canteen and behind the bbq - you were AWESOME. A huge 'shout out' to Tina, Amanda and Mel for donating cupcakes (they were a huge hit) and also to Joanne and Dino Musolino 'Hi Fresh' for donating all the onion for our yummy sausage sizzle. Again, we pride ourselves on our Community's involvement and support - THANK YOU.
I'd also like to thank and acknowledge Deputy Mayor Peter Rentoulis and former VPS student for taking the time out of his busy schedule to open this year's Sports Day. He was so impressed by our captains' speeches and how 'team spirited' based they were.
All teams fought hard throughout the day and encouraged one another, however it was Light who were the final winners. Congratulations on another successful VPS Sports Day.
Pupil Free Day
Unlike the students having a pupil free day on the Tuesday, staff returned back to work and were busy working on LEAP levels (Learning English: Achievement and Proficiency). In 2021, Learning English Achievement and Proficiency (LEAP) Levels have replaced the language and literacy levels. LEAP is an assessment, monitoring and reporting document for all teachers, which can be used to inform learning design.
LEAP Levels describe the development of language needed across the year levels to access and demonstrate curriculum knowledge, skills and understandings for all learning areas. The LEAP Levels focus on the productive aspects of language and literacy (spoken, written and multi-modal texts). Staff collected and analyzed student writing samples with colleagues to:
- assess, monitor and report the language development (predominantly focusing on the development of academic language) of any student, in particular high needs students such as EALD students
- determine the level of student language learning need
- identify the appropriate support category to inform and direct allocations of EALD funding
- inform learning design through the identification of key teaching points in formative and summative assessments, to enable setting of learning goals and language level targets.
Naplan
Our year 3, 5 and 7's will be sitting Naplan during weeks 3 & 4. Notes were sent out to families last week. All components will be completed online expect for the year 3 writing component.
NAPLAN is used by governments, education authorities and schools to determine whether young Australians are meeting important educational goals in literacy and numeracy. It provides a snapshot of your child’s progress as they travel through school, to see how well they are learning the skills of reading, writing and mathematics. It also provides information to the school that assists in determining areas for further development.
It is important to know that NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test. It simply looks at what level students are achieving in literacy and numeracy against the national standards and compared with their peers throughout Australia.
Some nervousness is expected and, as a parent, you can help your child by treating NAPLAN test days just like any other school day and reassuring them that NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test. As a school, all we ask is for our students to give of their best under the circumstances. Wishing all our students all the very best.
If you have any concerns please talk to your child’s teacher or a member of leadership as soon as possible.
Mother's Day
I would like to thank everyone for supporting our Mother's Day stall. It's an absolute delight watching the excitement on your children's faces when choosing gifts for their loved ones. I can also reassure you all that the decisions they make are really thought through and not easy to make at times, even after being provided with suggestions. It is priceless listening to them share their stories and plans with their peers on how they are going to 'surprise mum or grandma'.
On behalf of all the staff here at VPS, we would like to wish all the mums, stepmoms and grandmothers out there a 'Happy Mother's Day'. Also a Happy Mother's Day to all our teacher and SSO mums. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
Looking forward to another term of setting and achieving goals!
Learning Together, Learning For Our Future.
Warmest Regards,
Voula Pounendis
