Making sure your child has the necessary skills for future literacy and numeracy development is crucial.
During Weeks 5 – 7 of Term 1, your child will be participating in the Department of Education’s state-wide On-entry Assessment Program.
The purpose of the program is to provide teachers with an opportunity, early in the year, to collect information on the essential literacy and numeracy skills and understandings of each child in their class. This will assist your child’s teacher to develop informed and intentional play-based teaching programs, designed to reflect individual needs and foster each child’s learning.
Some assessment tasks can be included in the daily teaching program and some will be carried out one-to-one, in a quiet area. This will provide your child and their teacher with valuable time together, as well as give the teacher the opportunity to observe the behaviours and processes your child uses in responding to questions.
In Literacy, the program includes:
- Speaking and listening
- Reading – recognising simple rhyming words, listening to and identifying the sound at the beginning of a word, and listening to and talking about two stories
- Writing – drawing a picture and, if appropriate, attempting to write their name and some words.
In Numeracy, the program includes:
- Number – looking at small amounts and numbers, matching and counting
- Measurement – comparing length and hefting (lifting objects to find out which one is heavier)
- Geometry – looking at shapes and showing an understanding of simple ‘position’ words.
With the purpose of the program being to meet each child’s learning needs in a play-based environment, it is anticipated that all children will be included in the program. If you would like further information, or to discuss your child’s participation, please contact your child’s teacher.
Further information can also be found on the On-entry Assessment Program website at the following address. http://det.wa.edu.au/educationalmeasurement/detcms/navigation/on-entry/information-for-parents/
Leon Bolding
Principal