Year 7 News
Year 7 have been assessed in the key areas of reading, writing, spelling and language conventions. The results of these and other assessments have given a good indication of each students' strengths and weaknesses and has helped us place the students in appropriate classes at the end of the Orientation Program.
Year 7 students have a Literacy period once a fortnight and this year there will be a strong focus on improving spelling, reading and comprehension skills in these lessons. 2012 is the National Year of Reading so we would like as many Year 7 students as possible to develop sound reading habits if they haven't already done so.
General
During Term 1, in the Essential Learning, period students in Years 7 to 9 will participate in 10 lessons aimed at improving their basic grammatical skills and knowledge. These lessons have been informed by 2011 NAPLAN results which indicated that students needed explicit instruction in certain areas. It is very important that the girls focus in these lessons and apply this knowledge across all subjects.
The Radical Reading Program (Years 7 to 9) continues to be an important time, once a fortnight, during which students can focus explicitly on spelling, reading, decoding and comprehending a variety of texts. A key factor in improving comprehension skills is the development of vocabulary and word knowledge. This is particularly important for students from non- English speaking backgrounds. A strong emphasis will be placed on extending students' vocabulary and will be part of Radical Reading in 2012.
The Junior Spelling Competition will run again later this year so all the great spellers in the junior school can demonstrate their talent.
I am looking forward to seeing great improvements in our students' literacy skills this year.
