Semester 2 Reports: Student academic reports for Kindergarten to Year 6 will be available on Compass on Friday, 13th December. A notification will be sent through Compass once the reports are visible on your child’s profile.

The Semester 2 reports for Years 1-6 provide a reflection of each student’s achievement levels, assessing their knowledge and skills against the NSW syllabus outcomes. Grades are assigned using the Common Grade Scale. Please note that a C grade indicates a sound level of achievement, meaning the student is meeting the expected outcomes. Descriptions of the Common Grade Scale are provided below for your reference.

Kindergarten students will receive an ungraded report that demonstrates their learning through the descriptors: Basic, Sound, and Thorough. This approach highlights their progress and achievements in all Key Learning Areas. 

Optional Parent Teacher Interviews: In Week 10 optional parent-teacher interviews will be offered for any parents wishing to discuss their child’s report. If you wish to book an appointment to meet with your child’s classroom teacher, please contact them via the school email: info@smtdow.catholic.edu.au

Kindergarten 2025: In preparation for Kindergarten 2025, we have thoroughly enjoyed six delightful playgroup sessions filled with laughter, creativity, and budding friendships. The Kindergarten 2025 children have embraced meeting new friends, learning to play, communicate, and share while having fun together. Each session has offered exciting opportunities for exploration, joy, and learning, all alongside their new classmates and their amazing Year 4 buddies.

Mrs. Kelly’s captivating storytime has sparked the children’s imaginations, while engaging puppet shows have brought characters to life. During art time, the children have created unique and beautiful masterpieces. They’ve also learned to listen to the Cleanup Song, eagerly packing away and taking pride in keeping their space tidy.

To further support both new and current families, we’ve hosted parent workshops facilitated by Catholic Care. These sessions, focusing on Resilience and Anxiety, have provided valuable strategies for navigating challenges that children may encounter.

We are thrilled to welcome these wonderful new students and their families to our vibrant school community in 2025.

RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS NEWS

Our SAG team have been working tirelessly in their high vis vests to find the class/classes that are following our new Respect Focus: When the whistle is about to be blown, Level zero is the tone!

We have seen a huge improvement in the way our students are lining up and getting ready for the whistle. Congratulations to the following classes: Year 1 (have won twice), Year 4 and Year 6 who have been successful in winning the reward of either a class mufti day or 15 minutes extra play.

Waste Free Wednesday update

The Waste Free Wednesday Week 4 data: 

Kinder: 88%

Year 1: 76%

Year 2: 33%

Year 3: 93%

Year 4: 60%

Year 5: 95%

Year 6: 15%

So the gold Waste Free Wednesday winners are:  Year 5

And the silver Waste Free Wednesday winners are: Year 3

Week 4 was also magic round. Congratulations to Sabrina S in Year One and Elliot O in Year 4 who were the winners of the bento boxes. 

The Waste Free Wednesday Week 5 data: 

Kindergarten: 83%

Year One: 70%

Year Two: 58%

Year Three: 79%

Year Four: 63%

Year Five: 90%

Year Six: 86%

So the Gold Waste Free Warriors for Week 5 are: Year 5

and the Silver Waste Free Warriors for Week 5  are: Year 6

Diverse Learning Update

This term, Years 3–6 teachers have embraced tiered tasks, guided by Bloom’s Taxonomy, to meet the diverse learning needs of students across various Key Learning Areas. This approach has encouraged deeper engagement with content while building critical and creative thinking skills. By offering tasks with varying levels of complexity, students have explored real-world issues, strengthened problem-solving abilities, and gained a richer understanding of their units of work.

In English, tiered tasks have supported higher-level thinking during comprehension activities linked to mentor texts. In History, students studied topics like the First Fleet, while in Science, they explored concepts such as elasticity and the Ice Age. In Religious Education, students learned about prayer and its connection to real-world issues, deepening their understanding of faith and spirituality. The flexibility of this approach has allowed students to work at their own pace, with many challenging themselves to take on more advanced tasks, fostering independence and self-directed learning.

Teachers have noted the effectiveness of tiered tasks in differentiating instruction and encouraging meaningful learning connections. Some refinements, like adding more examples or clearer instructions, have been identified, but the overall impact has been overwhelmingly positive, promoting engagement, creativity, and critical thinking.

Students have shown remarkable progress, demonstrating greater curiosity and independent thinking. Moving forward, we aim to enhance this approach by providing additional scaffolding to ensure all students are appropriately challenged and supported.

We’re excited to continue refining these practices to enrich our students’ learning experiences.

Here are some of our Year 4 students engaging in a tiered task about prayer!

Mrs Chelsea McLeod 

Diverse Learning Coordinator - High Potential and Gifted Students

Improving Writing update

Our dedicated teachers have been working diligently to enhance writing instruction across all grade levels through the use of quality literature mentor texts and the implementation of the Writer’s Workshop model. This model emphasises the writing process while fostering creativity and self-expression, especially through the use of their Writer’s Notebooks (2-6). Students are using their notebooks to record ideas, reflections, and drafts, which has led to an increased level of engagement in the writing process. One of the highlights has been the use of the Author's Chair where students share their work with peers, celebrate each other’s progress, and offer constructive feedback.In addition, teachers are focusing on strengthening sentence-level grammar skills, helping students build a solid foundation in writing mechanics.This is helping to build confidence in our young writers and inspiring a deeper connection to their work. As a collective, we have seen amazing growth from our students this term and we are excited to see how these strategies continue to support and inspire our students as they develop their writing skills. To see some fabulous writing samples from each grade click the link: 

Mrs Pamela Cheetham