Newsletter Term 3 Week 5

24.08.23

Assistant Principal Learning and Wellbeing

Dear Families,

Here we are mid-way through Term 3 already. Our mid-year Receptions and new cohort of Little Stars are becoming more familiar with their surroundings and our older cohorts continue to engage in some wonderful learning opportunities and experiences. Our learners and educators continue to utilise and co-construct learning intentions and success criteria. Learning intentions are statements that summarise the purpose of the lesson (and/ or unit) and generally include terms such as ‘know’, ‘understand’ or ‘be able to’. Success criteria relate to the evidence that determines if students have learnt what was intended and include the statement ‘I can’. The primary purpose of success criteria is to support assessment and feedback for both the learner and the educator. You will see these presented in a variety of ways across our school from posters within the classroom, in an assessment rubric, on a student’s personal device or on a learning task card. I wonder if you asked your child about a specific learning intention area they are currently covering in class, if they could articulate that with you?

Phonics Screening Check
This week our Year 1 students have undertaken a phonics screening check (PSC) which is mandatory in all CESA Diocesan Schools. The screener is an additional tool that helps inform our teachers and system on how our learners are progressing in phonics. It is undertaken with children 1:1 by the classroom teacher. This assessment, in addition to our DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills) assessments undertaken twice per year continue to support the teaching, learning and intervention of literacy at our school.

Multisensory Synthetic Phonics
I am sure you have heard our school, our educators and our intervention team talk about our multisensory approach to literacy, but does that actually mean? A multisensory approach includes the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic part of our brain – in simple terms, when students see it, say it, hear it and write it, simultaneously, they can create multiple memory traces in their long-term memory. These multi modes then back each other up when it comes to retrieval. In our phonics lessons you will see arm movements, whiteboard scribing with a texta, repeat after me exercises, air writing and finger pointing – all multisensory methods to reinforce long term memory.

Matilda’s Grit
It would be remiss of me to not mention the phenomenal effort of our Women’s National Soccer team during the recent World Cup! Growing up in a soccer household, my appreciation and understanding of the game has always been close to my heart, however how these inspiring women captured the heart of a nation was something extraordinarily inspiring to witness. I recently watched a Ted talk about an educator who was working in New York City public schools that left teaching to pursue psychology. Her main field of study centred around studying children and adults in all kinds of challenging settings to find out ‘who was successful here and why?’ Her research team worked with military academies, participants in National Spelling Bee competitions, private companies and schools. In all those different contexts, one characteristic continued to emerge as the significant predictor of success and it wasn’t social intelligence, IQ, family background, wealth or physical health. It was GRIT.

So, what is grit? Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina, grit is sticking to your future, day in day out, not for a week, not for a month but for years on end and working hard to make that a reality. I connected that to the Matilda’s as I watched and listened to the media coverage surrounding the women’s commitment to their sport but more importantly the back story as to how many of them got to where they are today. Grit isn’t just talent – yes, these athletes can play, but surely it relates to their mindset. A belief that they can improve, grow, develop and succeed due to their effort, their determination, their commitment – their grit.

I shared this with my son, as he watched the Matilda’s play. Although he is a passionate and avid basketballer, I used this opportunity to talk about grit, and redirected his regular dialogue and perceived limitation of his height as he is not ‘a tall’ on the court as he is yet to have had his growth spurt. I reminded him that he still has plenty of time to grow in height, but it was the growth of his mindset, his grittiness to commit to his passion, that is far more important!

Enjoy the weekend ahead!
Go well,

Kelly Manera
Assistant Principal Learning and Wellbeing

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From the APRIM

Dear Families

This week our teachers engaged in Professional Learning on refining our Religious Education Scope and Sequence. As part of this learning, the teachers used the Crossways Curriculum to map out a yearly overview of the content they are covering and engaged in designing units of work from the Crossways Curriculum.

The Crossways Religious Education Curriculum is an expression of the wider partnership which exists between parents, parish and school, as together they work toward enlivening the mission of the Church. Religious Education is the curriculum area at the heart of a Catholic school, it is a specific teaching area that is planned, taught, and assessed with the same rigour as other curriculum areas.

The Crossways Curriculum is a contemporary expression of Church teaching which is informed by the Catholic Tradition and is shaped around the following 5 areas of knowledge:

God, Us and Faith
Sacred Texts
Moral Life
Church for the World
Sacramentality and Prayer

Acquisition of knowledge is not the only goal for this Religious Education Curriculum; It also supports students in developing important skills and dispositions through the Wisdom strand:

Dialogue and respect
Interpretation and seeking truth
Discernment and engagement
Spiritual and religious self-awareness.

The Crossways Curriculum provides opportunities for all students to engage in rich learning and dialogue about the Catholic faith and its integration with their lives and contemporary culture.

Here is a sample of the some of the learning that is happening across our school this term in Religious Education:

Reception
We are learning about the Sacrament of Baptism.

Year 1
We are learning about how the parables in the Bible teach us about making choices.

Year 2
We are learning about how the Bible is made up of different books.

Year 3
We are learning about the Bible and the Ten Commandments.

Year 4
We are learning about the Seven Sacraments with the focus being on Confirmation and Saints.

Year 5
We are learning about Moral Decision Making.

Year 6
We are learning about the Holy Trinity.
We are learning about the Ten Commandments.

With Gratitude,

Domenique Laurendi
APRIM | Leader of Learning

Important Dates

Whole School Assembly 2pm in the Church

Wednesday 30 August 2023

Father's Day Stall

Wednesday 30 August 2023

SAPSASA Year 4-6 District Athletics Carnival

Thursday 31 August 2023

Happy Father's Day

Sunday 3 September 2023

Year 3 Excursion to the Zoo

Wednesday 6 September 2023

SACPSSA Year 3-6 Touch Carnival

Thursday 7 September 2023

Year 5/6 Road Monitor

Thursday 28 September 2023

OSHC
We have significant demand for our OSHC services with Tuesdays and Thursdays regularly booked out.

It will be very helpful if families could notify OSHC if children are not able to attend on the day they have booked in. As per OSHC policy, all cancellations for OSHC need to be advised by 12pm on the day to avoid being charged for the session. This practice also enables us to carter for families who are on the waitlist.

Vacation Care
Our Vacation Care Program is made available at the end of week 6 every term. Please note Vacation Care is also open to families in the area, be aware to book in early to avoid disappointment.

Church Carpark
We have been informed once again about parking breaches within the Church carpark. It is so important that as a school community we respect the parking conditions and promote the safety of all accessing this area.

Please ensure the following:

this is a short-term parking option
ensure the supervision of young children as there are families with prams accessing this carpark
please support good flow of traffic by avoiding double parking
please note parking under cover is for Fr Manu only

Gala Ball

St Michaels Enrolments

Reminder that enrolment applications Year 7, 2026 at St Michael’s College are due no later than 1 December 2023. It is especially relevant to families with children currently in Year 4.

The application form and list of required documents are available at this webpage.

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