APA News

Dear Parents

This week teachers have had the opportunity to meet collaboratively with the leadership team to discuss student learning and achievement, particularly in relation to reading.  The Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic schools unashamedly focus on the foundational importance of reading development as an access point for all learning.  With the introduction of the Diocesan Approach to Reading last year, aligning with version 9 ACARA curriculum, the way that teachers at SSPS teach reading has changed.  Some of the changes have included an explicit teaching focus and use of programs that support the ‘mechanics’ of reading, such as Decodable Readers Australia in the lower school and Jocelyn Seamer resources in the mid to upper school.  The feedback is that these approaches are having a direct, positive impact on the learning journeys of students across the school in terms of promoting growth in a systematic way.  Having received the preliminary Naplan results for our Year 3 and Year 5 students we also ascertain that the decisions we have made, and teachers have so diligently applied, are producing great results for our students.  In both the Year 3 and Year 5 cohorts in the reading domain students have done very well, with 62% of Year 5 students in the strong domain and 27% in exceeding.  Equally in Year 3, 52% of students are in the strong domain and 25% in exceeding.    

In week 10 parents will receive student report cards for Semester One. The term reports reveal how students are progressing against the Achievement Standard for that year level and learning area.  A C level grade denotes that the students have demonstrated they are meeting the expectations of the curriculum for that year level. Equally as important to the grade level achievement is the effort mark.  Not all students may receive an A standard comparative to the achievement standard; however, ALL students have an opportunity to give their best!

 Toowoomba Catholic Schools have recently completed work around defining effort criteria more clearly so that parents, students and teachers have a clear understanding of what and A-E effort mark refers to.  Please see below:

The social learnings defined by St Saviour’s Learner Qualities also give an indication of how students approach their learning in the classroom.

Stay warm this weekend!

Katie Hauser