Dear Parents and Carers,

Today we were blessed with a visit from Archbishop Christopher. We attended the Chapel Mass as a whole school and then enjoyed some time with the Archbishop.

Semester Reporting - Last week Mrs Grant wrote extensively about some specific aspects of semester reporting, especially for students who have personal plans for their learning. If you didn't read this you may like to go back to that newsletter.

At St Patrick's, assessment of learning is an ongoing process. Students complete assessments regularly within the direct instruction programs of Reading Mastery, Spelling Mastery and Connecting Maths Concepts. Based on their results students may spend time on remedies to ensure they are learning and progressing.

At the end of term, students complete further assessments across all curriculum areas, to demonstrate what they have learned. Teachers use all the available data to make judgements about each students learning throughout the semester. This is translated into an A-E grade on their semester report.  Please note that a grade of C indicates a student is reaching the standard for their year level / stage.

Do your children say that their learning is repetitive? That they go over some learning each day? This is a very important part of the design of the learning programs being implemented at St Pat's, they are based on an understanding of the brain and how we learn.

Cognitive Load Theory suggests that the human brain can only process a limited amount of information at one time. When students are exposed to too much information or complex tasks beyond their current level of understanding, their cognitive load can become overwhelming, hindering their ability to learn effectively.

As educators, our goal is to manage this load by presenting information in a way that matches the cognitive abilities of our students, ensuring they can process and retain new knowledge more efficiently. By applying CLT principles in our classrooms, we aim to optimize learning experiences and support the academic growth of every student.

Thank you for your continued support as we integrate evidence-based practices like Cognitive Load Theory into our teaching strategies. 

Blessings,

Jo