Middle Leader News

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

STEM News

'Drones, Machine Vision & AI' 8 Week STEM Program

Our 'Drones, Machine Vision & Artificial Intelligence' Program will inspire your child to learn how drones are used in the real-world hands-on through ag-tech innovations and applications! This will be an immersive 8 week afternoon program that will engage students through a number of drone pilot and programming challenges, as well as the opportunity to deep dive into machine vision and artificial intelligence to develop algorithms to solve real-world problems! Designed by engineers to inspire students towards exploring and innovating with cutting-edge technologies, this program is one not to miss for any tech-interested student!

Key Details:
- When: Mondays, Term 3 @ 3:10 - 4:10PM      
- Dates: 25 Jul - 12 Sep (8 sessions)
- Where: St Saviours Primary                             
- Room: TBC   
- Age: Grade 3 - 6 students                            
- Restrictions: Limited spaces available (be quick or miss out!)

- Cost: $20 per session (Total: $160 - currently discounted from $224!)            
- Registration Portal: https://integratedstem.paperform.com

NAPLAN in Year 3 and 5

It has been affirming to see how the students in Year 3 and 5 have applied themselves in their NAPLAN tests over the past few weeks. When speaking with the classroom teachers, they commented on how their students showed great focus, managed their time well and when faced with a challenging question, persisted and used a number of strategies to help with their thinking.

Prior to the tests, I was working in all of the Year 3 and 5 classrooms. We discussed various strategies and collectively came up with some ideas on how to best approach a tricky question. Over several weeks, we focussed on spelling, grammar, punctuation and writing. We also worked together on the vocabulary of the test, so they were familiar with the language they’d find within the questions. Finally, we analysed writing samples that had been produced by children in past years, using the marking criteria so the students could gain clarity around how to be better writers.

I think what stood out to me most while I was working with the students was that even though we were learning skills that better prepared them for NAPLAN, we were actually learning important skills that will support them in learning well beyond a test at a certain point of time.

I’d like to thank the Year 3 and 5 teachers for warmly welcoming me into their classrooms. It has been an absolute delight working with my colleagues and watching the students grow in confidence in their ability to develop skills and strategies independently to be the best learners they can be. My hope is that what we’ve learnt together supports our students well beyond the NAPLAN tests

Enjoy your week!

Warm Regards

Nicki Prentice