From The Leaders
God wants you to never plant hatred and revenge towards those who have done wrong against you.
We are excited to be having parents join us to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. Pancakes were an easy and quick way to use up dairy goods before the beginning of Lent (from back in the days when all animal products were forfeited during Lent). Somewhere along the line, someone attached special significance to the ingredients: eggs represent creation; flour, human work; salt, wholesomeness; and milk for purity.
Ash Wednesday dates back to the 11th century. Yet, the tradition of receiving ashes has even earlier roots — to the ancient Hebrew custom of clothing oneself in sackcloth and dusting oneself with ashes as a sign of penance. This week we will be participating in an Ash Wednesday Prayer Service encouraging all in our community to follow the steps of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
We are grateful to Father Prodencio for celebrating Mass with our Year Five students yesterday. His message was for them to make this year memorable by showing love to others in the St Agnes’ family and their own.
Year Four look forward to having family members join them at 10:15am next Thursday at Christ the King Chapel for their celebration.
Over the course of the week you should have received some information in your child’s Seesaw about ways that you can support your child with Mathematics at home. Please know that this information is not designed to tell you if your child is having difficulty, it is designed to give you supports and strategies to help at home. In the same way, the MAI tells us as teachers what the next learning points are for each child and how to help them develop their skills. If your child’s class teacher has any concerns about your child, they will contact you via phone or arrange an appointment.
K-2 New Curriculum Update
Have you heard your child talking about ‘Component A or Component B’ in their English learning. The children are referring to their instructional groups for English. We will continue to share more information about the learning as it progresses. We will include some photos next week of our work in K-2 English. We are so proud of all of the students as they adjust to the new style of learning.
Reading Update
As we continue to update parents on changes to home reading, all K-2 families will receive a bookmark and some information about home reading during their Family Sharing Time next week. Stay tuned for some invites to some learning sessions at school.
NAPLAN Reminder
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Each year students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
From 2023, NAPLAN is moving to Term 1 and will take place from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March. The reason for this change is so that results can be returned to schools earlier in the year which will support teachers to understand the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.
NAPLAN tests are just one part of our school learning assessment program and questions are primarily based on knowledge, understanding and skills gained from the prior year of schooling.
In preparation for NAPLAN 2023, our school will undertake activities to help students to become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked. At school we speak very positively about NAPLAN, reassuring and preparing the children for the assessments.
Students and parents can access the public demonstration site https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN and the types of questions and tools available. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended.
If you have any questions or concerns about NAPLAN or your child participating in the assessments, please contact your child’s teacher or Kate de Bressac.
