Foundation (Prep/Kinder) 2015 - Chat

We get reports next Friday I think, all our interviews are three way excerpt the first foundation one at start of year, we don't see specialists as it's not necessary nor offered. All our communication is via Compass which I love, we can also do payments and give permission for things through it, we have online ordering for canteen too through flexischools. The only complaint I have is not telling us when they move assembly indoors lol

DD2 is going really well, super happy and well adjusted, she loves going.

The school is implementing an online thing - sounds like Compass - but IT will not solve anything if they don't even realize what information they need to give to parents. The first parent teacher thing is Monday morning - and I have not a clue where to tell DH to go as there is no information anywhere about where they will be held.

So Olive how did the school communicate the fact you don't need to see specialists? Do the main teacher then discuss the specialist subjects during the parent teacher interview? The specialists are Science, Music, Sports and Art, we have had a report from each teacher - all were available for us to book a session with - whether or not it is necessary or they wanted us to I have no idea. I quite wanted to speak to the science teacher, the others I could take or leave but that is a reflection of my interests not DD's necessarily so thought I should see them all.

Ours is basically the same as Olive.
We book in with the main teacher only, we only get the option to book in with them.
They pretty much tell us anything we need to know & answer any questions we have.

Specialists are not offered at all, science for us is taught by classroom teacher so is part of overall teaching. Specialist reports are quiet small in comparison to classroom teachers, I don't think specialist teachers would have the time to have interviews with 600 parents �� . Interviews for us are held in our classroom.

A Meeting Was only offered with the main teacher. I never even considered meeting with other teachers.
Ours are promoted as an opportunity for the child to let you know about their learning, rather than traditional parent teacher style.
I have a few questions that I would probably prefer dd not to be there, but am okay to ask them if that is the format they are going for.
I am hoping we get reports before hand but I'm not sure.

Ours is very much like Olive.
The only specialist subjets we get are, Japanese, sports & music.
Everything else is taught in the classroom.

Ours is also held in the classroom :)

Our specialists are Indonesian, music (performing art), art and PE.
Hot1 have your 3 way interview then ask if DD can step outside, we've done that in the past.

Have to check last weeks newsletter - we've already had parent teacher interviews last term, and have had rolling contact with DD's teacher this term regarding her eyes and progress there, so I'm not too phased about a set interview. I am pretty sure if there was an issue with any specialist teachers, she work let us know straight away so that we could address it. I know DH has had a fair bit of contact with one teacher and received nothing but positive feedback. The school is the only one locally that runs the Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden program, and DH has had a fair amount of contact with the coordinator/teacher as we have been supplying them with veggies and plants from the garden.

We know a couple of areas DD is struggling due to the thing with her eyes so we are just working on it more at home. No big drama.

We get reports end of this coming week, no parent teacher interviews. But our school is awesome in that the teachers are very approachable and always willing to sort out any issues or concerns, and they generally keep us informed in regards to any concerns or things going on.
Dd loves school, she's had a few issues with learning but everything is starting to click now and she's starting to catch up.

We have the option of meeting with the specialist teachers (mandarin, perform. Arts, art, food tech and PE) but it's not compulsory. Similar to wysiwyg, ours is more us wanting to know how DD1 is going, so we'll be meeting with all of them.

We get reports this coming Friday so we have the weekend to look through them as the interviews are on Mon 21st and Tue 22nd June. We have a choice as to whether or not we want to bring our child with us to the interviews.

Our school uses the "skoolbag" app for all online communication. We get weekly newsletters, reminders for p&F meetings, specialist prep meetings etc. Like Olives, we can do canteen orders, notify them of absences, confirm permission slips etc.

Reports this term soon. We had interviews last term. I think term 1 & 3 are interviews with term 2 & 4 reports. Most schools I've worked in do this (at least with the option of interviews; I still write reports very term)

This was our first report and our first set of interviews also. I saw Class teacher (x 2, the English one and the French one did a joint interview) Science Teacher and Art Teacher - DH and DD saw sports teacher and were meant to see music too but DD has been sick so they didn't make that one.

All was good, although I do have issues with the general communication at the school, all the teachers I have met I like so all good, and I don't believe there is an issue with communication between individual class teachers and parents - is just the more general school stuff.

It was quite funny because DD was concerned about how I would speak with the Science teacher because their science session is in French she didn't think the teacher could speak English! The sessions were all useful in just finding out more about what they have been doing and what they will be doing.

The only few issues I wanted to check was about switching of readers, because DD always claims they are not there in time - which is probably a fair call when she is at Camp Australia before school, and about her 'unconventional pencil grip' - just to check what their stance is on it as was mentioned in the report. They think the same as I do, that can keep reminding her but seeing as her writing is so good that don't want to put her off by going on and on about it and she will likely modify it herself when it becomes a problem - so I was happy with that.

I liked the format of the report and I thought the method was quite good, but it seems from the newsletter this week some people were not so happy. I don't know if is the system used at all schools or not? They have ABCDE and C is performing at the level expected for half way through foundation, B is performing half a year ahead, A is a year ahead, D is half a year behind, E is a year behind. So for the different areas you get a A, B, C, D or E rating.

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I liked the format of the report and I thought the method was quite good, but it seems from the newsletter this week some people were not so happy. I don't know if is the system used at all schools or not? They have ABCDE and C is performing at the level expected for half way through foundation, B is performing half a year ahead, A is a year ahead, D is half a year behind, E is a year behind. So for the different areas you get a A, B, C, D or E rating.

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If using ACARA (not IB) curriculum the ABCDE format you've described is how things should work (particularly at primary). Some secondary schools have rubrics similar to yr 11/12 marking (at least in SA)

Wysiwyg that's how our reports have been since my DD started school in 2012.

DD's report was lovely, she's doing really well! Super proud of both my girls.

We have three way getting to know you interviews in the first few weeks of school in term 1.
Reports and interviews at end of term 2.
Reports at end of term 4.

Is hard to tell whether have always used that system or not - seems sensible to me, better than systems I remember. From what I can work out the complaints are around it doesn't tell you how they are performing compared to rest of class - it isn't comparative, but I can't really see that as important myself.

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Is hard to tell whether have always used that system or not - seems sensible to me, better than systems I remember. From what I can work out the complaints are around it doesn't tell you how they are performing compared to rest of class - it isn't comparative, but I can't really see that as important myself.

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That is not important, interesting to know, but not vital to schooling. What matters is that there is growth, so the next report will be the interesting as you can see that they are progressing.

I have found as they get older that you can gauge how they are in comparison to the rest of the class. You can use that to see that if they are ahead, are they being challenged enough or if they are behind, what is being put in place to assist them.

DD1 did well in her report. Is above standard for all arts subjects and reading/viewing words, and is at standard for everything else, so we're happy ☺ we can ask to to see a comparison graph at the interview if we wish.

DD is above average in reading/viewing plus two maths ones, was a lovely report.

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If using ACARA (not IB) curriculum the ABCDE format you've described is how things should work (particularly at primary). Some secondary schools have rubrics similar to yr 11/12 marking (at least in SA)

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How does the effort bit work is that a standard too - I am sure they missed something off the page as all it says is Effort and Classroom Behavior - and the scales are Consistently, Usually, Sometimes, Rarely - but it doesn't say Consistently, Usually what - does it mean Consistently at level that is expected, Rarely at level that is expected etc.??

Yes our school also says you can ask for comparison info from teacher if you want which they will provide verbally only. I am just not clear on why you would want the comparison, what it could tell you that would be useful? I mean the class is just a subset of children of similar age to your child - and is quite arbitrary really so maybe your child is in a class that is full of children that are exceptional or full of children that aren't, so the positioning of your child compared to them just seems a little irrelevant. Isn't that why they are assessed against where they are expected to be for their year - because what is important is where they are in relation to the curriculum and seeing their progress?

Our scale for effort and classroom behaviour are needs attention, acceptable, good, very good and excellent

Ours effort scale is the same as Olives and they use the AusVELS A-E reporting system, with C being "At standard expected at this time of year".

You'd be surprised how many parents want to compare/see where their child is at. I know of 7 parents from DD1s class who have already asked for the comparison. DH and I don't care where DD1 is compared to her peers. I'm more interested in the end of year report, which should, hopefully, show progression.

Mmm will have to check with the school about what their scale means. (I have asked, but no answer yet and i can't be only parent who didn't understand it, I know where DD is from report comments and the interview, but would be good to understand how to read that bit too)

Yes I probably would be surprised how many people ask. If i was the school I wouldn't give out the comparison data, what was it I read the other day "we aren't improving because we waste time appealing to what parents want rather than doing what we know works in education"

We had a prep info session 2 weeks ago to prepare parents for the report system and how to read and interpret it. The main point the Principal stressed was to read the *comments* about your child under each section as this is what would give a clear indication of how/where your child is doing. Still, a lot of the parents couldn't grasp that on the scale, a C was not a "bad" grade!

Our demographic has a lot of families where success is directly comparative to grades achieved (a, b, c etc..) So, for our school, I wasn't surprised by how many wanted to know the comparison rate, rightly or wrongly.

The info evening seems like a good idea. You have to wonder whether they considered not using A, B, C, D, E for this system, I mean if they had used a different nomenclature e.g RSTUV then people might be less inclined to think of the C level of "achieving at the level they are expected" as a bad thing. After all generations of parents will have grown up with a perception of what ABCDE means and that can be hard to shift I suppose.

I never knew you could ask for comparisons, nor would I ever ask for it, what's wrong with people!!!!

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I never knew you could ask for comparisons, nor would I ever ask for it, what's wrong with people!!!!

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Maybe your school has more sense than to state that it is available at a parents request :-). They will never shift peoples attitudes while they still try to cater for people who have different ideas from those the school has decided are the best approach - they should just stick to their guns and not give it out IMO. They do try to dissuade people from asking, but not far enough IMO - it isn't about privacy - it is just irrelevant.

In foundation they are very good at training the kids not to pry about what levels the other kids are reading at, so much so that when my mum asked DD what level she was at in reading DD said "You don't need to know that" :-) - I would be giving the parents the same answer, or if they could give me a reasonable answer about how knowing that info would change anything - maybe.

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How does the effort bit work is that a standard too - I am sure they missed something off the page as all it says is Effort and Classroom Behavior - and the scales are Consistently, Usually, Sometimes, Rarely - but it doesn't say Consistently, Usually what - does it mean Consistently at level that is expected, Rarely at level that is expected etc.??

Yes our school also says you can ask for comparison info from teacher if you want which they will provide verbally only. I am just not clear on why you would want the comparison, what it could tell you that would be useful? I mean the class is just a subset of children of similar age to your child - and is quite arbitrary really so maybe your child is in a class that is full of children that are exceptional or full of children that aren't, so the positioning of your child compared to them just seems a little irrelevant. Isn't that why they are assessed against where they are expected to be for their year - because what is important is where they are in relation to the curriculum and seeing their progress?

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Effort is usually against attempting work (if that makes sense) - so X always makes an effort to complete work; X consistently makes an effort to complete work; X sometimes.... Etc

As teachers we are required to be able to show class comparisons of requested but not required to provide to all unless asked (hope that makes sense). - legislation /education act somewhere says that we have to do this.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense - I am sure they must have misprinted and the key missed off the page)

Interesting about the education act, I wonder why they legislate for it, comparison against their actual class when the class is not based on ability but random just seems pointless.

Looks like the preps at our school don't get scores all we got is a summary of wat they are up to Jamie's doing really well in maths and he's up to reading level 9 I think that's good but with the issues he's been having I'm glad his school work doesn't suffer

J I thought they had to provide the score (A-D scale)

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J I thought they had to provide the score (A-D scale)

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That's what I thought too!? I was under the impression that AusVELS was used in all Vic schools as it covers F(foundation)-Yr10 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In SA a few years back foundation to Yr 2 (I think roughly) had the option of ABC grades or a statement along the lines X is working at Y level.

I can't recall if its definitely legislation/education act for the comparison stuff but I know it was during an enterprise bargaining period that it was talked about a lot (education Union was involved in the discussion in SA about it)

All good it is there now the teacher had trouble with the computer program but it's all fixed now

We have X is working at Y level.
Our preps only get graded on their classroom behavior, work..
The teachers then writes what areas they need help in.

DD2 got a great report & very positive feedback at the interview.
She just needs some more help with her writing which i knew.
Very happy :)

How is everyone enjoying the holidays? For me has really been no different as I have been at work (apart from the traffic is fantastic :-)), DH is out of work so has been home with DD and they seem to have enjoyed themselves - she seems keen for school to start next week though. Is doing junior choir this term - the main choir isn't for foundation/Yr1/Yr2 I think but this term due to demand are running one for the little ones. DD came home and wanted to do it even though it meant dropping her art class which she has done forever, I hope she likes it - I have never been very musical. Is nice for me too as it means the one day I get to do pick up we are not rushing off for art class so I am hoping I will get to know a few more people at the school (although pick up will be later and if not many foundation do it, it might mean I see even less parents! - hadn't thought of that).

DD has been enjoying her holidays. I've been enjoying the fact she has finally recovered from the lurgy that has plagued her for weeks. Although our extended family all have it on varying degrees so the time away from us that we had planned for her to make holidays more enjoyable all had to be cancelled. I was still working most days so we really wanted unusual things for her to do but unfortunately it didn't happen. She doesn't seem too scarred by it though. We were very open with why she couldn't do things with sick people and stuff so all good.
We are all looking forward to Monday and her return to school. Actually I'm looking forward to Thursday - my day off and her at school. The downside of holidays for me is no time when I'm not at work where I'm also kidlet free (and relatively pain free). Stupid dodgy ears. Roll on Thursday!!!!

looking forward to DS going back to school - the meltdown tantrums have been ridiculous. He lost it this afternoon when I had to go out to the chiro & was going fruit & veg shopping on the way home and I wasn't going to buy a roast for tea. Apparently we were supposed to have one last night & we didn't have any roasts in the freezer to have today instead. He also had one when I brought the rubbish bin in when I got back from the shop. It's been meltdowns over nearly everything and anything over the past week (no idea if he was like this on his first week as I was still teaching at different school - his school had a training week for the staff so he gets 3 weeks off). Decided to try the new Caruso's Kids Calm stuff as his behaviour has been just off the planet. Hitting/Kicking me & throwing anything & everything around the house when he doesn't get what he wants. It hasn't been this extreme until now. Only had 3 days of it and hoping it kicks in a bit more soon. Today has been reasonably mild in regard to meltdowns.

We have done a lot of movies though last week. We saw Minions as a family (there are 3 birthdays at the start of July in my extended family), Inside Out (I had a freebie ticket & took DS1 only with) & Home (as a birthday party for DS1's best friend from childcare).

Im looking forwards to school going back, apart from the early mornings!
But then I guess I get the evenings to myself with the earlier bed times

DD1 enjoyed her holidays. I work 3 days a week so she went to the school holiday program on the days i work, which she loves (she went last hols too).
First day back yesterday and she enjoyed it ☺

DD1 celebrated 100 days of Prep last Monday! She was chosen to be the class representative at the whole school assembly and got to speak in front of everyone. They had a free dress day, special pizza lunch and a trip to the park near the school as a reward. She's loving school.

how's everyone's LO's going?