Netball and Soccer Gala Day

This morning was a great time, catching up and finding out how everyone went on Wednesday. Some of Stage 3 went to Bardon Ridge to represent MACC at a Christian Schools Gala Day. The students who stayed at school worked on some individual projects that we have been working on at school. All students were commended for their excellent behaviour and participation.

The students who participated in the Sporting events showed great teamwork and spirit. All persevered extremely well and despite a number of losses, showed resilience and cheerfulness. Great Job everyone!

What did you enjoy the most about the Gala Day or being at school? What do you think was your best achievement? 

Netball and Soccer Gala Day

There will be a Netball and Soccer Gala Day tomorrow at Barden Ridge. The students on the teams have been notified. 

The students who are travelling by bus, please note that the bus will be leaving at 7.15am, so that we have time to warm up before our first game. 

The students need to have: 

• their lunch
• appropriate uniform: The girls in Years 5 and 6 need to wear black leggings or shorts. Boys need to bring their soccer boots and soccer school socks. 
• School sports uniform including track pants, jumper and hat. 

My Child is an A student...

"My Child is an A student"...

Have you ever heard that statement? What exactly does that mean? 

When discussing Grades with parents, it is often in the context of negativity. There is the perception that their child has failed or that not all the possibilities of their child's ability has been considered. The question often asked is "Why did my Child get that grade?" which is often followed by the statement "Last year, they got a (higher) grade?" There is often disappointment and sometimes anger, when a child does not receive the same Grade or higher than on previous occasions. It is an understandable response, particularly if the child has been achieving at a higher level.

There are many ways that a teacher goes about assessing students. In the attempt to make the process simple and easy to understand, a student is given a grade which indicates their achievement for the term or semester with a grade. 

After some discussion with parents and teachers through this week, the thought occurred that the perceptions of Grades are viewed differently by the stakeholders involved in a student's education. In light of Parent- Teacher Interviews, it is helpful to know exactly what Grades are and what is considered when they are given to students. 

What is a Grade? 

The Board of Studies is the Government organisation that oversees education. They have set the following criteria for Grades for all schools to follow: 

The Common Grade Scale shown below can be used to report student achievement in both primary and junior secondary years in all NSW schools.

The Common Grade Scale describes performance at each of five grade levels.

A	The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations.
B	The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations.
C	The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills.
D	The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills.
E	The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills.

The key words are "knowledge and understanding". Students demonstrate their knowledge of a subject by the understanding that they have. To achieve a higher grade, each student needs to be able to apply that understanding to a new situation. It is the knowledge and understanding that they demonstrate in completing an assessment task, coupled with the mastery of processes and skills that will determine the nature of their grade. 

What is the purpose of Grades?

The purpose of Grades is the attempt to give a consistent understanding of a child's achievement of a particular subject. There are many factors that can affect that Grade: 

• Change in Syllabus- there has been a significant change in Syllabus in the last few years. The outcomes that we were teaching have moved away from text- types formula to a more analytical and creative basis. 
• Change in Stage- In NSW our outcomes are grouped together in Stages for eg. Years 5 and 6 are Stage 3. The change in stage can often impact a child's grade. 
• Teacher expectations and purpose of lesson - all teacher's are unique and have different skill sets. There can be a wide variety of expectations that teachers have for their students. 
• The Student- a student's grade can be affected by their desire to achieve the processes, skills or the understanding that they have of a subject. 

The purpose of a Grade is to indicate a student's knowledge and understanding. It helps to show if they have mastered a certain set of skills or have been able to show competency in the way that they have processed information in the course of an assessment task. The assessment tasks are formed out of the outcomes that the Board of Studies have determined that students at a particular grade or stage level should be achieving. 

What does all this mean? 

There is sometimes the misconception that a student's skills set and knowledge of a subject remains consistent throughout all of their education. We set our children an impossible task if we perceive them to be the sum of their grade.It is also unhelpful to the process, when teachers are expected to grade based on previous ones. Grades are given based on the merits of each assessment task and the consideration of a students knowledge and understanding that they have demonstrated of concepts.  It means sometimes that they won't always achieve the same grade as on previous occasions. 

Our task as teachers is to help our student's to grow and on occasions to challenge our student's understanding and knowledge. Much time and thought is given when a child's grade is considered. They are the distillation of a lot of time that is spent observing and considering each child. 

It is time to consider to move away from thinking of Grades as being a position where a child is placed in the class and to move towards to how much are they understanding and growing as a student. 

My child is A student....

Award Winners Week 2

We love celebrating achievement at Mount Annan Christian College. The students that received awards showed many different personal achievements. Achieving success, no matter how small, is always worth celebrating. 

The students were: 

• Hayden- for a good effort in Mathematics
• Mohit- for a good understanding of Mathematics
• Ariana- for showing an improvement in Mathematics
• Jack - For being a wonderful ambassador for the school
• Emily - for settling into her new school.
• Joshua- for a good understanding of Angles. 

Well done to everyone who received an Award!

How to be a Dairy Farmer

To be a Dairy Farmer requires the ability to be able to get up very early each morning. There needs to be a commitment to producing high quality milk, by looking and the breeding and health of the Cattle that he cares for.
We learnt all of this from Martin Hodge, who is a local Dairy Farmer. He came to visit Stage 3 yesterday to tell us all about Dairy Farming. He has worked with Dairy Farmers Association and has featured in some of the ads.

Some of the things that we learned, aside from it being hard work, was that cows eat 60kgs of food and drink 150 litres of water each day. A cow is milked automatically using suction cups. They are milked twice a day and produce up to 40 litres of milk each day. That works out at 12 times 3 litres of milk....which is a lot of milkshakes.
Mr Hodge was asked many questions by the students, who showed a keen interest in the dairy industry and how cows are milked. We really appreciated the time that he took out of his day to help us learn about how to be a dairy farmer.

What did you learn about being a dairy farmer? What did you learn about cows from Mr Hodge? 

Missions trip to Bali

In Titus 2: the verses talk about having integrity. 

Mr Sales and his team acted with integrity on behalf of our school. They were involved in a Compassion project to build a water tank and visited aChildren's home called Bali Life.

Cameron enjoyed building the water tank. Zali enjoyed giving gifts that were much needed. Nicholas found being with the youth memorable. Miss Everett found taking the kids to the water park was  memorable too!

Mr Sales spoke about how we gave presents to each of the children, which will help them with their schooling. The Balinese children enjoyed them so much! 

How can we serve others? What do you think integrity means? 

We have a Cow!

Don't worry it isn't real!

The life-size fibre-glass cow comes from Dairy Australia. Stage 3 (as well as anyone else who we can talk into helping) will be working creating designs for our cow, while also learning about how the Dairy Industry in Australia and the importance of a healthy diet. 

Our cow was unwrapped today with much enthusiasm from the Year 6 students. It has also had a lot of interest from many, who have been walking by. 

Our cow is on the search for a name. We have had some suggestions of Mary von Dairy, Moo Moo, Moodoosa, Cowella and Mrs Einstein von Brainstorm, just to name a few!

Any suggestions that you may have to name our cow, will be gratefully received! Please complete the Google Form below to help us make our selection.

What should the name of our cow be? Why?

Welcome back to Term 3

Welcome back to Term 3 after a relaxing holiday. We are looking forward to catching up with each and everyone of our students, particularly as we progress into the second semester. This will be a time of consolidating and improving on the skills and knowledge that has been gained so far.

This promises to be a busy term, with many sporting and academic activities planned. Please check the Term Calendar to consider what will be happening and how it will affect you and your family.

There are some notes that need to be returned for sporting events as well as finding library books that need to be returned after the Holidays.

What are you looking forward to this term?