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.
As a parent or carer of a student at Kalinda School, you will receive a written report in the first half of the year, usually near the end of Term 2, and again in Term 4. It gives you a clear picture of your child’s achievements – what they know and can do.
Kalinda School reports provides the student and their familiy with information about the achievement of the student, their progress and what can be done to support their learning.
If families wish to discuss their child’s progress, please contact their classroom teacher.
At Kalinda School the P Scale (Performance Scale) is used to report on the students' progress. Below is an outline of the P Scale.
P1 - Beginning - The student has some existing prior knowledge and/or necessary pre skills for the task. The student is beginning to participate in a task with maximum teacher assistance. The student uses skills and knowledge in a single setting.
P2 - Occasional - The student understands information, concept and/or can perform skill. The student often relies on physical or verbal assistance when participating in a task. The student has begun to demonstrate the skills in selected, familiar settings.
P3 - Frequent - The student relies on partial prompts to complete a task. The student can regularly perform the skill or demonstrate knowledge. The student uses the skills or knowledge in a variety of familiar settings and situations.
P4 - Independent - The student can complete a task independently, without assistance. The student maintains the skill or knowledge over time. The student generalises the skill to new settings, people or materials.
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 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, 5, 7 and 9. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) holds the tests in May each year. Results and student reports are released in August.
The Record of School Achievement (RoSA) is awarded to eligible students who leave school before completing their Higher School Certificate. The RoSA records a student’s grades between the end of Year 10 and when they leave school.
The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is an internationally recognised qualification awarded to students who successfully complete Years 11 and 12 in NSW.
NSW DoE Check in Assessments are online assessment for students in Years 3 to 9. They are mapped to the NSW Syllabuses and National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions. There are two assessments, one in literacy and one in numeracy.
Assessment for Complex Learners (AfCL) Passport for Learning is a holistic, formative assessment of students’ development along seven groups in four domains (cognitive, receptive, expressive and social). It was developed by NSW Schools for Specific Purposes (SSPs) to ensure learning is scaffolded for all students, especially those needing support to establish a first language.
The Passport can be used to support students who have:
• moderate to severe intellectual disabilities
• moderate to severe intellectual disabilities and other disabilities
• a mild intellectual disability and require substantial or extensive support for regulation
• a mild intellectual disability and two or more other diagnoses or disabilities
• multiple disabilities.
The purpose of the Passport is to support students to:
• be calm yet alert
• establish their voice
• actively participate in learning experiences
• engage in meaningful and relevant activities
• work towards independence.
To support students, the Passport also provides structured guidance for educators to:
• scaffold learning for individual student needs
• design teaching and learning activities and environments
• adjust the NSW Syllabus according to student needs
• establish a common language and framework to drive whole-school practice.
Students with Additional Needs (SWANS) is an online and fully integrated program of assessment, reporting, planning and teaching advice that is suitable to monitor and support the learning of students aged from five to eighteen years and with a diversity of additional learning needs. It is a skills-based assessment that draws on teachers' observations of their students' everyday behaviours in the school and classroom context.
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a short assessment that tells teachers how students are progressing in phonics. Student responses are mapped to indicators from the National Literacy Learning Progression.