Monica Currer, Literacy Co-ordinator

At this time of the year, teachers begin to assess what their students have learnt during the year and it is this growth in each student’s learning, that gives a sense of achievement to students, teachers and parents. The assessments we use at the end of the year are summative assessments, as they ‘sum up’ the students’ knowledge and skills. These assessments can also be used as formative assessments, in that they inform us of what students need to learn next. Assessment and monitoring of students, is of course, an ongoing process throughout the year.

In our Catholic School we have two formal designated Assessment Periods. At the moment we are beginning Assessment Period Two, which runs during October and November. All students from Foundation to Year 6 will be completing a PAT Reading (Progressive Achievement Test) and PAT Maths. These are completed online. Students in Year 2 to 6 complete a spelling assessment and a writing task. There is a full 12 months between each assessment, so we expect to see each student achieve at least 12 months’ growth.

Our Foundation, Year One and Year Two students have an individual time with their teacher to complete some reading and writing tasks. Teachers are released from their classroom to assess each student.

The Numeracy Interviews in December and the Literacy interviews in January are formative assessments, which makes them very valuable for informing us, as teacher, what each child needs to learn and therefore what we need to teach.

Numeracy Interview Dates

• Tuesday 17 December
• Wednesday 18 December
• Thursday 19 December

Literacy Interview Dates

• Tuesday 28 January
• Wednesday 29 January
• Thursday 30 January

You need to book a time for Numeracy for one day in December and on one day in January for your children.

Bookings will be made via PAM and will open on Wednesday 11 December which is the day after Orientation Day.

Please mark on your calendar the dates for these interviews as they play an important part in your children’s education and please watch future newsletters for information about booking times online.

Please contact the office or your classroom teacher if your child will be unable to attend either of these interviews.