Dear CMS families,
I was thrilled to see so many families at our Parent Evening on March 3rd. The teachers did a wonderful job of explaining the mathematical underpinnings of the Montessori materials from Parent Toddler through to Cycle 3. The parents that attended were excellent students, and it was heartening to see everyone so engaged. I encourage other parents to come out to subsequent events in terms 2 and 3.
It seems as though the month of March will also now be linked annually to NAPLAN results and the latest iteration of the myschool website. This weekend in the Canberra Times a full section was dedicated to the test scores of children from the age of 8 years of age. It is curious to me that this kind of high stakes testing has been ineffective in every jurisdiction in the world and yet the notion that assigning blame and delegating duty is still seen as an effective way to run an educational system.
Overall our students did fine on the tests when compared against National Averages. As everyone knows our cohorts are small and therefore from year to year we will experience far more variance in our results than the “average” school. The more interesting data from NAPLAN is the progression over several years of information and the individual item analysis to identify trends that inform practice. That is how our school chooses to look at the information, rather than as a simplistic league table.
The other gem to come out in the paper is that our little school in Holder contains the most advantaged students in the ACT. This is defined by our ICSEA (Index of Community Socio Educational Advantage) rankings. The measure is calculated on the data provided by parents, through our parent surveys and is primarily concerned with the educational background of our parents. It would seem that we would be far less advantaged by adding Bill Gates, a university drop out, to our parent community. Our school has appealed the results and continues to try and collect as close to an up to date data set from our parent group as possible. I have no confidence in our grouping of “similar schools”. I would think that similar schools to us would be small primary schools that accept children at the age of 3. Instead, because we are grouped by ICSEA scores we are ranked with large schools that enrol students at all ages through to high school. How that makes us similar is a mystery to me.
In 20 years as an educator I have seen every trend come and go. Group learning, mastery teaching, standardized tests, whole language reading, modular instruction, open concept classrooms, etc. etc. I count myself lucky to be involved in a Montessori School that does not rely on constant reinvention to validate itself. We observe the children, prepare the classes and provide opportunities for children to own their accomplishments. Education is a natural process, and when I see 5 pages of numbers published in newsprint used to define children as outcomes, it makes me sad.
Back at the school we are all looking forward to Harmony Day on March 21. The children will witness an Indigenous rite in the morning, a smoking ceremony, performed on our newest building. We are also encouraging children to take the opportunity to dress in a way that celebrates their cultural heritage, or in orange (the official harmony day colour) if they prefer.
Peace,
Jack Rice
Principal, CMS
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UPCOMING DATES
Term 1 2011
Mar 13 Working Bee
Mar 14 Pub Hol—Canberra Day
Mar 15 Annual General Meeting 7pm
Mar 21 Harmony Day
Mar 24 Excursion—Cotter Dam Ext. Day students
Mar 25 Cycle 2/3 Reports due
Mar 30 Canteen Day
Apr 1 NEW Disco
Apr 15 Last day of Term 1
Martina
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the CMS community to Martina McGovern. Martina will be joining the Karri team as an assistant starting in week 6 of term 1, and will continue in that position in Term 2 as Jackie completes her AMI 6 – 12 training. Martina is a graduate of the Fine Arts program at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales and holds a Graduate Diploma in Education from the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. Martina has been working in a casual relief capacity since the start of the year, and is excited to join the CMS team. Welcome Martina.
New Board Members
After the AGM on Tuesday 15th we now have 7 new members elected to the board. The board is now comprised as follows:
Continuing members:
Steven Stern—Board Chair
Peter Jones (K)
Catherine Prosser (RG)
Debora Vella (B&A)
Vyt Vilkaitis (A)
Newly elected members:
Nancy Chen (B)
Michael Power (C)
Ronnie Reichelt (RG)
Fiona Straffon (C)
Samar Thompson (C&D)
James Liddall (A)
Karl-Erik Paasonen (G)
The Term 1 Disco is coming!
Friday 1 April 5pm – 7pm
Come and groove to the sounds of our resident DJs in the Cycle 1 playground, suitable for all ages.
Sausage sizzle, drinks, icy poles, glow bracelets and face painting for sale.
Brigid Lombard 0403 893 209
Nadi Kraljevic 0412 711 539