Typing Tournament

The school, across K-6, is subscribed to Typing Tournament. By completing fun quests, this resource is used to teach students how to type using all 10 fingers. We know that typing is a life skill that students require, even at this early age. With NAPLAN moving online as well as other assessments, typing skills should not have to be a barrier to their level of achievement. St Joseph’s is a Bring Your Own Device school for students in Years 4-6 and typing skills are needed across all subject areas. This resource is used as a lesson break at school however, if the opportunity arises, we encourage students to complete more activities at home. Students have been given information with their username and password at school. Maybe there are a couple of times during the week where students can practise at home? For more information, click here.

Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL)

Students are very much engaged with the Dash tokens. A member of the Student Council reported during the week how it is great that their positive behaviour is being acknowledged. It is wonderful to see the PBL containers in the COLA 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 Blue Sports Colour House for achieving the most tokens in the first half of this term! Students in this sports house have enjoyed an out of uniform day. Please see photos from this special reward below.

Our focus this 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.

NAPLAN 2021

All schools are required to participate in a national NAPLAN ONLINE Practice Test during the NSW Test preferred dates of 23 March – 26 March 2021 (Term 1, Week 9). This will take the form of two tests, an Omnibus and Writing (Year 3 will participate the omnibus only. Omnibus is a combination of Numeracy, Language Conventions and Reading).

• It is an opportunity for dioceses/schools to test their IT and support structures – i.e. a dress rehearsal for the real event.
• The window is far enough away from the real test event that any issues identified may be remediated appropriately.
• It is an opportunity for a national platform resilience test.
• The practice test provides a good opportunity for students to familiarise themselves with the test platform.

Parents are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the online test item forms prior to the tests on the ACARA NAPLAN Public Demonstration Site. The site provides the opportunity to engage with the variety of question types and the location of on-screen tools. Students can gain an authentic test experience through the training exercises accessed through the Assessform Platform.

NAPLAN testing fortnight for 2021 is the 11^th - 21^st May.