Students in Year 3 and Year 5 will be participating in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) from the 12th – 21^st March. The testing schedule has been shared with Year 3 and Year 5 parents via Compass.

NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests the skills essential for every child to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. The assessments are undertaken every year.

Excessive preparation for NAPLAN Online is not recommended. Students and parents can use the public demonstration site (ACARA NAPLAN Demonstration Site) to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and tools available in the NAPLAN Online tests. If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact your child’s teacher.

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L)

Students are very much engaged with the Dash tokens. It is wonderful to see the PB4L containers in the classrooms filling up! Students may receive tokens in class or on the playground. Staff are looking, and able to reward, for positive behaviour across all four expectations:

• Act Safely
• Be Respectful
• Care For All
• Do Your Best

Congratulations to the Gold Sports House for achieving the most tokens in the first half of this term! Students in this sports house will enjoy an out of uniform day on Monday 10March. Please ensure students wear clothing appropriate for sporting activities, especially enclosed footwear.

Our focus this coming fortnight is Care for All - Care for the place you are in. In class students are learning that by caring for the places we are in, we show love, respect, gratitude and appreciation for the gifts we have been given. Students will be focusing on looking after the environment and identifying sustainable practices at both home and school. If you have an opportunity, please discuss these concepts with your children.

Safeguarding - “It’s everybody’s responsibility”

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

March 17-23 is Neurodiversity Week. Although 15% of students are neurodivergent, many neurodivergent students struggle to be accepted, understood, and supported with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia and Tourette Syndrome.

Students who think and learn differently have many strengths and talents. Most neurodivergent students work very hard to overcome the challenges and obstacles caused by their learning differences.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week provides schools with the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the many strengths, talents, and advantages of being neurodivegent. At St Josephs’ we are continually working to create a more inclusive school environment that embraces the benefits and positive aspects of thinking and learning differently and empowers every student to reach their potential.

During this week we will be celebrating by sharing lessons and resources with our students and shining a light on all the amazing things you can achieve as a neurodivergent learner.

Parents can find more information and access resources at https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/

Parent Resources: https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/resource-hub

Source:https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/