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Home / Lifestyle

Teacher's heartwarming note not as it seems

By Benedict Brook
news.com.au·
11 May, 2017 03:38 AM5 mins to read

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The note reportedly sent to some students at a school in Sydney's Hills District. Photo / Facebook

The note reportedly sent to some students at a school in Sydney's Hills District. Photo / Facebook

With this year's NAPLAN tests in full swing, a heartwarming note from a teacher is doing the rounds that reminds stressed out students that there is more to life than exams.

Shared on Facebook, the note tells students "there is no way to 'test' all the wonderful things that make you "YOU" [sic]".

But the note, as well-intentioned as it is, may not be all it seems. A suspiciously similar note - with very similar language - has cropped up before.

This week, primary school students across the country sat down to start their NAPLAN tests.

The controversial exams, which some educators believe are not the right approach to assess the learning progress of kids, tests literacy and numeracy skills.

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In order to calm nerves, one teacher, reportedly from Sydney's Hills District, sent students home with a letter last week.

The note said there is something "very important" the student should know.

"This test does not assess all of what makes you special and unique," the teacher writes.

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"The people who score these tests don't know that some of you love to play chess, are good at drawing, can speak another language, are good at dancing or a great soccer player.

"They cannot tell you how you brighten up your teacher's day.

"The scores you get from this test will tell you how you did on that day but ... they can't tell you how amazingly special you are."

The note has been circulated on various parents' groups on social media. One mum praised the teacher, "What an awesome teacher and human being to send a letter home for these kids ... NAPLAN does NOT define who they are!"

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However, while the note may have an inspirational message for students, it's not an original message.

In fact, it could fall foul of one of the worst misdemeanours in the classroom - plagiarism.

In 2014, a teacher from Britain's Barrowford School in Lancashire wrote a similar letter to her students following their Key Stage 2 tests - the UK exams during primary years.

It said, "The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you the way your teachers do, and certainly not the way your families do," reported the BBC.

"They do not know that many of you speak two languages. They do not know that you can play a musical instrument or that you can dance or paint a picture. They do not know that you write poetry or songs or participate in sport.

"They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or that your laughter can brighten the dreariest day.

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"The scores you get will tell you something but they will not tell you everything."

So far, so same as the Sydney note.

But, it turns out, this note wasn't that original either. It was based on - and used very similar language to - a note written by a US education academic.

In 2013, Kimberly Hurd wrote a blog post where she railed against the "testing culture" in schools.

"Tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each student special and unique," wrote Ms Hurd.

"They do not know each student the way I do and certainly not the way the families do.

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"They do not know that some of my students speak two languages or more. They do not know that they can play a musical instrument or that they can dance or paint a picture.

"They do not know that they are someone who friends can count on to be there for them or that the sound of their laughter can brighten the dreariest day or my classroom."

Wow. There are posts all over the world about this letter!! All we did was remind our Y6 how amazing they are!!! pic.twitter.com/nKNGhwc9MY

— Barrowford School (@BarrowfordSch) July 15, 2014

At the time, Barrowford School's principal, Rachel Tomlinson, agreed the two pieces of writing bore an uncanny resemblance.

She admitted she had stumbled across the blog post six months previously. She used much of it as the basis for her letter because she felt it contained sentiments worth passing on to the children, reported the UK's Telegraph.

When it was discovered Ms Hurd's writing was the basis for the UK letter, the American academic was nothing if not gracious.

In a Twitter post, Ms Hurd said, "the message is more important than the messenger."

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Unfortunately for Barrowford School, the students' may have taken its contents too much to heart.

In 2015, Britain's education regulator visited the primary and rated the teaching quality as "inadequate".

Staff expectation of pupils' attainment was "not high enough", the report said.

News.com.au has attempted to track down the Sydney school which has sent out the letter to its pupils.

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