Our recent professional learning (PL) that all staff attended was titled Faith in Learning. We were fortunate enough to have external presenters such as Lorraine Hammond, Pamela Snow, Nathaniel Swain, Tim McDonald and Ollie Lovell just to name a few. It was an opportunity for us all here at St Thomas the Apostle, to acknowledge the impactful changes we have made over the past three years around the Science of Learning and Reading. There is no doubt in my mind that we are a Science of Learning school as we have adopted many new structures, routines and teaching programs to ensure our students have the best possible chance of success in their learning. This can be seen through such things as: 

• A K-2 implementation of Let’s Decode, a systematic synthetics phonics and reading program developed by Lorraine Hammond; 
• A 3-6 implementation in spelling using Spelling Mastery; 
• MiniLit and MacqLit as our intervention programs; 
• Content taught with consideration given to Cognitive Load Theory and 
• High Impact Teaching Practices visible in every classroom. 

All of the above got me thinking about the Science of Mathematics. Yes there is a Science of Maths! After reading an article by Brendan Lee, an advocate and supporter of the Science of Learning, it made me realise we are well and truly on this journey at St Thomas the Apostle. Our teachers do create connections for students by sequencing concepts in small steps and providing multiple models (Rosenshine, 2012; Willingham 2010). Our teachers know that productive struggle does not lead to increases in motivation or student learning outcomes (Hughes and Riccomini, 2011). We DO NOT have a “numeracy brain” and a “literacy brain”. Everything we learn requires us to make connections to existing knowledge in our long-term memory (Lee, 2023).   

We have made significant progress over the past 12 months in Mathematics. Our K-2 students are using a sequential program called Stepping Stones and our 3-6 students are using  Maths Mastery in the same way. To put the cherry on the cake CECG have partnered with OCHRE Education and Shaping Minds to develop structured sequential lessons that are grounded in the Science of Learning and Maths. I am feeling very positive that our students have access to the best possible resources and learning available. If you would like to know more about any of the above, head to these links: 

Cognitive Load Theory in Action - the Book | Ollie Lovell 

Home - Ochre Education 

Shaping Minds - Evidence-Based Teaching 

Catalyst - Catholic Education Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn : Catalyst (cg.catholic.edu.au) 

NAPLAN 

Next Wednesday, students in Year 3 and 5 will begin NAPLAN testing. On Wednesday, our students will complete the Writing and Reading component and on Thursday Conventions of Language and Numeracy will be administered. On Friday and the following week, catch ups will be offered for those students who are absent. NAPLAN Online allows for tailored testing. This means that students are presented with sets of questions based on their performance during the test. This model provide students with the opportunity to better demonstrate their range of literacy and numeracy skills and it is more engaging for students. Further information explaining tailored testing can be found at the link below.

Privacy 

The Education Directorate collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information to carry out its functions. Personal information about students and parents/carers will be used as part of NAPLAN Online testing and readiness tests. The use of this information is required for students to participate in NAPLAN testing, provide reports to parents and schools and to undertake research and compile statistics using anonymised data. More detail on how we handle your information is available in the Education Directorate Privacy Policy available at https://bit.ly/2ZYzdtn 

As part of undertaking NAPLAN Online, the Education Directorate works closely with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and Education Services Australia (ESA). ESA operates the NAPLAN Online platform which will contain personal information. ACARA will collect anonymised information about each student who takes the test online from the Education Directorate. 

Further information on how ACARA and ESA protect privacy is available through the ACARA privacy infographic https://bit.ly/3uA6YiR and ESA Privacy Policy www.esa.edu.au/other/privacy. 

I hope and trust that you all have a safe and enjoyable long weekend.  

Yours in Christ, 

Happy Birthday
to the following students and teacher
who will celebrate a birthday this week

Aidan Burston

Elijah Ferguson

Heather Quinn
Ruby Pulford
Amelia Anyon
Wilson McIntyre

Mr Luke Mooney

Tommy had a busy weekend at the coast found the biggest sandpit to play in and dug a big hole, playing in the small waves although big to him.  He met lots of other dogs down the coast. 

On Monday Tommy went and support our school netball teams on their last game for the summer season.

Love Tommy