Our teachers use a variety of strategies to assess student learning. These include observing work in class and looking closely at tasks throughout the year.
Twice a year, teachers formally assess a student’s achievement based on the outcomes described in the syllabus of each subject. A written report using the common grade scale is sent home in the first half of the year, usually near the end of Term 2, and again in Term 4. This gives a clear picture of your child’s learning.
Formative Assessment Journey
Our school prioritises a culture where teachers are committed to identifying, understanding and implementing the most effective teaching methods, with a high priority given to evidence-based teaching strategies. At Bondi Public School we are focused on Quality Teaching and continuous improvement. We have investigated the work of Dylan Wiliam and as a result we have an explicit focus on Formative Assessment across all classrooms. Quantitative and qualitative research on Formative Assessment has shown that it is perhaps one of the most important interventions for promoting high-performance ever studied.
Formative Assessment involves teachers directly, it incorporates local knowledge, and directly shapes school improvement. It is a pedagogy that is driven by data conversations. Classrooms are open, data is transparent and teachers learn from observing each other and team-teaching lessons.
Our core business is to improve student learning outcomes for every student. Every student deserves to reach their learning potential. Formative Assessment methods have been important to raising overall levels of student achievement. Our students are actively building their understanding of new concepts, developing a variety of strategies that enable them to place new ideas into a larger context, learning to judge the quality of their own and their peer’s work against well-defined learning goals and criteria and are also developing skills that are invaluable for learning throughout their lives.
Assessments
We provide detailed information to students about what we expect from them throughout the year and how their work will be assessed. Students have a number of formal assessments throughout their schooling.
- Best Start – a mandatory, one-to-one assessment that identifies a student’s literacy and numeracy skills at the beginning of Kindergarten.
- National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) – reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and numeracy tests for students in Years 3 and 5. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) holds the tests in May each year. Results and student reports are released in August.
- Validation of Assessment for Learning and Individual Development (VALID) – online diagnostic science assessment for students in Year 6.
- Some students may elect to sit the opportunity class or selective high school placement tests. For more information, visit selective high schools and opportunity classes.