I hope that you all enjoyed the long weekend and had a well deserved break. We were delighted to welcome all girls back to Barbreck this week. It has been lovely to see their smiling faces as they settled back into the rhythm of campus learning and caught up with their friends.

Junior School Forums

This year, I will be hosting a new round of parent forums to discuss:

• Learning technologies – how technology can enhance learning
• Assessment and reports

The rounds will combine brief presentations on each of the topics listed above followed by open discussion. The forums will follow the same format as last year with the initial forums attended by randomly selected parents. These will then be followed by forums open to all interested parents.
We hope to hold the forums towards the end of Term 3.

Care for Personal Belongings

We are discovering that many of the girls are leaving personal belongings scattered throughout the Junior School, many of which are unnamed. The main items are:

• Lunch containers
• Blazers, jumpers and sports gear

We encourage parents to:

• Clearly mark and name all items so they can be quickly returned.
• Remind the girls each day of what containers they are bringing to school so they can easily identify them when misplaced.

Reporting Ratings

In the coming weeks, you will receive your daughter’s End of Semester 1 Report. The report is based on the Australian Achievement Standards. These can be viewed on the Australian Curriculum website http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

The Australian Curriculum sets out the core knowledge, understanding and skills that are important for all Australian students. They also aim to set standards of achievement across Australia for students for each year level. It does this by requiring students to demonstrate high levels of skill, knowledge and understanding.

St Catherine’s will report to parents about their child’s progress using the Australian Curriculum Standards. The Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards are reported using five point scales. The ratings are set out in the table below.