Parent Guide to PNPS 2014 | Page 9

World Teachers’ Day On 5 October every year, we celebrate World Teachers’ Day. We take time to appreciate our own teachers – the people who probably taught us most of what we know. We use this day to think of the special people who teach at Pinelands North. We have something very unique at PNPS – our teachers love their jobs and can’t do enough for your children and the community at large! The Red Connect usually organises a special event for the teachers. The children also celebrate the role their teachers play by writing them notes or organising surprises for them. TEACHING AND LEARNING ASSESSMENTS Children are given a series of assessments each term and, at the end of each term, parents will receive a formal report regarding their child’s progress. Children are given codes for each subject. The descriptors for each code are as follows: Code 7 Descriptor Outstanding Achievement 6 Meritorious Achievement 5 4 Substantial Achievement Adequate Achievement 3 2 Moderate Achievement Elementary Achievement 1 Not Achieved In the first term of the year, teachers spend a lot of time revising work from the previous grade. Therefore, we take a conservative approach and do not readily give a code 6 or 7 at this stage of the year. It is always better for children to get higher codes in the next terms, rather than drop to lower codes. At the beginning of each term, the class teacher will send home an assessment plan. This will give you some indication of the work we have planned. The dates of assessments are only rough guidelines. Teachers work flexibly and are also guided by the pace of the pupils. We do not want our Foundation Phase children to find assessments stressful: in fact, they are often not even aware that they are doing an assessment. Furthermore, we do not want our children to be ‘dr