Newman News Term 2 Week 4: From the Vice Principal
Our Vision for Learning, Shine through Discovery seeks to engage students, teachers and their parents in the learning process. We do this by showcasing primary student work using Seesaw, by sharing student reflections via SEQTA or by meeting with families to discuss student learning goals, successes and challenges. When we strive for collective excellence, each individual student benefits. Encouraging others to achieve their best is how we support one another to reach their potential and achieve their goals.
NAPLAN Online Update
I extend my thanks to parents for supporting their children during NAPLAN week and for the staff involved in ensuring our transition to NAPLAN Online was seamless. The College uses NAPLAN data as comparative data against like schools, and to track student growth from Year 3 through to 9.
The experience at Newman was positive and very few students experienced disruptions and distress as reported in the media.
ACARA, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has advised schools that written assessments can be made available for students in Years 5, 7 and 9 if they wish to re-sit the assessment. The College has worked with individual students and families who were affected by a time lag or connectivity concerns. As such, we will support individual students to re-sit the written paper for the Writing Assessment however, this will not be a College wide undertaking.
The written assessment will take place on Tuesday 28 May and a new prompt will be provided to students.
If you wish your child to re-sit the assessment, please reply by email to Julie Maher julie.maher@newman.wa.edu.au
Additional information can be provided by Mitch Bristow, Head of Primary and Alan Fitzpatrick, Deputy Principal Wellbeing Secondary.
DISA Survey
In 2016, staff, students and parents participated in the DISA Survey. The purpose of the DISA is to provide schools with information on which to base judgements about areas for school improvement. DISA is an online tool that you can use to examine your school’s overall alignment and is comprised of three surveys customised for each of staff, parents, and students. Next week a link to the survey will be shared and all parents are invited to participate in the survey. The data collected will inform the College’s 2019-2022 Strategic Plan. All students will complete the survey next week. Thank you in advance for your participation.
Cyberhound
Cyberhound Clearview is a product that is a part of the Cyberhound suite of network security products the College uses to scan and analyse all internet traffic within the school.
Clearview’s unique behavioural analytics identify social issues and topics such as self-harm, racism, profanity and reference to illicit drugs.
College staff are alerted to student activity that is deemed ‘risky’. This information is reviewed daily and when common themes or prolific activity appears then an educative approach can be designed and applied to support year groups, individual students and families to develop a responsible approach to internet use and a positive digital profile.
More information can be found here https://cyberhound.com/ or by contacting your child’s Leader of Wellbeing.
Code of Conduct
A reminder to all families that the Code of Conduct can be accessed via the College website. The Code is mandated by Catholic Education Western Australia and the application of the Code extends to all staff, students, parents, guardians, caregivers and volunteers.
The Code seeks to value the dignity of every person, foster positive relationships, ensuring confidentiality and accountability and supports professional boundaries. Events held during school hours AND outside of school hours that are associated with the College are also supported by the Code of Conduct. Any perceived breaches of the Code can be discussed with any member of the Senior Leadership Team. We thank you in advance for your understanding and support of how we strive to partner positively with one another.
Child Protection and Safety
In addition to writing to the College community regarding our Code of Conduct, we feel it is also appropriate to communicate the processes, policies and frameworks the College applies to ensure our school is a safe place for all children and that our staff are informed, assessed and aware of their responsibilities to this commitment.
Mandatory Reporting
All staff employed by the College, teaching and non-teaching, are required to undertake Mandatory Reporting training. It is a legal requirement in Western Australia for doctors, nurses, midwives, teachers, police officers and boarding supervisors to report all reasonable beliefs of child sexual abuse to the Department of Communities – Child Protection and Family Support. Newman College extends this level of training to non-teaching staff also.
The belief that a child is or has been the subject of sexual abuse may be based on a number of sources of information that form ‘reasonable’ grounds.
For example:
- Observed evidence of physical and/or behavioural indicators.
- A disclosure by a child.
- Allegations or information provided by a third party i.e. another student, parent or colleague.
Reasonable grounds can be established over time. If you decide not to report, you must continue to document all observations and consultations and provide documentation to the Principal for storage.
The College has designated Child Protection Officers to support staff to understand and apply their responsibilities as mandatory reporters. If you have any queries or concerns about this, or any of our strategies to ensure the protection of children, please contact me directly lisa.fogliani@newman.wa.edu.au