School Registration
This week Mrs O'Neill has been participating in School Registration at St Vincent’s Primary School in Aranda in the ACT. Every five years,  all schools must go through a comprehensive Registration process to ensure they are compliant across all areas of the school and its governance. Alongside staff from Catholic Education, Mrs O’Neill has been reviewing the school’s documentation and interviewing students and staff.

In 2024, St Mary’s will be undergoing its own School Registration. More information will be sent home to parents at a later stage. 

Whole school Assembly 
Our next Whole School Assembly will be celebrated on Monday June 19 at 2pm in the PAC. Everyone is welcome to join us. Mrs Durnan and Mrs Devonald have been working hard with the Year 2 students to prepare them for sharing their learning. 

Parents of the students receiving Awards and Invitations to a Special Lunch for  being  ‘I am Respectful’  will be contacted in advance. On Thursday June 22, Mrs O’Neill will take the students to lunch to celebrate.

Carroll College Musical
On Tuesday June 27, all students from Year 3-6 will travel to Carroll College to attend their  School Musical ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Parents are urged to complete the permission note which will be available via Compass on Monday. If you have any difficulties with COMPASS, please contact the Front Office for support. 

For legal reasons, students without permission will need to remain at school. 

Student Reports - Semester One 2023
Recently your child/children’s teachers have been finalising students' assessments and Semester One reports. We frequently hear them talking and discussing work covered, results gained and effort applied to decide on a final grade. Reporting is not an easy process, and there is much time, thought, and deliberation put into the final result. 

We thank all staff for their commitment to ensuring that students' reports are a true and accurate reflection of their progress. We congratulate students on their hard work and to all parents on the support of their child, as individuals.

The semester reports provide a grade for learning in each Key Curriculum Area and Engagement with Learning statements. Please note this is a ‘progress report’ of your child’s learning journey and reflects the effort and commitment they have to their school work. Parents are encouraged to discuss all aspects of the report with their child. It is very important to recognise your child’s success and progress in all areas of development. 

Semester One reports will be available to you through Compass on Friday 16 June. If any parent requires a hard copy of the report, please email the front office.

Parent Teacher Meetings
Parent teacher meetings will be held in Week 9 on Monday 19 June and Tuesday 20 June for Kinder, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6. Parent teacher meetings for Year 4 will be held in Week 10 on Monday 26 June and Tuesday 27 June. This is an official meeting time set aside for you to discuss your child’s progress with the class teacher. At this meeting the teacher will also explain your child's half yearly report and how the grades are determined based on work samples and assessments. The meetings will be 10-15 mins in duration. 

Bookings for meeting times can be made through the online Compass portal. Parents have been notified via Compass that bookings are open. If you have difficulty making a booking, please email your child’s teacher or phone the front office.

Of course, parents are always welcome to make an appointment at any time throughout the year to meet with the class teacher/s, just as teachers can contact parents to organise meetings. If you are unable to attend a meeting during Week 9 and would like to discuss your child’s progress, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange another suitable time to meet. 

The booking portal on Compass will close on Sunday night 18 June.

NAPLAN 2023
As Year 3 and Year 5 parents would be aware, this year's NAPLAN assessments were administered almost two months earlier than usual. NAPLAN assessments took place in Term 1 and this change was the first indicator of other changes that have occurred within the NAPLAN process of assessment – the changes are substantial, and we urge you to read the attached information below which will explain the changes to you. At present the NAPLAN assessment results are scheduled to become available to parents in Week 1 of Term 3. Hopefully the attached document will help you to understand the assessments.

The main changes in NAPLAN reporting to school and parents, will see the proficiency standards replace the previous numerical NAPLAN reporting bands and national minimum standards. Education ministers agreed 2023 was the right time to introduce this change alongside moving NAPLAN to March. The hope is that proficiency standards provide simple and clear information on student achievement. They are set at a challenging but reasonable level expected for the child at the time of NAPLAN testing, based mainly on what has been taught in previous years of schooling.

The proficiency scale has 4 levels:

• Exceeding: The student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: The student’s result demonstrates proficiency by meeting challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing
• Developing: The student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing and are approaching proficiency.
• Needs additional support: The student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

ACARA - Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority 

Next week an important document will be sent via Compass about the process. Please take the time to read the document as it contains important information about data collection.

Below you will also find some infographics about the NCCD.

Facebook
A reminder to keep an eye on our Facebook Page. We use Facebook to share many of the fabulous things happening everyday at St Mary’s with our parents, friends, grandparents and community members. We have heard that it is especially great for grandparents who live at a distance.

Confirmation
We continue to pray for our Confirmation candidates and their families. The Year 6 teachers and Mrs Schofield have been working hard to prepare and plan the sacrament and make it very special.

All parents and friends are invited to attend the Confirmation Mass to be held in the Sacred Heart Church at 10am on Sunday June 25.

God’s blessings on you and your families