Term 1 Week 6 2023

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week sees us starting the second half of Term 1. All of our classes are working diligently with their learning and our Year 3 and 5 students are also busy preparing for NAPLAN. In order for students to have success, it is important that we develop a culture of high expectations. Over the first 5 weeks of the year, teachers have been using the strategy of No Opt Out with students.  At the center of this strategy is the idea that it is okay not to know, but it’s not okay to not try. This week teachers will be moving on to introducing the Right is Right strategy which focuses on students being right when the entire answer is given. When using this strategy, teachers acknowledge the partial answers that students give and encourage them to come to a complete answer by asking questions such as “you’re almost there, what else am I looking for?” or “can you dive deeper into your answer?” Using phrases like this ensures students feel as if they are getting part of it right but knowing that they aren’t completely there. It ensures that students understand whole concepts and allows for mastery of the subject matter.

Planet Protectors

This week our Year 6 Planet Protectors introduced the school to two new initiatives that they proposed to me at the end of last year. Firstly, they wanted to help look after the environment by participating in the Containers for Change Program. The Year 6 students have decided that the money that we raise from recycling our containers will be donated to St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal at the end of the year. We now have red buckets in our eating areas for students to place their containers. The second initiative is to do with composting. Last year some of the students wrote to local businesses asking for donations of empty large ice cream containers for their project. Thanks to both Dal Santos and Chill for providing these containers for the students.  All classes now have white compost bins to put their compostable waste. The Planet Protectors will be responsible for emptying the waste into the compost bins throughout the week. Both of these initiatives were introduced at Assembly yesterday. I look forward to providing further updates on the Planet Protectors project throughout the year.

Relationships

Quality relationships and partnerships with parents and caregivers are integral to our approach at St Francis. As parents, you are your child’s greatest advocate and support and are one of the most influential role models in their life. We believe that students achieve their best when parents and the school work in a close partnership together. It is essential that this relationship remains harmonious and positive. In order for this to happen, the Townsville Catholic Education Code of Conduct exists in order to guide parents, caregivers and volunteers in their dealings with staff, other parents, students and the wider school community.  All members of the school community are asked to abide by the rights, responsibilities and ethos outlined in this document. A copy can be found in this week's newsletter.

Occasionally, during the course of a child’s school years, a parent/carer, student or other persons may have cause to make a complaint about school/college decisions, processes, management, the conduct of staff and/or students, or have other general concerns. Townsville Catholic Education supports schools with a comprehensive process for these issues to be addressed which is outlined here.

I will be away at the Principal’s Meeting from Monday to Wednesday next week.  If you have any concerns during this time, please contact Nicole O’Connor Monday and Wednesday or Rita Cranitch on Tuesday.  

Have a great week.

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who offered to make pancakes, made pancakes, lent frypans or offered to buy ingredients. It was so lovely to be back together and able to make them ourselves. Your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to all the families that joined us for Ash Wednesday, your presence always makes our liturgies more special.

Project Compassion

We begin our annual Lenten Project Compassion journey by learning about Laxmi, a 16-year-old girl living in Jajarkot, a remote district in Nepal where almost half of the population lives below the poverty line. Tragedy struck when Laxmi was 10 years old and her father passed away. Her father worked hard to pay for his children's education and, after losing him, Laxmi was at risk of falling further into extreme poverty.

With the support of our partner Caritas Nepal, Laxmi joined a child's club at her school where she was encouraged to resume her education. Through the child’s club, Laxmi developed the skills and confidence to become a leader, advocating for clean water taps at her school. 

Laxmi is now excelling in her studies and working towards her dream of becoming a civil engineer. She continues to be involved in the child's club, serving as an advisor and mentoring the next generation of young leaders at her old school.

The money from our Free Dress Day will be sent to Project Compassion so it can be used for people like Laxmi.

God bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

 What happens if my child isn’t making progress?

We are halfway through the term and teachers are looking closely at the learning progress each child has made. This is also the time to identify the students who are not making progress even when support or adjustments have been provided.

If your child does not have a diagnosed learning disability and their teacher is concerned about your child’s progress they will contact you about their concerns. They will develop a plan to look closely at the area of concern. This is called the Educational Planning Tool which sets out the area to be addressed. This could be behaviour, reading, comprehension, writing or particular mathematical concepts. Included in the documents are the strategies and adjustments that will be tried.

After six to ten weeks the plan is reviewed to identify the progress made and the effectiveness of the strategies. This review will guide the next step which, after consultation with you, the parent, is a referral for assessment by the TCE Speech Language Pathologist or our Guidance Counsellor, to determine specific areas to be addressed, identify the strategies that are best suited to the child and to obtain recommendations on how best to address the child’s learning needs.

If you have concerns about your child’s progress you are welcome to contact your child’s teacher to commence the above process.

Promoting Literacy Development (PLD)

To become proficient readers, children need to have phonemic awareness. This is the ability to hear, focus on and manipulate sounds in a spoken word.  They are able to repeat the word accurately, identify the number of sounds they hear in a word and identify the first, middle and last sounds in a word. A child with good phonemic awareness will be able to tell you which sound is changed in the word ‘cat’, to make it ‘cot’. 

To be phonemically aware, children need to have good hearing. It is important in the early learning years to be conscious of your child’s hearing ability. A cold can greatly interfere with a child’s development of phonemic awareness. When children are finding reading a challenge, this is one of the first skills to be tested and practised.

 More on reading development next week.

   NAPLAN

Practice tests are continuing this week with children becoming increasingly proficient at logging in with their unique code and using the tools that form part of the tests.

Year 3 are practising writing in response to a stimulus. They are following the NAPLAN sequence of planning, writing and editing.

 The Year 5 students are practising their written tasks online.

 We are seeing that children with a mouse find it easier to manage the test.

If you are concerned in any way about your child’s learning and progress, do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

Have a great week

Rita Cranitch

Learning and Teaching Adviser

Inclusive Practices Teacher

Class in the Spotlight - 1A

It has been another fun-filled week in 1A. We are happy to announce that our plants are still going strong. The students are fantastic at remembering to water their plants each day and take great pride in seeing them grow or new sprouts popping up.

In Religion, this week we enjoyed celebrating Shrove Tuesday, particularly our delivery of pancakes. We also learnt about Ash Wednesday and Lent and made our own Lenten Promises.

In Circle Time, this week we focused on active listening. The Year 1’s enjoyed showing how they listen, then got to pretend not to listen to their partner.

In PE, students got competitive as they raced each other through the scooter board obstacle course. Students have been learning how to show respect to their opponents by shaking hands before and after their race. 

In Maths, we have been investigating length and practising measuring, comparing and ordering the length of items.

In English, we have been working hard during our literacy rotations to practice our phonics knowledge and reading skills.

1A

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P.A.T.H.

Our P.A.T.H. note winners for Week 6 are: 

Guidance Counsellor

Learning how to make new friends and keep them involves a number of skills every young person
needs to understand and develop. For some these skills will come very naturally, allowing them to
easily move between different friendship groups, sharing their experiences and opening up to new
people. For others, this can be much harder to navigate. Belonging to a group that is like-minded
with similar interests is highly beneficial to a young person’s wellbeing. It gives them a sense of
security helping them feel valued which in turn builds their confidence.

Positive friendships are an important part of the journey to adulthood. Adult carers can support
their child or teenager by providing guidance in the many social and emotional skills required for a
healthy relationship. This will help them to obtain, retain and maintain friendships. However, not all friendships are regarded as positive. Sometimes young people develop negative or toxic
friendships. Therefore, it is also important for them to learn how to identify, avoid or deal with such a friendship.

In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers can learn how to support their young person’s friendship
so that they experience a sense of belonging. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school Guidance Counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help. 

Here is the link to the Friendship &  Belonging edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/friendship-belonging

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