Update from Wendy First of all SCHOOL IS OPEN TOMORROW. Primary Schools are not striking as we are still in negotiations. Secondary Schools only are on strike tomorrow. Let's hope some agreement comes quickly to avert further action for primary schools. Come on Jan Tinette - we need smaller classes and more resourcing for the benefit of all our kids. There's nothing wrong with our curriculum - we just need time, and staffing to be able to work with ALL children in smaller group settings and one to one!
We had a lot of success at the UC Zone Athletics last week and tomorrow, weather pending, we have 39 athletes taking part in the main COPSSA event. Good luck everyone.
Pod 7 had a fabulous trip to Arrowtown yesterday. The children and teachers have been buzzing about the experience they had within different parts of the Museum complex. Many thanks to the fabulous group of parents who helped transport and support groups on the day. You are all TUMEKE! I am sure that lots of learning about our NZ History took place.
On Wednesday 23rd March, our Physical Activity Leaders (PALs) took part in some training for their role as facilitators of games and activities out in the playground at play and lunchtimes. See more info about this and photos below.
Pod 3 shared their learning for the term at their assembly last Thursday 24th, and what a great job they did for Year 2 students. I loved the awesome public speaking and confidence of our tamariki.
The NZ ballet worked with our Year 3 and 4 students in ballet workshops - the children participated in these so enthusiastically and gee they were cute executing some quite demanding ballet moves that caused me, who stupidly gave it a go, to limp most of the weekend!
And Friday afternoon last week was a blaze of colour and activity as the Tribes got into action around our PB4L protocols and expectations. Photos and a blurb are also included below.
Progress and Achievement Tests (PATs) New Zealand teachers use a variety of tests to determine what level students are at, what progress they are making, and where they may need extra help. Progressive Achievement Tests, commonly known as PATs, are one of the main sets of tests schools use. PATs are multiple-choice tests designed to help teachers determine achievement levels of students in Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary and Mathematics. The test results help teachers decide what kinds of teaching materials are needed and which methods or programmes are most suitable for their students. PATs are also important because they identify the progress a student is making from year to year. All PATs are available as online tests. Schools can also buy printed PATs from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), an independent research organisation which first developed the tests more than 30 years ago. PAT: Reading Comprehension assesses how well Year 4 to 10 students understand the text they are reading. Each test is organised around several extended pieces of writing which include stories, poems, reports and explanations. PAT: Reading Vocabulary assesses Year 4 to 10 students’ ability to understand the words they read. Each question is based around a key word that is embedded in a short sentence. Students are asked to choose a synonym that best represents the meaning of this word from a list of five possible alternatives. PAT: Listening Comprehension measures Year 3 to 10 students' ability to understand spoken material. Students listen to a passage and then answer questions. It helps teachers detect children with poor listening skills and is also useful in identifying those children whose listening comprehension performance is significantly different from their ability to comprehend written material. PAT: Mathematics covers number knowledge, number strategies, algebra, geometry and measurement, and statistics. PAT: Mathematics is for Years 4 to 10, but there is an additional, slightly easier test aimed at Year 4 which some schools choose to use in Year 3.
We have now completed our PAT (Progress and Achievement Tests) in Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary and Mathematics. We do these every year mid term 1. The results were collated and analysed over the last week or so and Kerry presented an achievement report to the Board last night. We are so delighted with the results which show we have maintained our high standards in these tests, even after a very disrupted 2 or 3 years with Covid.
The graph below shows the curve of distribution to be used to see how our school compares to national data from these tests. Compare these to the graphs below and you will see our results are very pleasing.
The graph showing achievement nationally on these normed tests
Here are the graphs showing the results for Wānaka Primary School students. The red line indicates the national norm. For the listening comprehension (Year 3-6) we have 92% achieving at or above the national norm of 77%. For Reading Vocabulary (Year 4-6) we have 91% achieving at or above the national norm. We have 93% achieving at or above the national norm in Reading Comprehension. We have 90% achieving at or above the national norm in mathematics. We will include the full report with year level, gender and ethnicity breakdowns on our website next term. I will notify you in a newsletter when this has been uploaded. You can find out more about a child's individual results in these tests from your classroom teacher. | 