NSW ELECTION DAY

The NSW State election is fast approaching, Saturday 25 March, and we are looking to run a Sausage Sizzle and Cake Stall on the day to raise a few dollars towards Reading Materials for the upper school. We are looking for volunteers to help out during the morning. A sign up request form went home last week, so if you can help out for an hour or so, please return it to school.

Of course a cake stall requires some tasty treats to tempt the voters, so maybe those who like baking can whip up some treats to sell on the day. These could be dropped off at school on Friday afternoon or at the stall on Saturday morning.

NAPLAN 

The children in Year 3 & 5 will commence their adventure into the world of NAPLAN. The dates for each of the assessments are included in the Date Claimers on the SchoolZine App and the Term Calendar and are as follows:

Wednesday 15 March:   Yrs 3 & 5 Writing

Thursday 16 March:        Writing Catch-up

Friday 17 March:              Yrs 3 & 5 Reading

Wednesday 22 March:   Yrs 3 & 5 Conventions of Language (CoL) (Spelling and Grammar)

Thursday 23 March:        Yrs 3 & 5 Numeracy

Friday 24 March:              Reading and CoL catch-up

Monday 27March:           Numeracy catch-up

It is most important that the children be resent at school on these dates. Whilst there are catch up dates provided, being present on the posted date for each assessment is preferable as it provides the most support for the children.

SUCCESSFUL FOUNDATION

This program is a very important part of the Kindergarten day and Bridie Stanger, the Education Officer for Early Learning , shares some more insights.

KINDER 2024

The Enrolment period for Kindergarten in 2024 is now open. Families looking to enrol children for 2024 should contact the office for an application pack. A gentle reminder to your friends or relatives who would be seeking Kindergarten enrolment in 2024 would be appreciated as well. Your child needs to be turning five by 31 May, 2024 to be eligible.

There will be an open afternoon for families to visit the school on Wednesday 29 March.

The first round for applications closes at the end of May.

5 Important Questions to ask your child/ren

When my children were little, and even now that they are not, it is often difficult to get any sort of detail from them about their day with the way we usually phrase our questions. The usual “How was your day?” is met with a monosyllabic response or a shrug of the shoulders. “What did you do today?” receives the same or similar response. This often ends in multiple more questions being asked, with not much more information being divulged.

So, how do we find out more without asking more? One suggestion is to try these questions instead. Have your child focus on just one aspect/subject. It may feel really ‘clunky’ and awkward at first, and your child may not have detailed answers at first, but it will become more natural over time.

1. What did you learn about today?
2. How did you do?
3. What did you do (or would you do) if you didn’t understand?
4. How can you improve on your learning?
5. What are you most proud of?

(Lyn Sharratt, 2019, Clarity: What Matters Most in Learning, Teaching and Leading, p65)

I would love to get some feedback as to how these questions were received by your child and what their responses were.