Dear Nativity Community

Welcome to the school year! The beginning of any school year brings about many new things… new shoes, pencils, books, friends, lunch boxes, classrooms, teachers, and new possibilities. This year we have many new students and their families who have joined our Nativity community. I would like to extend my welcome to all of these people.

New experiences and opportunities can bring a variety of feelings; excitement, anticipation, wonder and worry, all of which are normal experiences to have. Staff were lucky to spend a morning with Madhavi Nawana Parker prior to the children returning to school where we spent time discussing wellbeing and feelings and what supports we can put in place. Other professional development that our staff have already undertaken this year have been Literacy Pro and Reading, The Writing Revolution and Student Agency. Staff look forward to continuing our work in these domains.

Erika’s principal report for the AGM provided a snapshot of the outstanding work completed by our staff and students last year, for which I extend my gratitude to the staff and students for their dedication to the work that was carried out last year. It was wonderful to see parents attend our recent parent information sessions and the AGM. Such participation allows families to gain insights into school activities.

Initial Lit
This year we have added to the MultiLit suite that we use at Nativity by adding the SpellEx spelling program for our Year 3 and 4 classes. In addition to the MultiLit Spelling programs that our class teachers provide from Reception – Year 4 we provide the following Multi lit intervention groups: SAGE Initial lit, Initial lit and Macq Lit to students who require literacy intervention. Class teachers will carry out assessments to see if your child would benefit from this intervention parents will be notified by class teachers.

NAPLAN
Looking ahead, our year 3 and 5 will undertake the annual NAPLAN assessment in March. NAPLAN includes four different tests including writing, reading, conventions of grammar, and numeracy. The official testing window beginning on Wednesday March 12th. If parents have any questions about this, I encourage you to speak to your child’s class teacher or myself. More information will be shared with Year 3 and 5 families in the coming weeks.

Premiers Rading Challenge
Students are encouraged to participate in the Premier’s Reading Challenge, with Reception-Year 2 completing the reading challenge in class and Year 3-6 at home. At the wellbeing meetings this week we were reminded of the heard importance of children reading every day and the difference that reading daily can make to a child’s development.

Nativity Nest Playgroup
We are also excited to announce that our Nativity Nest Playgroup is now offering a second session on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9 am, featuring a Speech Therapist every second Thursday to support language development.

Personalised Plans for Learning (PPL’s)
We know that some students require a slightly different approach to support them to be successful and thriving learners. To support this, teachers prepare Personalised Plans for Learning (PPL’s) which they work with families to establish what learning and adjustments need to be made for a student to be successful. Should your child need a personalised plan, class teachers will organise a meeting to discuss your child’s goals and have these collaborative documents signed in the coming weeks.

As you walk through the classrooms, you can hear the excitement of the beginning of this new school year and see the active learning taking place from either students in their first year at school, the years in between or their final year at Nativity. It has been exciting to see and hear the buzz of excitement and joy for learning in all classes and I look forward to continuing to share information about our learning with you. I would like to end with this quote from Mary MacKillop…
“Find happiness in making others happy.”

Kind regards
Melinda James