Excellence in Learning
Term 2 Assembly dates
School Assemblies
Assemblies at St Michael’s are an opportunity for our community to come together to acknowledge and celebrate the great learning and events that happen in our school. The school assembly allows all students at St Michael’s to be recognised for their efforts. This term we have added an additional component to our assembly which allows one class per fortnight to share some of the brilliant learning that has been happening in their classrooms. Thank you to Miss Treble and 6W for sharing their learning at our week 2 assembly.
Week 8- Friday, 21 June (Year 1 sharing their learning)
Week 10- Friday, 5 July (Kindergarten sharing their learning)
School Garden
As a part of our initial stages of our landscaping project we now have a beautiful place on playground one for a school vegetable garden. To assist us in the design and maintenance of the garden we are looking for any parents or grandparents to help our Year 6 leaders in designing and caring for this space. If this is something of interest could you please contact the school office.
Cyber Safety
Throughout the term we will continue to provide parents with information that will support our school cyber safety messages at home. All information in these excerpts will be based on the information provided from the esafety government initiative that aims to support all Australians in accessing the digital world in a safe and positive way. The link below is a great way for parents to explore strategies to support the safe use of technology with their children at home. I highly recommend accessing this content to develop a range of skills and strategies to assist your children with developing safe practices when using technology in all environments.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/iparent
Fact: On average, outside of school, 10 to 14 year olds spend 23 hours online per week.
- Try to encourage positive screen time, like content that you can view and enjoy together. Discourage anything that is overly aggressive or disrespectful
- Negotiate key rules together, such as when screens can be on and when they need to be turned off. Young teens are likely to respond better to rules that they’ve contributed to and see as being fair and consistent.
- Agree ahead of time on the rules and strategies to get your child to switch off from the screen. With gaming, think about a timer that signals that game time is nearly over and be clear about the consequences for not switching off.
Reports
Reports will be sent home this term on Friday, 28 June. Parent Teacher Interviews will begin Monday, 1 July.
Parent teacher interviews and student conferences
Parent Teacher Interviews and student led conferences for Semester 1 will be held during Week 10 this term
(Monday 1 July – Thursday, 4 July 2019). The interview timetable is now open for parents to book a date and time. Interviews are scheduled at 15 minute intervals and we ask that if your child is in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6, they attend the interview with you (students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 do not attend the interview). If you do not have access to the internet please contact the school office for assistance on 4267 2560.
BOOKINGS CLOSE WEDNESDAY, 26 JUNE 2019
Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au enter this school event code then follow 3 simple steps:
Parents can change their interview bookings, any time prior to the closing date, by re-visiting the www.schoolinterviews.com.au website using the event code. Remember to use the same name and email address you used when you made your original booking. Parents wishing to change their interview times after the closing date should contact the school directly.
How to read my child’s Academic Report
Reports are written in line with the requirements of the new NSW K-10 syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics and Science. In addition, St Michael’s follows Diocesan guidelines in the writing of reports. Grades are awarded to students following the Common Grade Scale. At the Parent Teacher Interview your child’s class teacher will be able to explain how the grade awarded reflects the level of work your child is currently demonstrating. It is a requirement of national legislation for primary schools to provide twice-yearly written reports for students in Years 1 - 6 to parents for ten years of schooling. These reports are to be standards-referenced which in NSW means reporting based on the Common Grade Scale. Standards-referenced reporting requires teachers to consider the performance of each student according to the standard detailed at each level (A-E) of the Common Grade Scale for each Key Learning Area (KLA). Students are then awarded a grade based on the evidence teachers have of their learning in that particular KLA and the standard it reflects. According to the Common Grade Scale a ‘C’ grade is considered sound. That is, if awarded a C in a particular KLA the student has demonstrated that they have gained the knowledge, skills and understanding expected of them at that point in time. Some features of the report include: Overall grades Each KLA has an overall grade that is determined by the teacher by considering the evidence of each student’s learning and the standard on the Common Grade Scale it reflects. Overall grades are not determined by averaging performance on strands within a KLA. In many cases more time has been dedicated to learning in one strand over others and this contributes significantly to the balanced judgement a teacher is required to make in order to award an overall grade. It is not unusual for a student’s overall grade to change from one reporting period to the next as the knowledge, skills and understanding they encounter in each KLA will vary from one reporting period to the next.
Showcase of learning
Throughout 2018 and 2019 we have invested in a great deal of professional learning and have witnessed the vast positive impact this has had on the learning of our students. To share this with you we will be incorporating a showcase in each newsletter to provide a quick snapshot of this learning in action.
Year 2
Year 4Blue - An Orientation on an Imaginative Text
A Watery World
There I was lonely and lost sitting at the bottom of the bluey green plant thriving Great Barrier Reef. I had no friends at this trashy rubbish dump except for the bright coloured angel fish who just swim lazily in circles around me. I don't know how I Johnny got here in the middle of the ocean. I don't have any sort of memory. I'm starting to lose air in here, what was happening. Then Oh no I knew this was going to happen to me eventually. Then I grew a fish body and fish lips......
