Dear Parents, 

We have had a busy week with lots of events taking place in the last week. We started NAPLAN yesterday with our Year 3 & 5 students completed the writing test, and today they will completing the Reading test.

Like always our message to students is to try their best. I always say to the students if you can walk away and say I tried my best, that is all that any teacher or parent could ever expect from you. With NAPLAN moving online, one of the goals of this shift was to provide a tailored testing experience that allows students to demonstrate their knowledge at a level that is appropriate for them. To find out more about this testing experience watch the following clip that provides some interesting information about the tests your child may be completing. https://youtu.be/oGFseJAM3Ew

N.B  NAPLAN testing can give schools and parents some valuable data to work with, but it is important to remember that they are a snapshot in time and are not the only measure of student achievement. Please feel free to contact me if you have any issues with your child during this testing period.

Athletics Carnival

We are looking forward to an exciting carnival on Thursday. A big thank you to all our volunteers who make the carnival possible. Also a big shout out to Mr Jenkins and the Stage 2 team for their organisation of the carnival.

Open Days and Enrolment Period

We have had both of our very successful Open Days over the last two weeks with many new families coming to see our beautiful school. Even though we have conducted these days our message to parents and the broader community is; It is not too late to book a tour! Contact our office to arrange a time! 62811932 or Office.Stpandp@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Your testimonials to parents are still the number one influencing factor for parents choosing a potential school. Please continue spreading the word about our school.

A big thank you to our Year 6 leaders who have conducted numerous tours of our school in the last two weeks. We are so lucky to have such a fantastic leadership group who are extremely proud to showcase their school. Well Done!

Mother’s Day Breakfast

Thank you to the students of 5/6 Maroon and Mrs Kain for preparing such a beautiful celebration of mothers. You may have already checked out some brilliant photos on Facebook.  You will find some photographs from the breakfast at the end of this newsletter.

It was wonderful to have so many families in attendance for breakfast. We have trialled a change to arrangements this year in response to parent feedback. I hope you enjoyed the pastries on Friday. Fathers day will also be a ‘Cold Breakfast’. We will look to do a cooked breakfast biannually.

Homework Survey Results

This week I have unpacked the results of the Homework Survey and compared them to 2017 data to evaluate the effectiveness of our change to the Home Learning policy. I spoke at length to the Community Council last night and have decided to leave the policy unchanged after good feedback from parents about the change in policy which has reduced stress in the household, and has helped parents prioritise Reading and Numeracy consolidation at home, two things that are proven to positively impact student learning. Please see the results below. Our school website has more information about our Home Learning policy. https://www.stpandp.act.edu.au/home-learning

Blessings and best wishes

Sean Rutledge

Principal (Acting)