Week 9 Term 3

Nightcliff Primary School Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers

Last Friday our school senior BEAT choir performed beautifully at the Darwin Entertainment Centre. This program takes all year to practice and students perform to a sell-out crowd amongst 300 students on stage in front of dance, band and soloist performances. The NT Music school writes the program for the BEAT and presents forecourt bands, provides amazing conductors and leads and provides backstage support in this large production.  Students in Year 5/6 can apply to join the BEAT choir at the beginning of each year. 

Students are excited to be practicing for our annual school dance extravaganza. This year we welcome the NPS band opening our show! Looking forward to seeing you all, Thursday 21^st September from 5-6:30pm. Students are to meet in their classrooms at 4.30pm for costuming. Please see flyer attached for further information.

Reading strategies @ NPS 

NAPLAN and A-E results are in and we have some great news about improvements in reading!

• Students in Year 3 and 5 are above Australian Mean in NAPLAN.
• A-E grades for all year levels shows an increase compared to the same time last year.
• Read Write Inc (T–Yr 2) small groups data shows increased students reading at an earlier age.
• Fresh Start (Yrs 3-6) 1:1 lesson data shows an increased number of students reading independently.

The Science of Reading pedagogy (how children lean to read) informs the Read Write Inc program in Years T-2. After 3 years of implementation this has improved outcomes for students. The next phase of this pedagogical implementation is in Years 3-6. Teachers have started early implementation of reading strategies that complement existing programs with high impact strategies, such as choral reading, peer conferencing and breaking down texts to decode, evaluate meaning and build vocabulary displayed as word walls. These words and text are further integrated across other subject areas such as Humanities and Social Sciences, Geography, History and Science, Technologies, general capabilities and cross curricular priorities where possible to create a deeper understanding of the meaning and use of words.

Try out some strategies here:

https://www.nwea.org/blog/2023/5-ways-you-can-help-kids-develop-executive-functions-skills-for-reading/           

For further information on the science of reading:

https://www.nwea.org/blog/2022/the-science-of-reading-explained/

 Remember, every moment is a teachable reading moment, whether in the car, at the shops or home!

Book Week

As part of Book Week celebrations Nightcliff Primary School entered an Expression of Interest and won a Street Library - thanks to Street Library Australia and the Children’s Book Council!

“Street Libraries are a beautiful home for books. They are accessible from the street and are an invitation to share the joys of reading with our community. Street Libraries are a window into the mind of a community; books come and go; no-one needs to check them in or out. People can simply reach in and take what interests them; when they are done, they can return them to the Street Library network, or pass them on to friends. If anyone has a book or two that they think others would enjoy, they can just pop it into any Street Library they happen to be walking past.”

Currently the library is a plain wooden box so during art classes interested Year 4/5 students submitted a design that could be painted onto the Street Library. Teachers and staff completed an online poll and voted on their top choices. Congratulations to the winning designers:

Lucas, Pippa, Sylvie, Samuel, Michael, Despina & Amira 

Keep an eye out for the Street Library coming soon.

Wendy Fanning