Reception Mid-year intake from 2024
From 2024 there will be a Reception mid-year intake into primary school.
From 2024, if your child turns 5 years between 1 May and 31 October, they can start school in either:
- term 3 of the same year
- or term 1 the following year.
Students enrolled through a mid-year intake will complete 6 terms of reception.
At this stage we anticipate about 33 Receptions for Term 1 2024 with approximately 11 for the mid-year intake. We may be looking at starting the year with two Reception classes and a third mid-year depending on numbers and budget. I encourage families to let us know as soon as possible if they have children eligible to start school midyear in 2024.
School parking
A complaint has been made in regards to parking along Cross St. Please ensure you are adhering to the signage along that road, and not double parking or blocking residential driveways. I suspect we will be on the radar of the local parking inspector and SAPOL now so please be mindful of the expectations to avoid fines, and to ensure the safety of our families and local residents.
Progressive Assessment Testing (PAT)
The Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) are online assessments that provide diagnostic information to teachers relating to the learning strengths and needs of their students. All South Australian Department for Education students in years 3 to 10 are required to undertake PAT Reading Comprehension (PAT-R) and Maths (PAT-M) annually, with optional testing for years 1 and 2. Testing will occur from week 7 for all students in year 1-6 at Angaston Primary School.
PAT is an online assessment platform so we will have the results immediately and can therefore act on them in terms of identifying strengths and areas for additional support at an individual student level and whole school focus.
PAT Maths assesses students’ skill and understanding in multiple-choice format in six strands of Number, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Statistics and Probability as well as the mathematical processes of understanding, fluency, problem solving and reasoning.
PAT reading assesses students’ reading comprehension skills, vocabulary knowledge and spelling in multiple-choice format. These skills reflect comprehension skills described in the Australian National Curriculum for English.
Phonics Screen Check
The Phonics Screen Check is a simple formative assessment that tells us how students are progressing with phonics. It takes 5 to 7 minute per student and is compulsory for all year 1’s. The results are used for further learning and, if necessary, provide any additional support that students might require. Our Year 1 students will be tested by their class teachers (Mrs Irwin and Mrs Tempest) Thursday week 6. If students are absent they will be tested on their return to school.
Teaching and Learning
This term we are continuing our Teaching and Learning Cycle work in Writing and Big Ideas in Number. As well Teacher Clarify in terms of Learning Intentions, Success Criteria and Feedback continues to underpin classroom practice across all curriculum areas.
NAPLAN
By now all year 3 and 5 families should have received their NAPLAN results. The numerical NAPLAN bands and the national minimum standard was replaced by the following 4 levels of achievement:
- 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 result indicates 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.
Our school summary of results was pleasing with Year 3 achieving Strong in all test components (Reading, Maths, Language Conventions and Writing) at the time of testing. Year 5 students achieved Strong in Reading, Maths and Language Conventions, and Developing in Writing at the time of testing.
Pupil Free Day for students this term is Friday 1st September followed by the School Closure Day on Monday 4th September. On the Pupil Free Day we will continue our professional learning with Brightpath Writing, and in the afternoon continue to work on Formative Assessment strategies.
Parent Engagement Survey
The Department for Education coordinates an annual survey to better understand the things we’re doing well, where we can improve, and what’s important to you as a parent. The information we collect from this survey is driving change for the department.
During the week beginning Monday 31 July you should have received an email or SMS from the Parent Survey Team with a unique link to participate in the survey. I highly encourage you to complete the survey, which takes less than 10 minutes. Your feedback will be used locally in our school improvement planning and more broadly to inform other key initiatives to improve education in South Australia.
Your answers will not identify you or your child. Only collated feedback will be provided to our school.
If you did not receive an email or SMS please contact education.parentsurvey@sa.gov.au and include the school name in your email.
The survey closes midnight 27th August.
