NAPLAN Tests

I am not certain how many of you saw the news this morning where a teacher has been accused, and stood down, for manipulating NAPLAN tests in her classroom. Similarly, most of you would be aware of calls by the Australian Education Union to boycott the tests – this action was averted at the last minute through serious talks with Julia Gillard and direct intervention to ensure the tests went ahead. Most of you would probably have engaged in discussion within your schools about the use of those results on the new Federal Government website regarding schools.

I guess there is no simple answer to all of this. There are a great many parents who welcome the infromation from the Naplan testing as it gives them a broad picture of where their child stands up against the rest of his/her peers around the country. However, there are also a significant number of parents who are upset, angry and dismayed, for they already know that their child is succeeding below benchmark, and having their child sit these tests, already knowing they are going to fail…. well, it is heart-breaking and sad to see any child’s self-esteem chipped away.

With the empthasis on success rates, and high achievement in schools, I still wonder at the traditional lack of funding for appropriate resources for the children who are struggling. With it becoming harder and harder to prove need, the job of teaching children wtih so many learning challenges is becoming more and more of an issue for classroom teachers. I am not certain what the answer is, but I am glad that some of the main issues behind Naplan tests can be discussed in a rational way. The profession of teaching is under such scrutiny at the moment  – let’s hope with valid debate, we can fine-tune the education system to be equitable to all children.

Change is coming to 5energies!

Oooooooohhhhhhhhh! Next week is going to be so exciting. Our big middle room will be transformed on Friday into two therapy rooms, filled with natural light, but giving us more availability for parents and children. We have been hiring new staff, as many of you know, and in July all new staff will be trained in the 5energies way of thinking during some exciting professional development.

Having said all that, getting quotes, working through figures, designing spaces, choosing colours…. it has been an exciting time, but one also filled with a lot of brain cells working overtime! For those of you who come into the consultancy regularly, you would know that Alexandra has been off on sick-leave, as she took a nasty tumble onto very hard tiles a couple of weeks ago. She has done a magnificent job in managing her pain levels AND contributing greatly to the decision making process. We wish her well, and hope that her recovery is a lot faster in weeks to come.  If you have missed her around the consultancy, that is the reason why…

In the meantime, next week will see the building of new spaces and places – we are so very excited and look forward to showing you the new-look 5energies.

Some profound thoughts about children

What an amazing day it has been today. We have had all sorts of parents and their children walk through the door for their consultations, and without exception, your children are fantastic. Today there were lots of children wtih various issues, but the one thing they had in common was their infectious energy and their enthusiasm for life. We have our children for SUCH a short time overall, and it is our privilege to be a part of the teams of people helping to optimise things for these kids.

We take our vision seriously at 5energies, and our vision was to create a safe, supportive and enthusiastic learning environment for children with learning challenges. As I looked around the office today, I appreciated our amazing staff, and all that they were trying to do. I also looked at the children and realised what a gift they were also giving us, by allowing us to share their world for a little bit, and to offer a helping hand that might make a huge difference in their future.  Thank you for allowing us into your lives, if even for a short time.

Some reflections on technology…

Ahhh, things are a-changing at 5energies. As well as grappling with expanding premises, we have been on the search for updated technology to allow us to do what we want to do and enable greater productivity and communication.

I was just mulling that in my time as a teacher in school so many things have changed. My very first teaching position was at Umbakumba, a very remote settlement in the Gulf of Carpentaria. I hate to admit to living through the dinosaur days of technology, but this was prior to even Commodore computers moving into the school and home markets. This was even before the time of the Gestetner copying machine – my first stencils were made using what was called a ‘jelly pad’.

A jelly pad was made up of gelatine basically – a LOT of gelatine on a baking tray – and with texta pens (a new innovation at the time), one would write out some Maths (or whatever), place the texta pen written master stencil on the gelatine, face down, and after smoothing it firmly and lifting it off, place a blank sheet of paper on the gelatine to get an image on the paper. It would be good enough for six or seven images to be made before you had to write out your master stencil again.

Contrast that to the technology of today… No wonder schools have such a hard time keeping up though. Even the most innovative and financial schools of today are behind in their use of technology and sharing it with the bright minds of tomorrow. All I can say is thank goodness for the people who specialise in this field and have been kind enough to explain things in words I understand and in concepts I can come to grips with! So thank you to the experts in this field for understanding where we want 5energies to go – and for helping us to make this all a reality!

Welcome to Victor, Louise and Carol!

We are expanding!!

Over the past week we welcomed Victor and Louise, speech pathologists, to our team. It was a hectic week, with Victor and Louise thrown into a full schedule of clients – and by all accounts they were exhausted but happy!

Victor is working through the week, while Louise (photo on right) is taking over our Saturday sessions, and will shortly be joined by an Occupational Therapist.

Alexandra, our resident Speech Pathologist has been enjoying the company of Victor and Louise, and these two talented people have enjoyed their first few days as part of the team.

We were also remiss in not introducing you to Carol, who has started in the front office with Julie. Carol (photo below) and Julie are still the first people to contact, as they are the queens of the diary! Carol is also our resident bookkeeper so is keeping us on the straight and narrow!

The office will shortly be undergoing some renovations too – we are very excited about that too. We hope there will be a minimum of disruption, but are looking forward to the more usable spaces that are created.

So all in all, a time of excitement for us in 5energies. We are currently looking for another Occupational Therapist and a teacher to join out team too so if you know of anyone who might be interested, please get them to ring the office.

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