Mrs Chaloner’s Chit-Chat
National Quality Framework and Standard aims to improve the quality of early childhood education (from birth to age 8) and care services across Australia.
Starting Blocks.gov.au explains “Providing children with quality experiences early in life can lead to better health, education and employment outcomes, building a productive and fair Australia.
The National Quality Framework includes legal requirements that all services must comply with.
These include requirements for:
- the number of staff and their qualifications
- ensuring children’s health and safety
- service space and layout
- the quality of developmental and learning experiences for children.”
The National Quality Framework sets a higher national standard to encourage services to continue to improve their programs and practices.
Services (including schools) are assessed and rated against seven quality standard areas of the National Quality Standard (NQS) as seen here:
Here at Alkimos Primary School the NQS is led by Mrs Cochrane. Mrs Cochrane has led staff to reflect upon our current practices and pedagogy. We will be having an NQS verification early next term.
National Quality Standard (NQS) verification provides schools with a supportive process to see how they are tracking against the NQS from an external perspective.
Verifications also help the Department make consistent and relevant decisions based on the:
- content of the NQS
- intent of the NQS
- unique school contexts across Western Australia.
During the verification visit the verifiers will:
- meet with school leaders
- visit all Kindergarten to Year 2 classrooms to observe usual teaching practice. The time in each classroom may vary
- speak with staff and engage with students
- visit outdoor areas and other learning spaces used by students
Verifiers will prepare a verification report based on their observations and discussions during the visit. The report will be available within four weeks of the visit. We look forward to sharing the report with our school community once it has been received.
As we head into our two-week school holiday break, I encourage all of our families to take a moment for rest and relaxation. We have had such a busy term, and with the addition of students, staff and families being sick with COVID (or other illnesses) it is important for everyone to recharge their batteries ready for Term 3. Below are some ideas for families to engage in over the break, in our local area that can help us all fill our brain and cup (without costing a fortune)
https://www.wanneroo.wa.gov.au/info/20062/youth/170/school_holidays
Mrs Sarah Chaloner
Associate Principal
