The NAPLAN Test will go ahead at our school during the week of May 9 to 13.
This does not mean we accept the publication of League tables as reported in the press. In fact we consider them to be destructive and misleading.
The staff believe our core business is the education of children. We have invested 100’s of hours in training and developing our new staff, resources and literacy program. We are a proud dedicated group of professionals who want to make a difference to the learning of the children in our care.
We have nurtured our students’ learning. We have small groups operating in each class to personalise our students’ education, enabling diagnosis and remediation to occur immediately thus giving the best chance of succeeding in a world which sadly reveres test results beyond the more important aspects of the curriculum.
We have worked too hard not to see the results of our labour, even if based on one test on one day. The test can actually provide a wealth of valuable information if used in an educationally sound way.
Do you know engaging, enrichment activities, sport and art have a greater impact on students’ level of achievement than any rote chalk and talk based learning?
Our parents are welcome in our school anytime and we openly share what we are doing through the school blog. Our school is an active, vibrant, caring, learning rich environment and this is recorded for all to see on this blog.
The 2010 NAPLAN will provide us with a measure of learning growth that will show the quality of teaching in our school and provide data which we can share and celebrate with our community.
At our school we will be having Parent / Student /Teacher Interviews during the week before the NAPLAN Tests to explain to our parents where their children are now and the kind of results to expect of them from the NAPLAN Test. Parents will talk with the teacher and their child and go through a portfolio of work samples to give a clear and authentic picture of what the child can do.
We will also have Parent / Student / Teacher Interviews after the NAPLAN results in Term 3 or 4. This will enable clarification of results and the answering of any questions that might arise. At this time the parent will talk with the teacher and their child and go through the portfolio of work samples to see what the child can do and how this has developed and changed since the Term 2 interview.
In our school’s case it will be excellent to have included on MYSCHOOL Website: financial information that fills in a vital part of the picture – the resources each school has available to enable them to do their work — Michael Coutts Trotter NSW DET Dir. General.
Do you realise our school gets no extra assistance at all? Whereas other schools in our local area are receiving 100’s of 1000’s of dollars to raise their results.
We OPPOSE LEAGUE TABLES.
We will share our results with our school community through explanation, reasoning and by providing superior alternative options to the one size fits all mindset promoted by NAPLAN.