To all our Mothers and Grandmothers we hope you had a lovely day with your families yesterday.

Many thanks to our Parents and Friends Committee in particular Abbey Walters and the OLSH students who organised and sold the gifts for the mother’s day stall. It was lovely to see the students excited about purchasing a gift to give to their mum.  

Thank you to Highett Florist for supplying the school with flowers that were given to our mums last Thursday.

Naplan

Year 3 and year 5 students will participate in Naplan assessments this week.

Tuesday 11 May-Language Conventions and Writing

Wednesday 12 May- Reading

Thursday 13 May- Mathematics

Students have participated in a number of practice assessments in class and are well prepared to undertake assessments. Parents and schools will receive the results of assessments early in term 3.

Helping students get ready for the NAPLAN tests 

By Michael Grose

As a parent it helps your child, if you take a positive view of the NAPLAN tests. It’s better to see them as learning opportunities for children as well as opportunities to overcome any anxieties or nerves that these tests may bring on. It’s also worth remembering that many children don’t stress over these tests. The vast majority take them in their stride, wondering what all the fuss is about. 

Whether your child stresses or takes them in his stride here are some tips to help prepare for the NAPLAN tests: 

1 Take your cues from your child:
If your child doesn’t worry about them then neither should you. Be careful not to create a problem that doesn’t exist by incessantly talking about, or worse, worrying about the test. 

2 Focus on doing their best and trying hard: 

Choose your words carefully when you speak with your kids. As with all their learning activities place your focus squarely on effort rather than results. The only pressure on kids should be to try hard rather than to do well. 

3 Listen to any concerns they have: If your child confesses to some nerves then validate their feelings, rather than shut them down with a ‘get over it’ response. “Yes, sometimes tests can be a little scary, but they get easier every time you take them.” Use this as an opportunity to develop some emotional smarts, which starts with recognising how kids feel. 

4 Give them some relaxation ideas: Anxious or nervous kids will benefit from some simple relaxation strategies. Taking some deep breaths, changing their thinking and exercising the morning of the test are some simple ways to help kids get some feeling of control. 

5 Help them retain their perspective: One way to help children who become excessively anxious about an event is to ask what’s the worst thing that could happen? Okay, they may not do as well as they would like but the sun will still rise tomorrow, regardless of how well they do. Keeping perspective is a life skill that we all need to practise. 

A positive, caring parent attitude is one of the best gifts you can give a child when they are apprehensive or nervous about approaching any different situation whether it’s going on school camp, joining a new club or sitting a NAPLAN test. 

Michael Grose
Director Parentingideas 2014

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

The parents of students at our school who qualify for additional funding support, meet each term with classroom  teachers and our Student Diversity Teacher Carmel to plan for and monitor learning supports for their child. The school each year must take a number of steps to apply for this funding. Parents of students who meet the criteria and are eligible for funding  support in 2022 will be notified at the next Program Support Group (PSG) meeting at the end of term 2.

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about support provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019). 

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools 
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disabilities..

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

Confirmation Candidates

On Wednesday 12 May our year 6 confirmation candidates and parents  will join us at school for the Confirmation Family Workshop at 7:00pm in our library.

HOLT Cross Country

This year we have 17 students participationg in the HOLT Cross Country on Friday, 14th May. We wish them all the best and pray for good weather.