Welcome parents, carers, students and staff to the 2022 school year.

I started at Georges River College Hurstville Boys Campus in January this year as Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning. My position continues the work of the previous Deputy Principal Teaching & Learning, Mr Aaron Cook, with the main focus of the role being improvement in the teaching and learning practices across the school.

I would like to thank the staff, students, and parents I have worked with during my first term at GRC Hurstville Boys Campus. I am grateful for the patience and support you have shown me as I transitioned into my new role. It has been an exciting experience so far and I am looking forward to working further with the entire GRC HBC community throughout 2022.

In this newsletter, I’m reporting on:

• COVID Intensive Learning Support Program (COVID ILSP)
• NAPLAN
• Reports
• Parent teacher interviews
• BYOD 

COVID Intensive Learning Support Program (COVID ILSP)

Last year, the government and department launched the COVID ILSP throughout government and non-government schools. This year, the NSW Government will continue to boost student learning through targeted small group tuition for another year, with an additional $383 million investment. This will build on the 2021 COVID Intensive Learning Support Program (COVID ILSP) to help improve educational outcomes for students whose learning has been most impacted by the pandemic. The 2021 program has already supported over 190,000 students. The program will now provide targeted small-group tuition for students until the end of 2022.

Key features of this program include:

• around 290,000 students across NSW, including students at every government school, will be supported

• small group tuition will be provided by additional educators – including casual and temporary teachers, retired teachers and student teachers – who will work closely with classroom teachers to make sure the tuition is well targeted

• the tuition will focus on core content and skills, particularly literacy and numeracy.

The COVID ILSP at Hurstville Boys Campus commenced in week 7. A team of teachers analysed data from NAPLAN, Best Start Year 7 and other assessments to identify students who we thought would benefit the most from this support. The support provided support small groups tuition 2-3 times per week for 20-50 minutes over a 10-week period (Grattan Institute, 2020).

Progress of each student will be measured every 5 weeks. This will determine the length of involvement in the program and the focus area for each student. Our school will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of the program and tailor flexible learning solutions throughout 2022.

If you would like to know more about the program please contact Ms J Stanborough, Head Teacher Teaching & Learning or visit the department’s website. 

NAPLAN 2022

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Students in Years 7 and 9 participate in the annual tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. All NSW schools will sit NAPLAN online in 2022.

Our school will be participating in NAPLAN between 10 and 20 May 2022.

Students can use the NAPLAN demonstration site to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and tools available in NAPLAN.

What if my child is absent on the day of a scheduled NAPLAN test?

Where possible, we will arrange catch-up tests for individual students who were absent on the day of a scheduled NAPLAN test. Catch-up tests must be completed by Friday 20 May 2022.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact the school. 

Reports

Year 7 interim reports have been issued to you via the parent portal. Please check your email for up-to-date information from the school. The interim reports are designed to give a snapshot of your son’s progress so far, including their commitment to learning. If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to call the school to speak to their classroom teachers.

Parent teacher interviews

Parent teacher interviews will take place face to face next term, subject to COVID-19 restrictions. All students will receive a full academic report that will be issued by the end of next term, prior to the parent teacher interviews. These reports will follow the new format from last year. Following the issuing of these reports, we will be asking for parent feedback to help us further improve the reporting process. 

BYOD

GRC Hurstville Boys Campus teachers integrate their learning with digital devices and online services across all years (7-10). Improving digital literacy skills is key for students to safely and confidently utilise information technology.

In Year 7 and 8, we have a BYOD (bring your own device) policy and all students in these year groups are required to bring a fully charged laptop to school every day. The school website provides information about the BYOD school policy as well as suggested devices.

We thank you for working with us to support the BYOD policy at GRC Hurstville Boys Campus. If you have any questions or concerns about laptop use, please contact the school office and they will direct you to the appropriate staff member.

A reminder about the Year 7 2022 website 

The site has information on:

• key teachers and staff in the school

• upcoming events

• forms for parents to complete

• uniform, stationary, and technology requirements including BYOD.

We also have a GRC HBC YouTube channel which hosts several showcase and information videos about our school. 

Rachelle Pirie | Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning