Friday April 23rd, 2010
Year 9 Laptops: They have finally arrived. Our Technology Support Officer Ms Boz Vulic will be commissioning them over the next week. They will then be ready to issue. At this point she will run through the laptop with the students and also show them how to use the One Note school diary. Students will be called out of class in alphabetical order in groups of up to 25. The new laptops are slightly bigger than the original ones and have a different style of keyboard. There will be a parent meeting next week to discuss the laptops and the need for parents to sign a parent charter. No laptop can be issued without the parents completing this charter. If parents cannot make the evening they will need to make an appointment and come to school where the TSO will run through the process with them.
NAPLAN Disruptions: You will undoubtedly be aware of the potential disruptions to the upcoming NAPLAN tests due to an impasse between the Deputy Prime Minister and the education unions of NSW and Australia. There is great merit in the dispute and we should all remember the dispute is about the way the federal and state governments allow the media to publish league tables. The NAPLAN data is a great beginning point for some of our students to be identified as having problems in literacy and/or numeracy. This data has been available to schools and governments for many years. The NSW DET and schools have used the data to enhance learning and improve student outcomes. Crestwood is not affected by the "league tables" but smaller schools in rural areas can be decimated by the publication. The comparison of different schools is also quite strange. The Crestwood like school group contains small schools in outback areas with very few students. How a K-8 school in the South Australian country side can be compared to Crestwood, a large comprehensive school in a capital city is beyond me. How we can be directly compared to private schools in other capital cities is also beyond my understanding. For whatever reason, it appears as if the dispute will result in the 2010 NAPLAN tests not being completed. With meaningful discussions between the federal and state governments and the unions, there will be progress.
Changes to Web Page: We are making slight changes to our web page. On the home screen we want to include a section that enables parents to see letters sent home about meetings, excursions, assessment tasks etc. We also want to be able to include the current edition of the Crestwood Connection. We believe these changes will make the communication between school and our community more efficient. Students should be using our school intranet either at school or from home to ensure they have the most recent resources supplied by the staff. To access the intranet you need a login and password. All students have these.
Info-Line and Crestwood Connection: Both these publications will only be available on-line from now on. The Info-Line will continue to be available from this site. If you want a copy emailed to you please contact the school and give your email address to one of the ladies in the office.