Teaching and Learning News
Report Cards
By now you would have received your child’s report card. A student who receives a C grade has typically shown their year level achievement and the teacher has sufficient evidence of learning to assign the overall grade for that learning area. An example of the 'C' definition is below:
Evidence of the student's work typically demonstrates that the student has the targeted knowledge and
- expected conceptual understanding
- expected application of skills
- they are able to transfer the above to familiar situations
Therefore, the 'C' result in any learning area subject is the expected result. For further clarification, the following list provides definitions of other key terms you will read in the report card:
Evidence- a range of information that teachers collect including data, work samples, digital media, teacher notes, formal assessment tasks.
Typically- allows for those students who may not have displayed this during a particular assessment task, but it is evident in their work with the frequency required within this grade. There are a range of opportunities provided to demonstrate student learning to obtain the reported grade and is not limited to one test or one assignment.
Conceptual Understanding- a connected web of knowledge, rich in relationships and understanding and must be learned by thoughtful, mental activity.
Sophistication- employing advanced or refined concepts.
Skills- these are often what students need to be able to do, for example, creating texts, asking questions, re-reading and editing, summarising, counting etc.
Transfer- the ability of a student to take their current knowledge, skills and understandings and apply this into a new scenario and/or different context; the ability to think about their thinking (metacognition) and reflect on their learning and understanding.
If you would like any further clarification around your child’s report card, please arrange a mutually convenient time to meet with your teacher.
ICAS Assessment
Our school will be offering the opportunity for your child in Year 4- 6 to participate in the ICAS Assessments this year. ICAS is developed by UNSW Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of New South Wales, with over 35 years’ experience in educational assessments.
ICAS is designed to target students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.
The assessments are suitable for students who are already achieving academically and would like to take up the personal challenge of participating in a demanding competition.
Students from Year 4- 6 can participate in this test. All ICAS Assessments will be conducted by the students online here at the school. ICAS testing will occur in August.
If you would like your child to participate, you will need to register and pay by the Sunday 25 July using the details provided below. The cost of the Writing Test is $21.45 while all the other tests are $17.05. You can decide which tests you would like your child to do.
Once registered, ICAS will provide details of the students registered to sit the tests. Further details will be provided to the parents and students regarding exam dates and the relevant equipment required to successfully complete the tests.
Registration and Payment details:
- Visit https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps
- Enter the School Access Code: SPA483
- Follow the prompts to register your child and select the relevant tests.
- Pay for the test use the secure platform.
Kind regards
Miranda