Learning & Teaching News 

Welcome to the newest weekly addition to our Newsletter! Each week I will be writing an update about some of the learning, teaching and curriculum that is happening at St Benedict’s. Hopefully this update will further enhance our parent - student - school communication and connection. Effective parent-school partnerships are one of the best ways to support children’s learning, development and wellbeing. I hope some of the information in these updates helps you feel more informed and connected to your child’s education. 

Early Years Testing (Prep-Year 2)

You may have noticed that teachers in Prep - Year 1 are being released from class over the next few weeks to complete ‘Early Years Testing.’ This is a Townsville Catholic Education Diocesan wide initiative to help our teachers know their learners and further progress their learning. The Early Years test has been developed through consultation with our Townsville Catholic Education Speech Therapists and specialist teachers of literacy and numeracy.

Prep and Year 1 students are tested in a one-on-one interview with their teachers, and Year 2 students complete a test on their chromebooks as a class. Each student is tested on their literacy and numeracy capabilities. After testing, teachers meet as a cohort and with myself, and our Inclusive Education Officer (Bernie Herron) to analyse the data and decide on next steps and goals for your children. Of course, this is one test on one day and the teachers use many other forms of data collection and understanding of students to know the children as a whole. 

The Early Years Testing, however, is a valuable way to test our Prep-Year 2 students in a standardised way so we can assist each one of our students progress where they need to. Students will be tested again later in the year to compare data and identify learning progress. If you are discussing the testing with your children please keep the discussion light hearted and encourage your child to just try their best. Tests are used to help our teachers know and understand students so they know where specifically to prioritise their teaching, they are not meant to be scary :) 

Planning Days

Every term teachers’ have a planning day with me and their year level colleagues to plan for the following term. Planning Days are usually on a Friday and all the year level teachers will be released from class on the same day. Planning Days are such a valuable time where cohort teachers can spend time collaboratively reflecting, debriefing, evaluating, and planning to meet our students' needs. 

Writing Competition

I look forward to discussing more about our school’s learning and teaching throughout the year. 

Yours in Learning, 

Aleesha Rockemer 

(Learning and Teaching Adviser)