Dear Nativity Community
There continues to be many different learning experiences taking place across the school. Our Year 3 and 5 students completed NAPLAN and approached the assessments with confidence. We will communicate with families information regarding the results of NAPLAN for 2023, as they are shared with us. We have many students participating in sporting carnivals and of course we are all preparing ourselves for Holy Week.
As part of home learning we ask that all students spend time every week night reading books that are at their level. The following information gives an insight on reading in the Early years and the Upper Years.
Reading in the Early Years
Research has shown that there are six key components that contribute to a successful reading program. Because of the importance of these components, they have become known as the ‘Big Six’: oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.
At Nativity, we use the Initial Lit Program to teach the letter and sound relationship to develop student’s phonological awareness. Each day our Early Years teachers commit to teaching a structured phonics lesson focusing on the alphabetic code.
As our Reception students learn their first letters and sounds, they bring home oral language books that families can read together. These books also have suggested activities to support the early reading of these books. As the students build their letters and sound knowledge they will bring home special books called decodable books. Decodable books only contain those letter-sounds that the child has been taught and mastered from the Initial Lit program. The decodable books are designed to set our beginning readers up for success as they begin to decode simple words. A great website to access other decodable books online is
SPELD SA Phonic Readers – New Series
As students learn letters and sounds and are able to decode, they move on to selecting levelled books with the coloured dot stickers. These books have a wide range of words and sentence formations. The levelled books vary in language structures, content and genres to develop student’s vocabulary. Often these books contain words which are not easily decoded and need to be recognised by sight.
When reading with your child at home, we recommend the following strategies to set your child up for success:
• Develop a consistent routine for reading, whether it is in the morning, after school or bedtime.
• Begin with a book introduction: Look at the pictures, make some predictions about the content of the book, point out some new words to extend your child’s vocabulary.
• Encourage children to use phonics sounds and syllables to sound out unknown words, rather than guessing the words using the picture or initial letter.
• Discuss what happened in the book. Understanding the book (comprehension) is crucial when reading!
• When children are tired, or not engaged with the book, it’s ok to read the book together. Take in turns reading the pages.
• Make reading time fun! We want children to have positive experiences with books to create a love of reading.
Literacy Pro – Use with students in Years 3-6
Our students across the upper years undertake placement assessments in Scholastics Literacy Pro program. This assessment takes students through a series of multiple-choice reading questions and generate a lexile number which indicates a suitable reading range for the student. Within the Literacy Pro platform, students can nominate themes which are of interest to them and a list of recommended texts will be shared with them, taking into consideration their interests, lexile score and texts available in our school library. Students are also able to access this platform at home to help them select appropriate tests from other places such as the local public library. Once a text has been read, students then have the option of taking the associated quiz through the Literacy Pro platform which will then build their ‘words read’ total and help gauge their comprehension of the texts.
The use of Literacy Pro provides teachers with valuable information about their students reading and comprehension. This targeted approach supports our students to thrive as readers and feel confident that they are able to succeed in their literacy tasks.
If you have any questions about your child’s reading, please speak to your child’s teacher.
General Information about Personalised Plans for Learning
Over the past few weeks, teachers have worked with families where their child has been identified as requiring a Personalised Plan for Learning (PPL) in 2023.
What is Personalised Learning?
Personalised learning recognises that all learners are diverse. Every student has their own aspirations, learning needs, strengths and interests and it is the responsibility of all schools to respond to every student and their unique characteristics with high expectations for achievement. Providing personalised learning and targeted support is one way to achieve this. We want for all students to engage in all areas of the curriculum and progress their learning.
What is a Personalised Plan for Learning?
The Personalised Plan for Learning is a tool that documents and supports teachers’ response to the unique characteristics of the learner. Any adjustments that teachers make for their students to access the curriculum on the same basis as all other students (including those adjustments for intervention programs such as MiniLit and MacqLit) are documented within the PPL. The PPL is a working document that can be updated as many times as necessary throughout the year. It documents the ongoing adjustments that teachers make to support student learning and achievement.
Who needs a Personalised Plan for Learning?
The Personalised Plan for Learning is for children and young people in care and also for learners who identify as Aboriginal. PPL’s are also used to document the learning for:
• Learners with a disability
• Learners requiring intensive behaviour support
• Newly arrived learners whom English is an additional language or dialect requiring specialised language and literacy support
• Learners identified as gifted
• Learners with imputed learning difficulties who require monitoring (including those children accessing MiniLit and MacqLit).
It is a requirement that we keep records of the accommodations that we make for students. The platform for this is ‘The National Consistent Collection of Data.’ or the NCCD. Early in a child’s schooling journey, it is often unknown why the student may be a little behind in some aspects for their year level but as we know, all children develop at different rates. If the reason for slower progress is unclear, it will be recorded on the student’s PPL and in this collection as an imputed disability. This does not necessarily mean that a child has an underlying concern, but rather that you can be assured that we will be monitoring their progress closely and would let you know if we suspected they might have any underlying concerns.
Autism Acceptance Month
Autism Acceptance Month emphasizes the need for public awareness to promote acceptance, celebrate the differences, and be more inclusive towards autistic individuals around us. While these things are important all year round, April is an opportunity to further spread the message of acceptance and understanding of people diagnosed with Autism.
More than 205,000 Australians are diagnosed with autism and 1 in 4 Australians have a family member on the autism spectrum.
Autism-SA-What-is-autism-Flyer.pdf (autismsa.org.au)
Mark Le Messurier Parent Evenings – Fullarton Park Community Centre
This year the Unley Council are funding several Monday Evenings with Mark Le Messurier for parents. They are free and a wonderful opportunity.
• Mon 26th June, 7pm – What is BEHAVIOUR signalling? What can we do to SEE MORE OF THE BEHAVIOURS WE WANT?
• Mon 28th August, 7pm – The INTRIGUING ‘ART’ of HANDLING TRICKY BEHAVIOURS IN CHILDREN & TEENS
• Mon 30th October, 7pm – Who are your WISE-GUIDES? Who do you look to for guidance, support and direction? How do you TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF? Some special moments to INSPIRE YOU!
Booking is a must and I advise you get onto it quickly as these free sessions fill fast.
Bookings via email: pdale@unley.sa.gov.au or phone 8372 5180
Fullarton Park Community Centre
411 Fullarton Road
Fullarton
At Nativity, we are blessed to have so many wonderful individuals who help make our school the place it is. I would like to leave you with this thought…
“Every child is a different kind of flower, and all together make this world a beautiful garden. “ Anon
Kind regards
Melinda James
