Mixed report card for NAPLAN

AMIDST national critique of NAPLAN testing, a handful of Great Southern schools have jumped on board with the assessment’s latest development of adapting to an online format.

NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) is completed annually by grade three, five, seven and nine students across Australia and is composed of reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy assessments.

The test has been presented in paper booklet form but is now moving toward using online software.

Great Southern Grammar and Spencer Park Primary School were two of many Western Australian schools selected to participate in an online trial run.

Spencer Park Primary principal Jeremy Hadlow told The Weekender he was excited his school would use the new technology again this year.

“We were one of the trial schools in 2017 and, since then, we have given the kids lots of opportunity to practice using the site,” he said.

“We have the technology and have had the kids learn to log in and manoeuvre around the site without issues, which is very important.

“We want to ensure their experience is a good one, and we are very happy with the students’ progress.”

Mr Hadlow said one benefit of the NAPLAN online format was its adaptability, with the difficulty level of questions presented to students during the test determined by their answers to previous questions.

“You can see where their abilities actually lie, which is a real positive,” he said.

“We can also pause the test if we need to address ICT issues, and the timeframe for results should hopefully be shorter, so I’m excited for our school to participate as a way of stepping into the future.”

Great Southern Grammar principal Mark Sawle said the online NAPLAN format could create faster results and be a more sustainable way of creating test papers.

But he questioned the validity of scrapping pen and paper testing.

Mr Sawle confirmed Great Southern Grammar students would not use the online NAPLAN format this year.

“It is critical to ensure that online testing does not reduce the validity of the knowledge and understandings that are being tested,” he said.

“For example, in year three writing, do students have the typing skills to undertake the test? Are we testing the students’ capacity to type, rather than their capacity to create a narrative, for example?”

Mr Sawle also suggested schools more remote than Great Southern Grammar had issues with internet bandwidth and therefore there was an issue with equity.

“It has been suggested that in some schools, year 11 and 12 classes cannot use the internet on the NAPLAN testing days due to issues with insufficient bandwidth,” he said.

“Also, access to computer labs and one-to-one devices is variable across schools.”

WA Education Minister Sue Ellery confirmed $7.5 million had been provided for infrastructure upgrades and additional devices to help public schools prepare for NAPLAN Online, an amount she says will total $10 million by 2020.

Ms Ellery told The Weekender NAPLAN testing would be reviewed next month.
The online rollout comes amid recent statements by New South Wales Education Minister Rob Stokes that NAPLAN should be scrapped.

“The broader issue of NAPLAN is regularly discussed at Education Council meetings,” Ms Ellery said.

“It was decided at the last meeting, three weeks ago, to consider terms of reference for a review of NAPLAN, including reporting of NAPLAN results, at the next meeting in June.

“The feedback I receive in WA is that parents want to see published data about how their students, and how their schools, are achieving literacy and numeracy, and they want the information presented in a way that is easy to understand.”

NAPLAN will be conducted next week from May 15. Mr Hadlow said schools participating online would have a 10-day window to complete the testing, to “spread the load” on schools’ internet capabilities.

According to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority – the organisation responsible for developing NAPLAN and reporting the results – schools across Australia will start to move to NAPLAN Online from this year on an opt-in basis.

The Authority’s website confirms state and territory education authorities are responsible for determining when their jurisdictions move to NAPLAN Online.

The WA Department of Education website states that all schools will complete NAPLAN Online in 2019.

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Time to combat influenza

INFLUENZA season is rapidly approaching and the single best way to protect yourself from the illness is to get vaccinated each year, according to WA Country Health Service (WACHS).

Population Health Director for WACHS Great Southern Sandra Crowe said flu vaccine protection is most effective during the three to four-month period after the vaccination.

She said because flu activity in WA most commonly peaks between August and September, now is the best time to get the jab.

“To get maximum benefits, the best time to get the flu vaccine is during May or early June,” she said.

“Each year, a new vaccine containing the most common strains of circulating influenza is produced, so getting vaccinated every year is important because the most common strains of the influenza virus change every year.”

Ms Crowe urged people to remember the seriousness of the highly contagious disease, which she says presents itself in the form of fever, aches, pains, cough and sore throat.

“Importantly, the vaccine is not made from a live virus, so you can’t get the flu from the flu vaccine,” she said.

The Weekender’s own Kristen Gardiner (pictured) said she will be taking up the company’s offer to provide employees with the flu vaccine, despite her slight fear of needles.

The flu vaccination is available at pharmacies and doctor surgeries across the Great Southern, including Albany’s Southern Regional Medical Group.

At SRMG, the jab will be free for people over the age of 65, pregnant women, people with a chronic health condition and for children under five.

For all other patients, the out-of-pocket expense will be just $13.50.

Participating pharmacies include Amcal, Terry White Chemmart, Priceline Pharmacy and Friendlies Pharmacy, but you can also call your GP to see whether they administer the vaccination.

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Liberal leader calls for shopping hours ‘fix’

PREMIER Mark McGowan will not compel the City of Albany to extend trading hours for Coles and Woolworths, while Opposition Leader Mike Nahan and the Economic Regulation Authority say Albany’s shopping hours must be liberalised.

Mr McGowan told The Weekender he did not intend to change the long-term arrangement where local councils decide when Coles, Woolworths and ALDI can open.

“The council makes the decision,” he said.

“I’m happy for that to continue.”

But Dr Nahan, who has a PhD in Economics, said trading hours needed to be consistent across regional Western Australia.

“Albany is an important tourist region and it would be bewildering for visitors to the city to not be able to shop on a Sunday at retailers when they can do so in other regional centres, or in their home towns,” he said.

“Not only should we have shops being able to open on weekends to provide choice for consumers and employment opportunities for locals, it is important to provide certainty and consistency for tourists.”

Albany is the only place in the south-western corner of Australia with a Coles, Woolworths or ALDI where these larger supermarkets are not permitted to trade on Sundays and most weeknights.

IGAs can trade seven days a week, and every weeknight.

Dr Nahan said customers should not be denied choice, nor young people jobs.

“It is inconceivable that on a Sunday someone in Albany can purchase groceries online, but they can’t go to a bricks-and-mortar shop, which is paying rent while it is closed, which is not employing anyone while it is closed, because of the antiquated trading hours,” he argued.

“I note that Albany has lower median incomes, so introducing competition can drive down prices, which is in the interests of consumers, particularly those on fixed and low incomes.

“It’s time to fix this.”

Asked if employment gains at larger supermarkets could come at the expense of jobs at his North Road IGA, proprietor Bob Cybula referred The Weekender to a spokesman who suggested that it speak to WA Branch Secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association Peter O’Keeffe.

Mr O’Keeffe said emphatic anecdotal evidence from members of his union, was that big supermarkets did not employ extra staff when trading hours were extended.

“What you’ll find is they’ll stretch the existing staff,” he said.

“They’ll get salaried staff to work additional hours.

“Typically, [the large retailers] don’t get huge boosts in their wages budgets just because there’s been an extension of trading hours.”

Mr O’Keeffe said that in a deregulated environment, people who shop at night or on Sundays at an IGA tend to shift to the bigger supermarkets.

“The small stores will come under pretty savage pressure in terms of sales and they may well start laying staff off,” he added.

He said the union objected to extended trading because members would be compelled to work beyond hours to which they had become accustomed and planned their lives around.

In 2014, the Economic Regulation Authority recommended that shopping hours be fully deregulated statewide except for three public holidays.

ERA Chair Nicky Cusworth said her organisation had not examined the issue since.

“The ERA stands by the recommendation made in its Inquiry into Microeconomic Reform in Western Australia that trading hours should be fully deregulated with the exception of Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day morning,” Ms Cusworth said.

In 2016, a majority of Albany councillors voted down a plan, put forward by a senior city official, that in 2019 the council consider consulting the community on extended shopping hours.

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Mandatory life jacket lifeline

PREMIER Mark McGowan says a trial of mandatory life jackets will occur at Salmon Holes after two Afghani nationals from Mount Barker were swept from rocks at the Albany fishing hotspot on Saturday.

The 45 and 50 year old survived, but both were rushed to Albany Hospital for treatment after they were swept off rocks just after midday and made their way to a reef before onlookers helped them to the beach.

In the wake of the latest emergency incident at Salmon Holes, Mr McGowan on Monday said trialling mandatory lifejackets for rock fishers there was a priority for his government.

“Look, what we’ve seen in the course of the last 15 or 16 years is 34 people die from coming off the rocks while fishing,” he said.

“That’s more than double the number of people killed by sharks.

“So obviously we need to take further action.”

On Easter Monday, days after a coroner’s report into the deaths of Perth fishermen Chunjun Li and Jialong Zhang at Salmon Holes in Easter 2015 recommended that lifejackets be mandated for rock fishers, Bayonet Head man Samuel Roth was swept to his death off rocks near West Cape Howe.

Mr McGowan acknowledged some safety measures had already been implemented, with tie-down points and life-saving rings placed at dangerous spots.

“But we still see people injured or killed rock fishing,” he said.

“So what we’re looking at is gazetting certain areas where you must wear a life jacket if you’re rock fishing.

“Salmon Holes in Albany would be an obvious candidate for that.”

Mr McGowan said the chances of someone surviving a fall into the ocean while wearing a life jacket were “very high”.

“That’s one of the things that we’re looking at, whether existing laws allow us to gazette areas like that as requiring wearing a life jacket,” he said.

“If the existing laws don’t allow us to do that, well then we’ll have to look at what new laws need to be drafted or new regulations need to be drafted.

“It would only be in certain defined locations, not on every rock across every beach in Western Australia.”

Mr McGowan said a mandatory lifejacket law would be enforced by Parks and Wildlife, and Fisheries, officers.

“I’ve spoken to [Fisheries] Minister [Dave Kelly] about this after the fatality in Albany,” he said.

“Because, what the Coroner said, as I understand it, was that if you go rock fishing then you need to wear a life jacket.

“Now, obviously where the coastline’s 16,000km, [it’s] very difficult to police that and also, what actually is a rock versus a beach, if you know what I mean.”

For anyone who did not know what he meant, the Premier painted a picture.

“You can sometimes be standing on a beach and there’s rocks there – are you rock fishing?” he posed.

“So, what I thought was a good compromise way of dealing with that is you gazette certain areas where there have been fatalities before and you say if you’re going to rock fish there you must wear a life jacket.

“And Salmon Holes would be an ideal trial location.”

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Stage set for WAFL clash

THERE will be some familiar Great Southern faces floating around for Claremont next Saturday when the Tigers take on South Fremantle for the West Australian Football League’s commemorative match at Centennial Stadium.

Claremont head coach Darren Harris visited the venue last week and said there would be a strong contingent of former Great Southern players making the trip down.

“A few of our Great Southern players have really come along,” Mr Harris said.

“Bailey Bennett is doing really well and playing really well; Matty Palfrey is due to come off suspension and will play soon.”

Following an inspection of the facilities and playing surface at Centennial Stadium, Harris said he was impressed with the ground.

“You just look at the surface and it’s fantastic,” he said.

“You must be very proud of the facility you have down here.

“It’ll be great to see a big crowd out here watching a great game of WAFL.”

The Tigers will head into the match with a mixed bag of results following an opening round loss and last weekend’s slender four-point victory over East Fremantle, 83-79.

South Fremantle got their season off to a good start, beating West Perth 96-88.

“We’re taking steps in the right direction, but our first game left us a bit disappointed,” Harris said.

“We’ve been working really hard ahead of our Albany game to make our efforts more consistent.”

As a nod to the relationship with the Great Southern Football League as a catchment zone for budding WAFL players, the Tigers will run clinics during their visit.

“We want to do some community work before the game, so the clinics will be great for every kid to get along to,” he said.

Mr Harris said he hoped his club would be able to return more frequently to the region.

“We’ve had a long history down here, so to come down and bring the Albany boys is a great way to give back the community,” he said.

“It’s my understanding that there are plans in motion between the WAFL and the City to make this an annual event for the club.”

Game day proceedings start at 9am on April 28, with kick-off for the main match at 2.40pm.

Tickets will be available at the gate.

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Water meets land in Walpole

ARTISTIC expressions of land and sea emerge in Petrichor Gallery’s latest exhibition at its Walpole home base.

Waterline is a combined effort between local artist and curator Elizabeth Edmonds and Mandurah-based Stephen Draper, and focuses on both the imaginary and real-life line representing where water meets land, and above and below water.

Ms Edmonds created the paintings and Mr Draper produced the sculptures.

Ms Edmonds said Mr Draper’s sculptures were made from upcycled teak, as this material is lightweight, strong and easy to sculpt.

“His work is just superb,” she said.

“His art has a beautiful, light feel and uses light colour wash, similar to the beach.

“He’s been so generous supporting art in our region and his work has been very well received by the locals.”

Ms Edmonds said her contributions to the exhibition were designed to complement Mr Draper’s, and also feature soft, beachy tones.

“We’ve had overwhelming feedback from visitors,” she said.

“It’s just been a really great experience.”

Waterline will be available for viewing every day until April 29 from 10am
to 4pm at Petrichor Gallery, located on Nockolds Street in Walpole.

All works are for sale.

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Treadly ready for festival

ALBANY’S renowned Vancouver Street Festival is getting a shake-up ahead of its planned May 12 schedule.

The famous Tweed Ride, a feature of the arts and heritage event, will invite retro cyclists to ride into town at their own pace and in their own time, rather than sticking to a specific route.

Cyclists will, however, have a window of time from 11am until noon to get their photo taken at the festival ahead of the competition judging.

In previous years, bicycles such as penny farthings have made an appearance.

WA Historical Cycling Club member Murray Gomm said there will be four categories riders can battle it out for.

“There will be most magnificent bike, most fetching lady, most dapper chap and most magnificent hair,” he said.

Mr Gomm said another new element to the street festival will be the way the retro transportation devices will be displayed.

“The penny farthings and historic bicycles will be ridden up and down Vancouver Street during the festival, which I think will be a bit of an attraction,” he said.

“There’s going to be an original penny farthing, a rare penny farthing tricycle and 20th century vintage bicycles.

“It’ll be a pretty rare opportunity to see these really ancient machines all together.”

Vancouver Arts Centre, the organising body of the event, confirmed other new features to the festival will include a Noongar choir and a focus on tree heritage.

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Half-million milestone

OUT of all the applications for funding the Albany Community Foundation has received since its inception four years ago, one sticks in the mind of founding chairman Tae Wood.

Chatting to The Weekender about the foundation reaching the half a million-dollar fundraising mark, Mr Wood revealed a story about a seven-year-old boy the foundation recently helped.

“He’s lived with his grandmother since his parents were incarcerated,” he said.

“His mother is in jail in Perth, so we help fund his visits to Perth and support his counselling.

“It resonated with me as I have children of my own, and it’s hard to see children affected by things out of their control.”

Mr Wood’s fundraising efforts, along with the 30-odd members who currently sit on the Albany Community Foundation (ACF) board, have seen many other disadvantaged individuals and families rise up from the ashes of their hardship and flourish once again.

ACF was the brain child of Mr Wood and a small group of other community members in 2013 who wanted to support local individuals and families who had fallen on hard times, and whose needs could not be met by other charities.

“We do it because we feel we live privileged lives, and it’s our responsibility to give back to the community,” Mr Wood said.

“We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve been strongly supported by the community, and the only challenge we’ve faced is trying to meet the needs of the community; we receive around 20 applications per month.”

ACF’s $500,000 – a combined kitty raised from Bogan Bingo nights, gala balls, quiz nights and $1000 per year board memberships – has helped fund extra curricula activities for disadvantaged students, PCYC’s Ice Breakers program, Albany local Kenny McGonnell’s recovery bike after he was left wheelchair bound following a motorbike accident, the Great Southern Mental Health Unit and Shalom House.

“Shalom House was our first successfully funded application,” Mr Wood said.

“It was absolutely amazing; it’s a very worthy cause and we were very proud to give away our first dollars to them.”

Mr Wood said ACF was proud of reaching its recent $500,000 milestone and would continue its fundraising efforts well into the future, with the aim of becoming the South West’s leading organisation promoting philanthropy.

If you would like to donate to ACF or find out more about becoming a board member, email [email protected].

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Barker gnomes rehomed

A NUMBER of gnomes have been removed from the Mount Barker roundabout due to fears they may stymie a public consultation process on the future of the circular intersection, and compromise safety on Albany Highway.

A solitary gnome appeared on the roundabout a fortnight ago, followed by half-a-dozen others that joined it in greeting southbound motorists to the Shire of Plantagenet’s largest town.

Then, one day the gnomes disappeared.

Acting Shire CEO John Fathers revealed it was he who arranged for “8 or 9 gnomes” to be removed and placed in protective custody at the shire.

“I got them taken away because I didn’t want to see a proliferation of gnomes on the roundabout given the council is going out to public consultation about what it wants to have seen on the roundabout,” he said.

“The more people put things like that into the roundabout, the more people are going to be disappointed when we have to take them away.

“And I didn’t really want to encourage people to park up on a major intersection of Albany Highway and put themselves to any danger.”

Mr Fathers said one owner had fronted up with a small amount of “bail money” to spring a gnome from the council clink, and that the cash would be donated to charity.

“We’ve had one of the owners come back and pick theirs up,” he said.

“I think she took away about three that she identified were hers.

“We’ll just hold them in the office and are quite happy to give them back to the owners if they come and collect them.”

A month-long consultation period on the roundabout’s aesthetics, foreshadowed a while back by The Weekender (‘Barker roundabout action’, February 10), will start this week.

“It’s a pretty important entry for the shire,” Mr Fathers said.

“It is amazing; everyone has an opinion on it.”

He said that whatever gets decided for the roundabout, the aim will be to have it “present a good image for Mt Barker”.

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Albany is the most generous

ALBANY folk give more of their income to charity than people from anywhere else in regional Western Australia, private sector research reveals.

The latest iteration of the National Australia Bank Charitable Giving Index shows that, in the year to February 2018, residents of Albany’s 6330 postcode donated 0.2 per cent of their income to charity.

That might not sound like much, but it meant Albany was the fourth most generous postcode in the state, behind the Perth locales of Beaconsfield/South Fremantle, East Fremantle and Inglewood.

The index compiles de-identified electronic spending data from NAB customers who donate to large charities including RSPCA, The Salvation Army, Oxfam and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

As such, cash donations and volunteer labour, associated with such fundraising endeavours as those of Weekender columnist Brendan Carson, are not included.

Dr Carson wrote a book, Heartline, which he is selling to fund the purchase of medical equipment at Albany Health Campus.

“Wow, how good is that?” he said of Albany’s impressive standing on the NAB generosity ladder.

“It does not surprise me.

“You go around and live in a beautiful place and it makes you feel good about everybody.”

Dr Carson said Albany people had been “stunningly supportive” of his fundraising.

“They have given their time and their enthusiasm, and we’ve had donations,” he said.

“The support has been overwhelming.

“It’s been lovely; they’re good people.”

He said sales of the book had gone very well, and raised enough to fund a mobile cardiac monitor for the hospital.

Aside from Albany, the only postcodes in regional WA to crack the Top 20 were Margaret River (6285) where residents donated 0.18 per cent of their income, and the Esperance suburb of Castletown (6450) where locals chipped in 0.17 per cent.

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