We understand that parents like to stay connected to their child’s learning and development. Our school has enjoyed a strong focus on teaching the craft of writing over recent years, and we are proud of the progress we have made in this area. Involving parents in this improvement priority has been an important part of our work. Thank you for the role you play in supporting your child’s literacy learning.
At this time each year, teachers send home some samples of children’s writing, showing their progress over the last three terms. If your child is in Year 1-7, you can expect to see two samples of their writing from different points in the school year, collected as part of the school’s assessment schedule using the Brightpath platform. Parents of reception children will find that their child’s writing book and goals have been sent home. Accompanying these writing samples are letters with further information. Here we have included the letter for reception students and the letter for Year 1-7 students, lest they wind up at the bottom of the school bag!
We also refer you to this document for suggestions of ways you can support your child’s learning in writing. This resource has been created by staff at Unley Primary School and we encourage you to take a look.
As well as tracking children’s writing development, teachers at UPS assess students’ progress in all learning areas. As part of this, students in Year 1-7 are currently undertaking an assessment in maths and/or reading comprehension, depending on their year level. You may have heard these tests referred to as PAT tests – this is an acronym for Progressive Achievement Tests. The PAT tests are designed by ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research, to help teachers monitor students’ learning over time. Children undertake this online assessment toward the end of Term 3 each year. While these tests aren’t designed for the results to be sent home to parents, they do provide valuable information about children’s learning that teachers can talk with you about in person.
On our pupil free day at the beginning of next term, teachers will examine a range of student achievement data to gauge our progress and plan for the coming year. As well as this big-picture planning, teachers will be involved in measuring students’ learning growth; considering any trends that can be observed in class and year level data; and determining teaching points for the remainder of the term.
As always, we encourage you to get in touch with your child’s class teacher should you wish to discuss any aspect of their learning. Our leadership team also has an open-door policy, and we relish the chance to talk with parents about their child’s schooling.
On a final note, a reminder that we have recently shared some information for parents about keeping connected with your child’s learning. Click here to read these recommendations on Unley Primary School News.