RJHS Newsletter - Term 1, Issue 5

KORERO FROM FRASER

Only a couple of days to go in Term 1, 2023 and it has been a positive start to the year for us here. Next term is a really important one with all students delving deeper into the learning in their modules and preparing to share their progress and learning with you all at our mid-year Individual Education Meetings (IEMs).

Next term is also a particularly big term for our Year 10 students who for the first time will get the opportunity to complete the NCEA numeracy and literacy corequisite assessments. The introduction of these corequisites is an important part of the NCEA change package that is being rolled out over the next two years. Essentially the literacy and numeracy corequisites are common assessment tasks meaning all students will complete a one off assessment task for literacy and numeracy in two assessment windows (Term 2 and Term 4) to achieve the required literacy and numeracy standards to achieve NCEA. The NCEA change means that students cannot achieve NCEA without these corequisites. Importantly, from this year, these common assessment tasks are available to all Year 9 and 10 students to complete also.

Over the last 12 months we have been preparing for this, ensuring we have the appropriate consent from the NZ Qualification Authority (NZQA) and our teaching and learning systems and programmes support as many students achieving these corequisites as possible.

Based on the pilot implementation over the last two years, students who are achieving around level five and above of the NZ Curriculum have a high chance of success in the one off assessment. Over the coming weeks we will be communicating more about the literacy and numeracy corequisites and what is required by students to ensure success in the assessment tasks. Early next term we will be offering an opportunity to come along and learn more about the literacy and numeracy corequisites. This will include growing your understanding of the learning required, the nature of the assessment tasks and what you can do at home to support your child achieving success. I encourage all Year 10 parents and caregivers to come along.

This year only Year 10 students will have the opportunity to complete the common assessments as we want to ensure our Year 9 students have more opportunity to set themselves up for success in 2024. We will have systems in place prior to the Term 2 and 4 assessment windows that give us a strong indication of any students’ readiness for the assessment. If a student is not ready they will not get the opportunity to complete the assessment this year.

Early next term we are also going to be offering after school tutoring to a small group of our Year 10 students who we think require some additional support to ensure their success in the literacy and numeracy corequisite assessment. If you receive communication about this opportunity then I encourage you to embrace this as a critical opportunity for ensuring success in the corequisite common assessment tasks.

At the end of the day, a critical indicator for success will be student engagement and commitment to their learning in their modules and flight times on a weekly and daily basis. Do your best to check in with how these are going via fortnightly effort and engagement grades and assessment/task results published in Schoology. If you have concerns and/or queries with how these are going then please communicate with your child’s advisor so we can assist in developing a plan that sets them up for success.