Monday 14th August- Girls Regional Hockey Championships 

Tuesday 15th August - School Council meeting 6:00pm

Wednesday 16th August - Westgate District Track & Field

Friday 25th August - Prep Puppet Incursion

Wednesday 30th August - Summer Gala Day

Friday 1st September - Father's and Special Persons Day Stall

Tuesday 5th September - Grade 3 & 4 Author visit

Friday 8th September - Hoop Time Competition Grades 5/6

Tuesday 12th September - Italian Day

Amazing Fundraising Group

Who knew there were so many bogans in our community!!

A huge thank you to the entire fundraising team who created such a memorable evening, connecting our community with the added bonus of raising extra funds for our school. 

NAPLAN 2023

All students who participated in NAPLAN should have received an individual report of their results, they were sent home last week.

Last year Education ministers agreed that the timing of NAPLAN would be moved to the earlier time of March instead of May and that test results would be reported using proficiency standards.

The 4 levels of proficiency are: Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs additional support. There is a standard for each assessment area at each year level. The proficiency levels replace the previous numerical NAPLAN bands and national minimum standards. Results from 2023 cannot be directly compared to results from 2008 to 2022.  The proficiency standards are set to a challenging but reasonable level expected for students at the time of NAPLAN testing. What NAPLAN assesses has not changed.

When interpreting the NAPLAN results parents and teachers should always consider these alongside school assessments and reports. 

How well did our students perform at YWPS?

We are really proud of the efforts of our students. This is the first time our grade 3 and 5 students have had to complete the majority of the tests online.

Overall the reports indicate our students have performed very well. As a staff, we are becoming more familiar with how to read the new reports and the comparative documents shared by the department. Our students are generally performing above schools in our network and at about the same level as schools that are deemed ‘similar’ to us (eg. demographic, education level, etc). This is very pleasing.

Our staff will undertake further professional learning to better understand the student and school-level reports and how they can be used to continue to improve our teaching, learning and outcomes for our students. There will be further reporting of NAPLAN in our Annual report to the School Community later this year.

Team Kids

I’m sure many of you enjoyed a coffee before assembly on Monday. If you have any further questions please direct them to Team Kids.

Registration & Bookings

Please note, to access the TeamKids services, all families will need to re-register (for free) and book your desired sessions.

If you haven't used TeamKids before, please visit their website at www.teamkids.com.au, select the program, and follow the enrolment instructions to register your child and add your bookings.

If you have used TeamKids before, please contact their Customer Service Team, and they will link your account. You will then be able to add your desired bookings. If you have any questions, TeamKids' local Customer Service team is available to assist you. You can reach them via email at info@teamkids.com.au or by phone at 1300 035 000 (press #1).

We are excited about this new partnership and the opportunities it will provide for our students. Thank you for your cooperation and support during this transition.

Warm regards,

Sally

WE WANT OUR PARENTS / CAREGIVERS / GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents/caregivers/guardians think of our school. The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. The survey is optional but we encourage all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

A random sample of families are invited to participate in the survey.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

We will communicate the results to parents/caregivers/guardians through our annual report to the community through School Council.  Last year based on the survey results we created a new sub-committee at School Council to support communication with the community.

Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like more information.

Last week the Preps celebrated their 100^th day of Prep! Students were dressed in amazing costumes and participated in a range of activities to celebrate their 100^th day of learning. The day consisted of dancing, eating party food, parading costumes and recognising student progress. We are so proud of what they have achieved so far in their first 100 days of school and look forward to many more learning opportunities together. 

Italian News update:

Tuesday, 12^th of September: Italian Day:

Ciao!, there will be a special Italian Day on Tuesday, 12^th of September. The Italian day aims to develop students’ understanding and appreciation of the Italian language and culture, through many wonderful Italian activities and fun experiences. All students and staff may dress Italian on this day. This could include wearing the Italian flag colours of green, white and red OR students may also like to dress up as something or someone Italian such as Pinocchio, Strega Nona, an Italian cook or artist, an Italian food item (pizza or pasta), Mario, Luigi, a gondolier, soccer player, Mona Lisa, Ferrari car driver or even as an Italian monument. Students may also like to wear a mask and dress up ready to go to the famous

Venetian ‘Carnevale’ festival. You may have your ideas! It should be a great day as learning other languages can ‘…give learners the world by opening their minds to other cultures and opening doors to new possibilities’. 

More details to come soon.

Ciao, Anna

The Year 3 & 4s have been busy in the art room learning about Andy Warhol and his printing technique.  They made their own prints considering the layers of colour and design while using Gelli plates & Brayers

Before school on the 1^st of August our Grade 5/6 football team travelled to Werribee to participate in the Western Metro Regional Football Round.

We played against teams from Essendon, Gisborne and Keilor. All three games were super competitive with the team winning one game against Overnewton College but losing to two very strong teams in St Therese’s Essendon Parish and Gisborne Primary School.

The boys played three amazing games and showed respect to both the other teams and the umpires. A great day was had by all!

On a chilly winter morning, the grade fours arrived at school and were greeted by a delectable aroma. Our nostrils filled up with the rich, sweet scent, while our minds began overflowing with excitement and anticipation. What was this tantalising smell that welcomed us into our classrooms, you might be asking? Well, we were lucky enough to be a part of an experience that we won’t forget any time soon. During our literacy session, we took part in a sensory writing experience. We used our 5 senses to create a pretty spectacular Snapshot Writing piece while we admired, held, smelled and sipped our hot chocolates.  

By Charlie and Oscar 




       
 

The grade 5/6 cohort are investigating Chemical Science for their Inquiry unit this term. Their enduring understanding is, "changes to solids, liquids and gases can be reversible, irreversible and observable". Students have been undertaking weekly rotations where they complete science experiments in different classrooms. They are also doing weekly experiments at home as part of their homework, using the Scientific Method to record their predictions and observations.