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Learning at Penola

Student return to campus
It was terrific to welcome our students as they returned to face to face learning on campus. The smiles on their faces said it all! Our students were happy to be back to a more regular learning routine and very pleased to see their friends and teachers once again. I wish our senior VCAL and VCE students well as they complete their final outcome tasks. All the best to our students sitting VCAA exams. The Penola Catholic College community wishes the senior students all the best as they graduate and embark on the next stage of their journey.

NAPLAN Online – School Readiness Test
In 2022 all schools are required to transition from the current paper-based tests to the computer-based assessments. NAPLAN Online provides a better assessment, more precise results and is more engaging for students. The assessments can run through a real-time internet connection or onscreen without an internet connection. Watch the short clip: Understanding NAPLAN Online (2m 11s).

At Penola Catholic College, significant planning must be carried out to make sure we are all ready to move NAPLAN online. Now that we have returned to face to face teaching in Term 4, students in Year 7 and Year 9 will participate in a School Readiness Test (SRT) on Thursday 4 November during Periods 1-4.

The School Readiness Test is a ‘practice run’ for Penola to assess our technology ahead of NAPLAN Online. The readiness test is not an assessment of student ability. The readiness test allows Penola to:

• Become familiar with the NAPLAN Online test format and processes

• Check whether we have the technical capacity to administer NAPLAN Online

• Provide students in NAPLAN Years 7 and 9 with the opportunity to experience the online test question types and format by completing a practice NAPLAN online test

Your child will not need any academic preparation for the school readiness test. This is not a test of their literacy and numeracy skills, but an opportunity for them to experience the online test format and for Penola to assess its online testing capability. The School Readiness Test is expected to include two assessments: a writing assessment and a combined numeracy/literacy assessment. The duration of each assessment will be approximately 40 minutes. Students with additional learning needs will be supported by the learning enhancement team.

There will be feedback to schools about the technical information gained from the readiness testing. There will be no reporting of student test results from the readiness test as this is a practice only.

The assessment is delivered inside a locked-down browser. This ensures students cannot access the internet or spellcheckers while completing the test. The lockdown browser has, in most cases, been installed on your child’s device. Students with BYOD laptops (non school issued laptops) need to download and install the NAPLAN Browser in order to do the NAPLAN Test. Please see the links below to download the most appropriate NAPLAN Browser for your Operating System. For information about the NAPLAN Locked Down Browser please click here.

In advance of taking NAPLAN Online, students, teachers and parents are invited to use the public demonstration tests to familiarise themselves with the type of questions and related functionalities available in the NAPLAN Online assessment.

Some of the key features include a range of question types, onscreen tools, timers and interactive navigation. Students are encouraged to try all the tests for their year level to practise the complete range of question formats available in the online assessment.

For more information

What does my child need for the School Readiness Test on Thursday 4 October?

  • Headphones are required for some questions that include sound in the spelling, writing and numeracy tests. Please ensure that your child brings plug in headphones on Thursday 4 November. Bluetooth headphones may not work during the test.
  • · A fully charged laptop
  • Pens

Studio Arts
We are always proud to share examples of our students’ achievements with you. I hope you enjoy the work completed by our Studio Art students.

Congratulations to the Unit 4 Studio Art students. They have overcome the challenges of working remotely during this critical time to develop and produce their final art works. Limited access to materials and equipment created significant challenges for these students. They should all be very proud of the work that they were able to create. Each student was required to produce two cohesive artworks. These final artworks represent the themes and ideas that have been trialled and developed this year during the Unit 3 Studio Art process. Students have explored a variety of themes, materials and techniques including, dry point etching, acrylic and oil painting, collage and digital processes.
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