Week 8 - Term 1

Dear families,

We are fast approaching the end of term one, and while it has in many ways been a roller coaster ride, I am immensely proud of the way students and teachers have managed the complexities we have faced, and have maintained a very high standard of teaching and learning. As I visit classrooms, I am constantly amazed by the quality and depth of instruction, the absolute care and attention each individual child receives, and the calm, purposeful and flexible  learning environments created by our educators.

We continue to experience some cases of Covid 19 in our school community, with both children and staff impacted. At this stage, I don’t anticipate any further easing of restrictions-particularly in light of the change of government. This means that, for now at least, a number of community based activities remain on hold-for example we have had to postpone our year 6 camp. Unfortunately, parents remain unable to come into the quadrangle or classrooms. I am as frustrated as you are about this, however the health and wellbeing of the children and staff is of paramount importance and we must follow the health advice. Let’s hope that term 2 brings some reprieve.

One of the major pieces of work being undertaken this term has been a focus on the way we teach our students to learn to (and consolidate) read and use language effectively. You have most probably seen videos we shared earlier in the term, as well as read articles in our newsletter, focussing on the ‘science’ of teaching reading. This is a very important school improvement strategy for us, and we are very much looking forward to seeing the positive impact on the students reading ability, over the coming months and years. My sincere thanks to all staff and in particular Christie-lee Hansberry, who is our Literacy coordinator and Sarah Battistella who is leading the implementation of our reading intervention program.

This week, we have been celebrating Harmony Week. Harmony Week celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. We have hosted a number of activities, including some beautiful liturgies by our reception students and teachers. My thanks to Angela DeNadai for coordinating these activities.

We have been busily preparing for parent-teacher conversations. These will take place during week 10 of this term, from Monday 4th-Friday 8th April. In most instances these meetings will take place via phone call or Microsoft teams, due to the current restrictions in place. As part of the preparation for these conversations, some families will have received documented ‘Personalised plans for learning’ and these plans will be an integral component of the con versations. Please look out for your invitation to book a time!

Another of the successful aspects of our term one work has been the implementation of SZapp as our primary communications platform. Almost all families have been successfully using the app, however in a small number of instances, we have discovered that if a different email address is used than the one recorded in the school’s database, there are sometimes difficulties in receiving information via the app. Please ensure you use the same email address for both purposes.

Last week, we conducted our school AGM. Because of restrictions, it happened in a very different format, will sharing of reports, and board elections taking place via SZapp. While this wasn’t the usual way of conducting an AGM, it was nonetheless successful. I was delighted to receive 7 nominations for 5 board positions, necessitating an election. As previously announced, my congratulations to Tom Atyeo, Penny Fisher, Jennifer Dullens, Slavka Rosewall and Sarah McCabe on their election to the school board. My sincere thanks to Paul Gobell for his significant service to the school board over many years, and to Natalie McKellar who has supported the school community in many ways over the years.  The new school board will gather shortly for induction and to set the course for 2022!

Have a great week everyone,

God bless,

Phil

Dear Families,

Learning Conversations

Teachers will be meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress in Week 10. This is an important opportunity for an exchange of information between parent and teacher, so I encourage you to engage. All conversations are of 15 minutes duration. Please ensure you have booked a time to meet with your child’s teacher.  Information regarding the booking process went out this week.

NAPLAN

This year, students across Australia will complete their NAPLAN tests in Term 2 online via a computer or another electronic device.

A critical step in preparing for NAPLAN online is schools’ participation in readiness testing activities.

Today, the year 3 & 5 students participated in a national coordinated Practise Test. The ‘NAPLAN Practice Test’ was a 45 minute omnibus style test.  It included questions from the reading, conventions of language and numeracy domains.

The purpose of readiness testing activities was to ensure the students familiarity with their device and the online test environment, as well as to test school and national infrastructure systems and processes.

Readiness testing is not another NAPLAN and did not formally assess students who participate in the test.

More information on NAPLAN Online 

God Bless,

Nives Kresevic

Lenten Habits

Praying Daily

If you make a habit of saying a little prayer whenever someone irritates you, cuts you off in traffic, or makes life difficult; when someone does you a favour, you experience great and friendly service, or when something joyful happens to you—you will soon find yourself praying your way through the day. 

A Different Type of Fasting

There are many ways to fast. Why not fast from criticism, gossip, judging others, or passing on rumours? Why not abstain from unwarranted fear and anxiety? You can also tell that inner voice inside your head that criticizes you to abstain from eroding your ability to be the confident, blessed person God calls you to be.

Give of Yourself 

Daily life also offers countless opportunities to give of yourself to others (alms), and most don’t involve dipping into your wallet. Give encouragement to the doubting, give a word of praise to the insecure, show kindness to someone who could use a friend, and offer a word of thanks to those whose service of others often goes unappreciated. Give the gift of your attention to someone who simply wants to be noticed. Tell your children stories about people whose values you admire when you gather at mealtime. Don’t be stingy with your smiles—give them freely to everyone you meet. And most important, give your love to those close to you. Hug them, hold them, and tell them what they mean to you. In this way you open your heart to God and others.
So no matter how busy you are in life, with some greater awareness and new perspectives you can consciously pray, fast, and give of yourself this Lent—and you will be ready to celebrate when a joyful dawn breaks upon you Easter morning. 
(adapted from Resources for your Lenten Journey)

World Day of Prayer for Peace - 25th  MARCH

On Friday 25th of March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, Pope Francis has called all Catholics together to pray for peace. As we pray, Pope Francis and other religious leaders around the world will consecrate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the hopes of lasting peace.

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD - 25th  MARCH

This feast originated in the East during the sixth century and gained universal observance in the West during the eighth century. The feast of the Annunciation of the Lord celebrates the angel Gabriel's appearance to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38), his announcement that the Blessed Virgin had been chosen to be the Mother of Our Lord, and Mary's fiat—her willing acceptance of God's holy plan.

SACPSSA Swimming Carnival

On Tuesday 22nd March our school swimming team competed at this years Section 2 SACPSSA Swimming Carnival. The carnival was held at Burnside outdoor pool. The day started out perfect with warm air but overcast conditions, soon enough the skies grew darker and the clouds became heavier and we were rained on for the next few hours. This didn’t bother the students of course, one student was heard saying “wow this is so cool, swimming in the rain”. Overall our Girls and Boys both finished in 6th position. We had plenty of individual achievements with student finishing their races in the top 4 and receiving a ribbon. We also had some of our club swimmers beat their own PB times.

Well done to 3 of our relay teams who placed in the top 4

Year 3 Girls 3rd

Year 5 Boys 1st

Year 6 Girls 3rd

Congratulations to all of our students who attended and well done, truly a fantastic effort and achievement by everyone.

A special thank you to Terri Sparrow and Penny Fisher who came along as our school official volunteers and had very important roles on the day that helped the day run as smooth as it did.

SAPSASA Softball

Congratulations to Sophie Luttrell from 6MS who has been selected in the final team for the Airport District SAPSASA Softball team, Sophie and her team will compete at the district state carnival during week 11. We wish Sophie and her team all the very best.

SAPSASA Cross Country

ARE YOU A RUNNER!!!, WE WANT YOU!!!

This year’s SAPSASA cross country trials will be conducted on Friday 6th May at Barrett Reserve, West Beach, this is the first Friday back in Term 2. In order to be prepared and ready to attend our students will first need to qualify for the trials by attending our own school trials first.

SAPSASA cross country age groups are as follows

• 10 years 2km– athletes born in 2012
• 11 years 3km – athletes born in 2011
• 2 years 3km – athletes born in 2010

If your child fits within these age groups and you are interested in them trialling they must attend the following sessions. Please ensure your child is able to complete the set distance without undue physical or emotional distress. This is a SAPSASA event and is not a ‘come and try’. For the safety of competitors, runners unable to complete the course within the time guidelines will be asked to drop out of our trialling process. Students are asked to please meet me on our school oval at 8:15am on the following days

Week 9 Wednesday 30th March, Friday 1st April

Week 10 Wednesday 6th, Friday 8th April

Week 11 Wednesday 13th April

The successful students will be notified on Thursday 14th April.

School Soccer/School Football (AFL) 

Nominations are now open for students to sign up to participate in 2022 school soccer and school football (AFL) teams. To nominate your child/ren please go onto the SZapp and click on the Sports Tile on the home page and then click on the sport you wish nominate for. Please make sure all nominations are received by Friday 1^st April. No late nominations will be accepted unless extra players are required for teams.

James Daley

Sports Coordinator

Already Week 8? Wow! Although we still have some students learning from home due to Covid, it is wonderful to have most students back in the classroom with us. As you are all aware, our morning literacy block, based on the ‘Science of Reading’, occurs each morning across the whole school. This article will go into more detail about what we are teaching in these blocks and why we have changed our teaching.

The Big 6 of Reading

Each classroom teacher would have talked to you about the Big 6 in their Parent Information talk. The research is clear that if we teach these 6 components systematically and purposefully, then we will teach our students to read. That, of course, is our main aim! Let me unpack the first 3 of the Big 6 of reading today.

Oral language – the foundation of learning to read and is related to a student’s overall reading progress. It is important in both reading and writing. Students who are surrounded by rich and increasingly complex conversations have an advantage in their vocabulary development. In our Early Years classrooms, oral language is a focus when we elaborate on student's language by adding new information, extend conversations through questioning, reinforce language through repetition, model self-talk and build other communication skills, such as taking turns and eye contact.
Phonological awareness - the ability to focus on the sounds of speech instead of the meaning of speech.  The stream of speech can be separated into individual words, those words can be broken up into syllables, and those syllables are made up of separate, single sounds. A child’s phonemic awareness is the single best predictor of their future reading ability. In all classes in our school, we explicitly teach and practice phonological awareness skills using the Heggerty program.

Phonics – relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. Reading development is dependent on a student’s understanding of the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language. "Decoding" is the act of sounding out words using phonics. Phonics skills will be taught in Early Years classes in an explicit, systematic way; progressing from simple to complex. Students will progress through the continuum as they master skills. Our aim during explicit phonics instruction lessons is to enable students to ‘crack the code’. This means that students will acquire the skills of mapping the 26 letters of the alphabet to the 44 speech sounds with an emphasis on decoding words.  In the primary years (4-6), word study will continue with spelling rules, grammar and morphology (learning about word parts such as affixes, Greek and Latin roots).

The last 3 components of the Big 6 – vocabulary, fluency and comprehension are as important and are taught in classroom alongside the first 3 components.  The ultimate goal of all reading instruction is for students to understand what they read. Reading comprehension occurs only when students have both decoding/word recognition skills and language comprehension skills.

Hopefully this gives you more of an idea about why we teach the way we teach and what is involved. As Dr Louisa Moats, US literacy expert explains, teaching reading really IS rocket science!

Keep on reading!

Christie-Lee Hansberry