Dear Parents and Pupils,
As you will be aware, in normal circumstances primary schools are required to administer standardised testing during the period May/June for all students in 2nd, 4th and 6th classes. In NJS, we usually carry out standardised testing in all classes from First to Sixth class as well as carrying out general assessments in the Infant classes.
Earlier this week, the Department of Education and Skills made the decision to cancel Standardised Testing for primary schools for the 2019/2020 school year. The Department stated “that the priority in these times is to support the learning and wellbeing of all our learners. When schools return the focus for teachers and the whole school community will be on settling the children and returning to normality in the classroom without the added pressure of having to undertake standardised tests.”
We are delighted that the Department made this decision and fully agree with this approach. Therefore, we will not administer any standardised test this term.
Once we get back to school, we will generally assess how everyone is getting on, make plans based on that assessment and provide support where needed.
Although none of our usual tests will be carried out, we will be reporting to all parents towards the end of the Summer Term. Further information about reports will be given to you over the next few weeks.
For parents of Sixth Class Pupils, as required by the Department of Education and Skills, we usually prepare an Education Passport for Sixth Class Pupils. This passport contains information from each pupil, parents and from us and is passed on to each person’s secondary school. We hope to be able to put this together as usual and will be in touch about this next month.
Regards,
Ms McSweeney
Principal