Term 3 Week 7 2023

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Book Week serves as a reminder of the value of reading and literacy in our lives. During Book Week we come together to celebrate books, and Australian authors and illustrators. It's a time to celebrate stories and encourage lifelong learning through the pages of a book. The 2023 theme of Read, Grow, Inspire reminds us of the power that books hold in the life of our students.  Our Book Week Parade on Tuesday was a wonderful way to celebrate this week. The students were buzzing with excitement and really got into the spirit of dressing as their favourite book character and enjoyed discussing their costumes with each other. One of our students who looks up to his Pop wanted to dress as him for the day. After his Mum explained that his Pop wasn’t a book character, this student went and wrote his own book. It was a privilege to have this student come to my office on Tuesday and share his book with me. Thank you to all of the families who were able to join us for the parade and stay for morning tea afterwards. A special thank you to Mrs Felesina and Miss Tatnell for organising our 2023 Book Week Parade.

Parent/Teacher Interviews will occur across Week 9 and 10 of this term.  While these interviews are optional, I would encourage all parents to make the most of this opportunity for the following reasons:

• It provides parents an insight into their child’s classroom
• Helps parents understand their child’s progress and areas they still need to work on
• It allows teachers to provide positive feedback to parents 
• It is another opportunity for you to raise any concerns you may have
• It helps to build partnerships between the school and home

We have a big week coming up next week. On Wednesday we have our Father’s Day Stall.  Please remember to send some money with your child/ren so that they can purchase something for their Dad or father figure.  Our final disco for the year is being held on Thursday night with the theme Back to the 80’s. We then finish the week with a Pupil Free Day on Friday. On this day teachers will be engaging in professional development around Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. 

During the week, you will have received an email from me regarding an extra Pupil Free Day in 2024 to be held on Friday 26th April, 2024.  The reason for granting this additional professional development day is to provide the time and opportunity for all teachers to prepare for the implementation of Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum at the commencement of 2025. This planning day will focus on supporting teachers to have a deep understanding of the changes to content and assessment from the current Australian Curriculum to the newly revised curriculum.  There is much planning already occurring in our school to ensure all teachers are well placed to provide rich learning experiences for their students.  This additional professional development day (pupil free day) will only occur in 2024.

Don’t forget about our Working Bee tomorrow. We would appreciate any help that you are able to offer.

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God Bless

Amanda

Religious Life of the School

St. Augustine

Monday next week is the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo. This feast day is one I often look forward to as St. Augustine is my confirmation saint. His love of learning and his faith in God is inspirational.

St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) was a renowned Christian theologian and philosopher whose life journey from a morally tumultuous youth to a transformative conversion profoundly impacted Western Christianity. He wrote many notable works and his emphasis on human sinfulness, divine grace, and the Trinity left an enduring mark on Christian theology and philosophy. St. Augustine remains a pivotal figure in shaping Western thought and religious discourse.

Save The Date

27th August, School Youth Mass, 5:30pm

31st August, Class Mass for Years 1, 2 and 5, 9am

15th September, Samaritan Day

Youth Mass

Don’t forget we have a Youth Mass this weekend. We hope you can join us.

God bless

Nicole

Learning Corner

NAPLAN makes HEADLINES!

I am sure you all heard the headlines on Tuesday evening about how poorly Australian children in years three, five, seven and nine performed in NAPLAN.

They didn’t tell us the geographical locations of the poorest results that impacted the overall result. Was there a concentration of outstanding or concerning results in particular geographical regions?

They didn’t tell us the context or location of the poorly performing students. Had there been natural disasters or community trauma in the areas in the early years of learning?

Has the influence of student attitudes and parental expectations on NAPLAN results been considered and examined?

Lack of funding and class sizes usually get the blame. Funding and smaller class sizes should theoretically improve results. In some studies, it has made a difference; in others, no improvement was noticed.

Improved results result from a combination of many factors, not all of which involve money.

This year, our NAPLAN results highlighted the effectiveness of the writing approach implemented last year and showed us that our next step is to examine how we can best meet students' needs to extend their comprehension skills. To be successful readers, a home environment that values reading, discussion and opinion sharing is vital.

Quest For Knowledge

Before heading to camp, the year six students participated in a general knowledge quiz to select the team representing our school in the TCE Quest For Knowledge.

Congratulations to Popi Loizou, Asha Licciardello, Reanna Rodrigo and Zara Scovazzi on their success. Zara was chosen as the team leader of ‘The Gargantuous Brains’. They will compete via Zoom with teams from schools across the Townsville Diocese on Thursday, September 7.

We wish them a challenging and enjoyable experience.

Rita Cranitch                                                                                 

Learning and Teaching Adviser

Inclusive Practices Teacher

Guidance Counsellor

In this edition of SchoolTV - SUICIDE & SELF-HARM

Young people today face a multitude of stresses in many areas of their life. Some of these stresses are the result of negative experiences. Unfortunately, as a coping mechanism, some young people resort to self-harm. The reason for this behaviour will vary for each individual, but generally, those that self-harm do not necessarily wish to commit suicide.

Tragically, suicide is the biggest killer of Australian youth and the statistics are alarming. Studies have shown that nearly 1 in 5, Year 12 students, have considered suicide or self-harm, because of exam and homework pressures. Self-harm in girls has increased by 200% over the last decade, and suicide calls to Kids Helpline have increased by 22%.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn to understand and recognise the warning signs in order to prevent the unthinkable from happening. The focus for parents should always be on identifying the underlying difficulty the child may be facing and be proactive in finding the best preventative measure.

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 Suicide & Self-harm edition of SchoolTV
https://sfatsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/suicide-self-harm

Tuckshop

Fathers Day Stall

Class in the Spotlight - PA

What a busy week we have had in Prep A.

In Religion, we have been learning about The Good Samaritan and the Ten Lepers. We have explored the good and bad choices that were made in the parables. 

In Literacy, we continue to build upon our knowledge of digraphs by learning a new digraph “ck”. In our Literacy rotations, we continue to create CVC words, learn our high-frequency words, and transfer this knowledge to our writing! We were so excited to share the Farm Animal posters we created at home with our friends for show and share. 

In Maths, we continue to build our knowledge of numbers by working with teen numbers. This week we are learning about the concept of addition. 

A big highlight of our week was the Book Week Parade. We always love a chance to dress up!

Prep A

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