Term 2 Week 5 2023

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through Term 2. Over the next few weeks, students will be completing their assessment tasks for this term and teachers will be busy writing report cards. Reports will be issued on Friday 23rd of June via the Compass Portal. 

Logo Rebrand

As you would remember last year we went through Verification which is the first stage of our School Renewal Process. One of the things that came out of that process was the need for us to look at rebranding our school logo.  We would like to invite you to participate in a meeting to discuss the rebrand of our school logo. We are looking for your feedback. The meeting will take place on Tuesday 6 June at 8:45am in the Board Room. The meeting is expected to last approximately one hour and will be facilitated by the TCE Marketing Team. Simple refreshments will be provided. We are very excited to hear your thoughts and ideas. We believe that this is a great opportunity for our school and community to come together and make a positive change. If you are interested in participating, please RSVP to the Office by 1 June. 

Online Safety

As social media has become increasingly popular, many children are using platforms such as TikTok to connect with others and share content. Each social media site and app has its own criteria for minimum age requirements. Most require users to be at least 13 years of age before they can register. Social media presents potential risks and challenges. Parents and guardians should be aware of the content their children are consuming and posting and discuss guidelines for staying safe online. Please see the information below about TikTok and some helpful online safety tips for parents from the eSafety Commissioner.

Uniforms

As the weather is beginning to cool down, please remember that students must be wearing a school jumper to school.  Students are able to wear a maroon or navy blue jumper.  Please remember that the correct school uniform is to be worn at all times. If, for some reason, a student is unable to wear the correct uniform, a note must be sent to the classroom teacher.  This policy can be found in our School Handbook on the School Website.  In particular a reminder about hairstyles

• Hair should be:  neat, and clean with no fashion extremes in styling or cut, off the face, tied back natural colour  
• If shoulder length or longer, it should be tied up or back in a ponytail or plaits. 
• Ribbons, bands and scrunches should be simple and understated in school dress fabric or shades of plain blue, red or maroon.

Prep Open Day

We have our Prep Open Days coming up on the 9th and 12th of June.  If you or someone you know has a child due to start Prep in 2024, we invite you to come along for a taste of Prep. Please let us know if you are coming to one of our Prep Open Days.  Don’t forget to fill in your enrolment forms and drop them into the Office. 

The Resilience Project

Don't forget about our Parent Information Session on the Resilience Project with Ray Thompson on Tuesday evening at 5pm in the Samaritan Centre. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the Resilience Project and the concepts of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness, how we are implementing it here at school and how you can support this work at home.  The last time Ray came and presented this session we had parents saying just how much they learnt and what a wonderful presentation it was. I strongly encourage you to come along on Tuesday.

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

Mary Help of Christians

Next Wednesday is the feast day of Mary Help of Christians.

Mary Help of Christian is the Patroness of Australia. The feast focuses on Mary’s help to those in need through her intercession to confront sin and to stand against anti-Christian forces.  

The establishment of the feast has an interesting history and a unique place in the Catholic history of Australia.

Pope Pius VII first established the feast in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians in 1815. He had been imprisoned by Napoleon Bonaparte and established the feast in thanksgiving for his release.

The feast day devoted to Mary Help of Christians has been celebrated in Australia since 1844. The early Church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. No priests were sent to Australia in its early days and Mass was not allowed until 1820. To keep their faith alive people prayed the Rosary. 

Catholic Australia remained faithful to Mary and was the first nation to choose her under the title Help of Christians, as Patroness. Australia was the first country in the world to use Mary Help of Christians as a Patroness. We celebrate her and pray through her for help so Australia may be a country of harmony, justice and peace. 

Up Coming Events

Whole School Meditation

In honour of Mary Help of Christians

Wednesday, May 24

8:50 am, Samaritan Centre

Youth Mass - Pentecost

Sunday, May 28

5:30 pm, Sacred Heart Church

Celebrating Mass together is a great way to build community!

God bless

Nicole

Learning Connections

Teachers are completing the final learning cycle for the semester before they examine the progress made by each child in each learning area. Teachers will make a judgement on the level of learning demonstrated by each child before recording this in the Semester 1 Report.

What do teachers look for to determine how well children are progressing with learning?

The Australian Curriculum clearly sets out what they expect students to know, understand and be able to do at each year level. The QCAA (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) clarifies how the Australian Curriculum will be implemented in Queensland schools and provides resources for teachers to meet these expectations.

‘Teach’ and ‘learn’ are both verbs that require action from teachers and students. What students are expected to be able to do with the content of the Australian Curriculum is organised into four categories: Retrieval, Comprehension, Analysis and  Knowledge Utilisation.

Retrieval refers to a student’s ability to recall information from permanent memory.  This means that all students, to varying degrees, will be practising skills and using knowledge such as number facts, and phonics until they are automatic and they can call on this knowledge whenever needed.

Comprehension occurs when students are able to use what they already know to help them complete a task. For example, they have automatic knowledge of the formulae for finding area so when they are set a task to find the area of a circular shape they are able to use their knowledge of formulae to complete the task.  Comprehension is not limited to answering questions on a reading passage.

Analysis is a skill shown when students are able to make connections between what they already know to make inferences to learn beyond what has been directly taught. For example, they are able to classify animals based on dominant features. They would have been directly taught the dominant features of animals in particular categories but would not have been taught the category for each animal. It is up to the students to analyse the information and use it to categorise the animals.

Knowledge Utilisation is the ability to use what they know in specific situations. This is evidenced when students need to make decisions, solve problems, experiment and investigate.

All assessment tasks provide the opportunity for students to show how well they are able to retrieve, comprehend, analyse and use what they have been directly taught. Repetition and practice will contribute to only one element of a student’s learning progress.

Rita Cranitch

Learning and Teacher Adviser / Inclusive Practices Teacher

Guidance Counsellor

In this edition of SchoolTV - MINDFULNESS
Over the last decade, mindfulness has been slowly rising in popularity with many individuals
practising it on a regular basis. Evidence based research has found that there are many benefits
to mindfulness which has prompted schools across the nation to implement this practice into their
daily routines.
Mindfulness can be described as attention training for your brain, enabling you to focus on
something without judgement and to stimulate curiosity. Mindfulness can be practised in a number
of ways and is something that can be done by everyone - no matter what your age! It has been
practised by many cultures around the world, but it is not exclusively affiliated to any particular
philosophy or religion.
Mindfulness helps improve memory, engagement and performance. Its positive effect on the brain
can improve immunity, mental wellbeing, learning ability, emotional health and even, time
management. It is especially important in this era of information overload as our attention is
constantly being pulled in many directions making us more distracted.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn the best way to introduce this mindfulness to their
children, implementing into their daily lives to have an overall positive impact on family
relationships.
We hope you take time to reflect on the resources 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 Mindfulness edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/mindfulness

Class in the Spotlight -

We have had a very busy week in Prep A. We were excited to attend and perform at our very first Eisteddfod. Prep A and Prep B won the singing section on Monday and on Wednesday Prep A received 1st place for our poem. 

We have also been busy creating our very special gift for Mother’s Day. On Thursday we went to the Mother’s Day stall to buy a special gift for our mum.  

In Science this week, we are learning how objects move. We explored our playground and drew pictures of what equipment we saw move, and discussed how these objects move. 

In Maths, we continue with our number work by working with teen numbers. In English we created a story map of The 3 Billy Goats Gruff, we listed the characters, the setting and the beginning, middle and ending of the story. 

In Health, we discussed bike safety and designed a bike helmet. We are very excited for Bike Day.

Prep A

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Tuckshop

Tuckshop are seeking help on Fridays.  If you are available to help out please complete the form below and return to the school office.

Prep Open Day

Athletics Carnival

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