This week our students will participate in the Life Education program. The program offers issue specific and age-appropriate primary school modules designed to engage, inspire and empower students. These modules are delivered face to face and cover a range of topics across the areas of physical health, safety and social and emotional wellbeing. The Life Ed program is designed to be integrated into the primary curriculum and all modules are all aligned to the New South Wales Curriculum Health, Personal Development and Physical Education Learning Areas. Topics to be covered this year are;

Kinder; My body matters

Children join Healthy Harold to learn about hygiene, healthy foods, safety and the benefits of physical activity & sleep. Explore personal hygiene, healthy food choices, the benefits of physical activity and sleep and ways to keep safe at home, school and in the community.

The module focuses on students’ ability to recognise the importance of taking care of their bodies and supports them to manage unsafe behaviours at home, school and in the community. Learning outcomes include;

• The importance of personal hygiene.
• Choosing foods for a healthy balanced diet.
• Benefits of physical activity and sleep.
• Ways to keep safe at home, school and in the community.

Year 1/2; Ready, steady, go

Focusing on the benefits of healthy eating, physical activity, how our bodies react to stressful or unsafe situations and help seeking strategies. This module examines the many dimensions of health including feelings and emotions, safe and unsafe situations and behaviours that promote nutrition and wellbeing.

Learning outcomes include;

• Identifying how our body reacts in new situations
• Benefits of physical activity
• What our body needs to be healthy including nutrition, water and sleep
• Safety strategies in different environments

Year 3/4; All systems go

The ‘All Systems Go’ module focuses on the human body; it's uniqueness and what is needed to keep it healthy. This session helps your child understand why maintaining a healthy body and brain is the key to leading an active and productive life and gives them the tools to make sure they stay healthy. Students discuss issues and engage in activities centred on:

• The impact food choices have on health and energy levels.
• The effects of second-hand smoking.
• Exploring ways to manage peer pressure.
• The function of vital organs (heart, lungs, brain, kidneys).

Year 5/6; Relate, respect, connect

Relate Respect Connect is one of Life Ed’s updated programs, this unique and contemporary learning experience explores building positive, safe and respectful relationships.

Empowering children and young people to make safe and healthier choices through education, Relate Respect Connect equips students with knowledge, skills and strategies to help them develop safe and respectful relationships - face to face and online. Learning outcomes include;

• Understanding how to respect ourselves and others.
• Strategies to help maintain positive online and offline relationships.
• Identifying characteristics of positive relationships.
• How to recognise, react and report unwanted contact, bullying or predatory behaviours.

Assessment and Reporting

At St Patrick's School, assessment and reporting about student progress and achievement occurs regularly throughout the school year.  Assessment and reporting processes play a strategic role in moving student learning forward. This week parents/cares and teachers have had an opportunity to meet and discuss their child's progress and achievement this Semester. Next Monday parents will have access to their child's Semester 2 report via COMPASS.

Assessing Learning 

Why do we assess learning?

Assessing student learning is an integral part of the school classroom. It improves learning and informs teaching. It is the process through which teachers identify, gather and interpret information about student achievement and learning in order to improve, enhance and plan for further learning. 

What learning do we assess?

The New South Wales curriculum defines the knowledge, understanding and skills that students are entitled to learn each academic year for each learning area. This in turn determines the learning intentions and the success criteria that teachers plan for their students. Teachers monitor student progress for both formative and summative assessment purposes and look for opportunities to provide and receive feedback to move learning forward.

Formative assessment (Assessment for learning)

Formative assessment allows students and teachers regular opportunities to monitor learning. Students engage in a variety of embedded formative assessment tasks so teachers can ‘check in’ on student progress regularly throughout a lesson or series of lessons. Teachers use formative assessment information to provide clear and specific feedback to each student to assist them to understand what they need to do to move their learning forward.

Summative assessment (Assessment of learning)

Teachers must also make judgements about student learning against the achievement standard for summative reporting purposes. The purpose of summative assessment, or assessment of learning, is to judge the extent and quality of student learning at a point in time. Teachers use a range of assessment tools to make summative judgements about student learning including student/teacher consultation, focused analysis of work samples and teacher observation

Reporting Learning

Twice Yearly Reporting 

The purpose of twice yearly reporting is to provide parents/caregivers and students with a summary overview of achievement and progress for the current reporting period. This report summarises evidence of student learning about how the student is achieving, provides feedback about the quality of this achievement and provides direction about where to next.

Reporting involves a professional judgement made on a body of evidence about a student’s progress and achievement against the curriculum. The Year 1-6 report uses a Commonwealth Government mandated A-E reporting framework.