Welcome back for the third term, with longer days and warmer weather (hopefully). Students have returned with tales of holidays, and new haircuts, many are considerably taller. Our school website was updated at the end of last term, and we will ensure that the calendar is as up-to-date as possible.
Connect notices will also be kept to a minimum with a fortnightly newsletter sent out on Fridays.
Staffing
Megan Burke has joined the staff, replacing Mr Townsend who is taking six months’ leave. Megan is excited about working with the Year 5 students. I welcome Megan to the School Community and look forward to working with her.
NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and is the only nationwide assessment that all Australian children undertake. It’s a measure to see whether young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.
Individual NAPLAN reports will be sent home for students in Years 3 and 5 next week. In 2023, new standards were introduced to NAPLAN reporting. This reporting replaces the previous numerical NAPLAN reporting bands and national minimum standards.
Proficiency standards provide clear information on student achievement. There are four proficiency standards:
· Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing
· Strong: The student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
· Developing: The student’s results indicate that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
· Needs additional support: The student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.
The overall school performance will be analysed over the next few weeks and be presented to the School Board and included in the Annual Report. NAPLAN results are only one aspect of our school’s assessment and reporting process. We have extensive, ongoing assessments of student performance that provide a clear insight into the needs of our students.
We are planning an evening on Wednesday, August 16th for all interested parents to share the assessment and reporting processes in place at Richmond and importantly how the data is used to inform school planning.
Parent Interviews & Curriculum Letters
The Curriculum letters were initiated to ensure that there is a consistent approach to communicating the term ahead to parents.
Information will be sent out by teachers outlining planning for the third term and key dates for the term.
There will also be an opportunity to make time to request meetings with teachers to discuss your child’s progress. Many parents have already taken the opportunity to arrange meetings throughout the first semester.
New Requirements for Parent/Caregiver Volunteers at School.
We thank all our parents who generously volunteer their time and energy to support our school community. There are some changes to the Working with Children Check policy, to ensure the safety of children when we have volunteers in the school.
If you would like to volunteer at our school, you will need to sign a ‘Parent and child volunteer declaration form’.
You cannot volunteer if you have a current Working with Children Negative Notice or Interim Negative Notice.
One copy has been given to child family representative and an electronic copy will be sent with your child’s class Connect Notice. We will also have copies available to sign at the front office.
A new declaration will be required each year. In future, we will send out the declaration forms at the beginning of each year.
These changes affect parents who are engaged in volunteer work. For example, you are considered a volunteer when you assist with activities such as reading sessions, day excursions, canteen duties, helping at a sports carnival or carrying out P&C duties.
You are not a volunteer when:
- picking up and dropping off your child
- observing events like school assemblies
- attending parent and teacher interviews
- visiting the uniform shop.
If your circumstances change, and you are issued with a Negative Notice or Interim Negative Notice after completing the ‘Parent and child volunteer declaration form’, you must advise the principal.
A current Working with Children Check is required by all other family members and friends over 18 years of age who want to volunteer.
It is a collective responsibility to ensure the safety of our children. We appreciate your ongoing support and dedication to our school community.
Workplace Learning
For several years, we have been very fortunate to have students in work placements from Leeming Senior High School Education Support Centre work in our school canteen each Wednesday.
We strongly believe that this is of great value to everyone. Embracing diversity further develops a culture of empathy and understanding, and supporting individuals with disabilities helps to break down stereotypes promoting a more tolerant and accepting society.
If you believe that your business or a business that you know of would benefit from having neurodiverse students in their workplace. Please contact sarah.lomax@education.wa.edu.au
Sarah is the Workplace Learning Co-ordinator at Leeming Senior High School Education Support Centre.
Richmond’s War Against Waste
Waste-Free Proposal Trial
We are proposing to further reduce the carbon footprint for the school. We would encourage for people to take any waste back home with them to recycle. This would greatly reduce the rubbish around the school and teach kids how much packaging is put in foods. We are getting contamination with our FOGO bins; too many people are carelessly dumping stuff in one bin. Children will take their waste home on Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s however on canteen days, the school will provide bins for canteen rubbish. We believe that we are a FOGO school, but our peers aren’t representing that properly. Let’s try to become waste free!
-Environment Team-
YOUR CANTEEN NEEDS YOU!
❤️
Volunteers are the heart of the Canteen &
are crucial to keep our kids’ tummies
full of homemade, yummy, good food!
Ros would be lost with volunteers so please
keep an eye out for the Term 3 Canteen Roster &
let your Class Rep know if you or any family member
are able to help out!
Free lunch for your kids on the day you volunteer❣️
From the P&C
We would love to see many parents at the next P&C Meeting!
When: 25th July 2023
Where: The School Library
Time: @ 6pm
Come along, join us for wine & nibbles, & hear about the events that the P&C are planning for Terms 3 & 4!
Richmond’s Got Talent needs volunteers!
RGT is running this term with the support of the parent/guardian community. Volunteers will be essential to help supervise the Student Councillors through the audition and judging process. You can do one session or many!
Send an email to volunteer: Please send your availability to Lara, advising if you could assist on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays in weeks 3-6 in a 1:05 – 2pm timeslot. If you have a child auditioning in the junior school (years 1-3) or senior school (years 4-6), please note this in your email. We will ensure you are not scheduled to supervise your own child’s audition session.
The Great Book Swap
Thank you to Mrs Bockman for organising this fantastic event and to everyone who took part. Richmond PS will be donating $217.00 to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
100 Days
Today the Pre-primary and Year 1 classes celebrated ‘100 Days of School’. A significant milestone for the first years of school! The day is a celebration of friendship, resilience, perseverance, and learning. The children were enthusiastic participants in a variety of activities including science(cooking), design and technology (towers using 100 cups), numeracy (groups of 10), literacy (writing/reading), art (drawing/painting/cutting/creating) and music (songs about 100). It was a fabulous way to start term 3.
CHESS Competition
Today we watched our Chess Club Finalists compete. Thank you to our Chaplain – Jason for organising this competition. Congratulations Iris, on winning the 2023 Chess Club Championship and London for being such great competition.
