Congratulations to Thank you to Special Thanks to Bus Travel Walking School Bus—Friday 20th May The children in Grades 3 and 5 will commence the nationwide NAPLAN as- sessments next week. NAPLAN tests skills in literacy and numeracy that are developed over time through the school curriculum. NAPLAN testing provides schools with a snapshot of student performance in reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar, and numeracy. The mate- rial is typically well-presented, well-designed and interesting for the students. The collective results from the NAPLAN allow the school to gain an indication of its strengths and weaknesses, and any trends in student learning that may be apparent over the last several years. (E.g. As a school, are we improving our Numeracy results? What are our strengths? Where do we need to focus our efforts? How much improvement are our kids making in two years? etc.) And what of its effectiveness as an assessment tool for an individual student’s performance? At Willow Grove Primary School we regard NAPLAN as one part of the assessment picture; important but no more important than the other assessment tasks completed by students throughout their time at the school. The results of these assessments are not usually made available to schools un- til the end of term three, and are therefore four months out of date by Sep- tember. For this reason, they are not particularly useful as individual reports of student progress if considered in isolation. Teachers need to use other assess- ment strategies to build a picture of each child’s progress. It’s these other formative assessment tools that provide the information teachers must have to tailor the learning program to address children’s specific needs. Willow Grove School and Community Newsletter 7TH MAY 2015 VOL 15 : ISSUE 12 DATES FOR 2015 8th May—Mother’s Day Stall 10th May—Mother’s Day 12th-14th May—NAPLAN assess- ments for Grade 3 and Grade 5 students 13th May—Parent Association Meeting 9.15am 13th-14th-15th May—Brekky Club starts 17th—22nd May—Education Week 19th-22nd May—The Island Camp—Grade 3-6 21st May —Mobile Library visit 22nd May—Grade 2 Sleepover 26th May—Cultural Perfor- mance—G’Day Asia 2nd June—Willow Grove PS Edu- cation Day (9.30-12.30pm) 4th June—Division Cross Country at Churchill 5th June—Student Free Day— Report Writing 8th June—Queen’s Birthday 9th June—Curriculum & Policy Comm Meeting 7.00pm 16th June—School Council Meet- ing 13th July—Building & Grounds Comm Meeting 7.00pm 24th Oct—Goods & Services Auction MON TUE WED THU FRI 11 12 NAPLAN 13 Brekky Club Parent Association Meeting 14 Brekky Club 15 Brekky Club 18 19 20 Brekky Club The Island Camp 21 Brekky Club Mobile Library 22 Brekky Club Grade 2 Sleepover May 2015 Find us at— www.willowgroveps.vic.edu.au Have you returned your Chaplaincy Permission? Prep School Transition Survey? ATTACHED Like us on NAPLAN News from Ann It’s not okay to be away … it’s not great to be late …
Transcript
Congratulations to
Thank you to Special Thanks to
Bus Travel Walking School Bus—Friday 20th May
The children in Grades 3 and 5 will commence the nationwide NAPLAN as-sessments next week.
NAPLAN tests skills in literacy and numeracy that are developed over time through the school curriculum.
NAPLAN testing provides schools with a snapshot of student performance in reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar, and numeracy. The mate-rial is typically well-presented, well-designed and interesting for the students. The collective results from the NAPLAN allow the school to gain an indication of its strengths and weaknesses, and any trends in student learning that may be apparent over the last several years. (E.g. As a school, are we improving our Numeracy results? What are our strengths? Where do we need to focus our efforts? How much improvement are our kids making in two years? etc.)
And what of its effectiveness as an assessment tool for an individual student’s performance? At Willow Grove Primary School we regard NAPLAN as one part of the assessment picture; important but no more important than the other assessment tasks completed by students throughout their time at the school. The results of these assessments are not usually made available to schools un-til the end of term three, and are therefore four months out of date by Sep-tember. For this reason, they are not particularly useful as individual reports of student progress if considered in isolation. Teachers need to use other assess-ment strategies to build a picture of each child’s progress. It’s these other formative assessment tools that provide the information teachers must have to tailor the learning program to address children’s specific needs.
Willow Grove School and
Community Newsletter 7 T H M A Y 2 0 1 5 V O L 1 5 : I S S U E 1 2
DATES FOR 2015
8th May—Mother’s Day Stall
10th May—Mother’s Day
12th-14th May—NAPLAN assess-
ments for Grade 3 and Grade 5
students
13th May—Parent Association
Meeting 9.15am
13th-14th-15th May—Brekky
Club starts
17th—22nd May—Education
Week
19th-22nd May—The Island
Camp—Grade 3-6
21st May —Mobile Library visit
22nd May—Grade 2 Sleepover
26th May—Cultural Perfor-
mance—G’Day Asia
2nd June—Willow Grove PS Edu-
cation Day (9.30-12.30pm)
4th June—Division Cross Country
at Churchill
5th June—Student Free Day—
Report Writing
8th June—Queen’s Birthday
9th June—Curriculum & Policy
Comm Meeting 7.00pm
16th June—School Council Meet-
ing
13th July—Building & Grounds
Comm Meeting 7.00pm
24th Oct—Goods & Services
Auction
MON TUE WED THU FRI 11
12
NAPLAN
13
Brekky Club
Parent Association
Meeting
14
Brekky Club
15
Brekky Club
18
19
20
Brekky Club
The Island Camp
21
Brekky Club
Mobile Library
22
Brekky Club
Grade 2 Sleepover
May 2015
Childcare Reference Number
407144619S
Willow Grove Primary School
Find us at—
www.willowgroveps.vic.edu.au
Have you returned your
Chaplaincy Permission?
Prep School
Transition
Survey?
ATTACHED
Like us on
NAPLAN
News from Ann
It’s not okay to be away … it’s not great to be late …
Congratulations
Happy
Birthday Rory Wilms
Ella Robinson
News from Ann
School Working Bee—Saturday
Name of children participating
_____________________________________
Days of the week (tick the days your child will be participating)
Wednesday
Thursday
Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.
Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.
Can you help?
News from Ann
Student Achievements
P A G E 2
W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R
Students also complete a range of assessments including objective Australi-an-normed tests and some online tests, the results of which are recorded
and used collectively as the basis for our reporting. To complement this testing schedule we also use a range of ongoing assessments including teacher-designed assessment tasks, as well as teacher observations to give us a comprehensive understanding of each child’s strengths and areas for improvement. It is the analysis of all of these information sets about student learning growth that provides the evidence teachers need to write your child’s student reports in June and December. What NAPLAN results may offer however, is a different perspective. The results may indi-cate a particular strength or weakness for individual students and/or cohorts. If our results were found to be in decline in numeracy or spelling, then we might need to reconsider the attention we are focussing on this area. It’s these bigger-picture trend lines that NAPLAN provides, rather than the individual results, which have the most benefit for schools. When the results are available we will be looking at our overall school performance more so than the performance of individuals. In this context, NAPLAN is a useful tool. We encourage all students to be at school on these days to undertake the tests, and most importantly, we hope they’ll be comfortable to see this experience as just one of many at school – nothing to be overly concerned about. We look forward to sharing the results and our learnings with the community later in the year. For further information you may like to visit the NAP website at www.nap.edu.au or the VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au
Our Grade 3/4/5/6 students are away on Camp during Education Week, so the
school will hold an open morning June 2nd.The children will be able to share their
learning with their special visitors on the day. Parents, grandparents and special
visitors will be welcome on that day.
Thanks to the parents who attended the Working Bee on Sunday. We achieved a great deal and it was great to see some new faces. Working Bees help us to keep the school maintained and looking neat and tidy. It is also a good way to meet oth-er families in the community. I realise that we all lead busy lives and that there are times when we can’t stretch ourselves or family any further, or we have prior com-mitments and are unable to attend, however I am always appreciative of the assis-tance that parents offer.
Thank you to Graeme and Brett Ferguson, Simon Robinson, Andrew, Carolyn, Na-than, Luke and Jacob Balfour, Tristan and Xavier Mether, Joe and Benny Plozza, Kim, Chris , Jess and Taylor Mangion, Ross, Nina and Alex Gillies, Russell Handley, Quinn Raven Handley, Rachel and Natalie Bills, Lynne Raven, Graeme, Stephanie and Bayley Paul, Emma Gramlick, Lisa and Mark Wilms.
I hope I have included everyone! My apologies if you were left out.
Working Bee Thanks
Education Week—2nd June
NAPLAN continued
Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.
Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.
Can you help?
News from Ann
P A G E 3
W I L L O W G R O V E
Name of children participating
_____________________________________
Days of the week (tick the days your child will be participating)
Wednesday
Thursday
Student
of the Week
Natalie
P.E. Award
Nina
Playground
Award
Hamish
Sorry, no photo
Steven
LOTE AWARD
Indiana
Sorry no
photo
Monday Amanda Vosper
Wednesday Robyn Garratt
Friday Kristy Mitchell
Lunch Order Roster
Check out our Facebook page for
a video created by the Grade
Prep/1 students in honour of
ANZAC day.
This term we will be looking at RESPECT
Next week we are looking at
Using Appropriate Language (eSmart focus) The words we choose to say are often determined by the environment we are in and the people to whom we are talking.
Good communicators understand that we need to choose language that is appro-priate to various situations. If you are speaking to your elderly aunt you will proba-bly choose language different from that chosen to speak to your friend. If you met the Prime Minister it might be different from meeting your cousin. Similarly the lan-guage we would choose at a football match is likely to be different to that used in a church. Being able to work out what language is appropriate in a range of circumstances is important. We need to be aware of the needs of those around us and communicate
in the best possible way. Willow Grove Kids are eSmart Kids
use appropriate e-smart language when communicating online with others
respect the privacy of others
only use their own passwords
Gabby Eaton runs our After School Care program from 3.15pm—5.30pm each weekday. After school care is available on a casual basis so long as your student is registered. Gabby runs a great program and provides each student with a healthy snack. Please support this program, it would be a shame to lose it.
Childcare Reference Number
407144619S
Willow Grove Primary School
P A G E 4
W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R
Willow Grove kids are friendly kids
After School Care
SATURDAY 24th OCTOBER
WILLOW GROVE/HILL END RECREATIONAL CLUB
Route 1 - Robyn Dureau, Kate Schultz (Coordinators)
Route 2 - Rachel Bills, Sally Alexander (Coordinators)
Jordan Garratt Charlie-Anne Garratt Harrison Schultz
Kate Wheildon Nathan Wheildon Pat Bills Natalie Bills Katie Palmer-Hull
Katie Earl Nathan Balfour Luke Balfour Jacob Balfour
Executive Positions Sub Committee Convenors
President Andrew Francis Finance Steve Powell
Vice President Andrew Balfour Policy & Curriculum Jenny Turra
Treasurer Steve Powell Building & Grounds Chris Bills
Secretary Heather Ferguson
Proposed Pre-school Orientation Program
6th December 12.30-2.00pm
10th December 9.00-1.00pm
P A G E 5
More photos on back page
Japanese Day
Chaplaincy News
W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R
Part of my role as chaplain here is to offer "pastoral care" to parents as well as the students and the staff. So Ann and I have decided that I will set aside 9-10 each morning I am at the school so you are invited and encouraged to come and talk to me down in my office in the Latrobe building.
I love listening to people's stories, and I love parents talking about their fam-ilies and their children. So please come down and talk to me. Remember I'm here on Thursdays and Fridays and alternate Wednesday's.
This does not change the fact that I am available to you at any time for a chat if the morning is not convenient or if it's an emergency. You will always find me patient and understanding and caring. Graham Jewell Chaplain Willow Grove Primary
Oat bran and apple muffins. A healthy treat the kids will love to eat and
make.
Ingredients: 1 cup oat bran cereal
1/2 cup dried fruit medley
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
3/4 cup white self-raising flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 medium apples, grated
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup skim milk
canola or olive oil spray
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Spray muffin tins lightly with oil spray.
3. Combine cereal, dried fruit and milk in a
bowl; stand for 15 minutes.
4. Combine sugar, oil, egg, apples and
cinnamon in separate bowl, stir in oat bran
mixture and sifted flours.
5. Stir with a fork until just combined. Do
not over mix.
6. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 30 to
35 minutes or until muffins are firm to touch
and golden brown.
More recipes available at:
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
Thanks to Health Promotion
Mini Banana cakes 1 cup sugar
125 g low fat sour cream
3 eggs
50 g light olive oil
2 small ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
Cooking method
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
2. Combine sugar, sour cream, eggs
and oil in a large bowl.
3. Beat well to combine. Add banana
and mix well.
4. Fold in flour. Stir until all
ingredients are well combined.
5. Spoon 1 ½ tablespoons of mixture
into patty cases on oven tray. Bake
for 10 minutes or until cooked.
Prepared by Angela Greenall
West Gippsland Healthcare Group
Turn off the TV – it makes you healthier! In February 2014, the Department of Health released the new and
updated Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. To
