Dear families,
We have made it!
One of our staff posted the following on the staffroom wall:
From 2nd February 2022 to the 7th of April 2022, we have been at school for 46 days.
This is the longest stretch of onsite education since 4th term 2019.
This fact alone is cause for celebration, but I think it also invites us to be kind to ourselves, our children and each other. As parents and teachers, we are out of practice with the usual school routine. Our Year 2s and Year 9 secondary counterparts, had never (until now) experienced a full term at school/high school.
This is a big deal and it’s important that we acknowledge this.
Our children deserve to be acknowledged and congratulated for their perseverance. It has been a productive, successful return to school and I am looking forward to great things ahead.
Professional Learning update
On Thursday we welcomed Shane, a professional learning leader with Corwin Australia, to our school. Shane was undertaking our first Capability Assessment visit, where he met with leaders and teachers and also visited the classrooms to see student learning in action. This visit is the first step in our Visible Learning journey. The aim of this visit was to establish baseline data on how the learning and teaching are progressing at St Mary’s. This data will inform the next steps on our learning journey as we begin implementing more evidence-based practices into our learning cycles.
After talking to many of our students, Shane was impressed with what they were able to articulate about their learning. He was particularly taken with our Prep students. Shane asked them to tell him about Reading and how they learn to read and how they know what to do and when to do it. When he first spoke to a small group of 3, he was gobsmacked at how clearly they understood how they are learning to read. So much so that he thought he may have selected a particularly capable group of students and felt the need to seek out more students to see whether this was an anomaly. To his astonishment (and to my great pride!), he found the same responses group after group and even went to the class next door to see if it was perhaps the teacher in one room doing this exceptionally well. These responses were replicated across both classrooms.
While he encountered other pockets of great practice across other classes and year levels, he thought that what the Preps had picked up on after only 10 weeks of formal schooling was in his words, exceptional.
Our staff will undertake our first Professional Learning with Shane on the first day back next term. Please note that students’ first day back that week will be Wednesday 27th April.
Today, our staff also participated in Professional Learning around the teaching of writing. This Professional Learning was due to commence in early 2020, but had been postponed several times due to COVID.
We will share some of our new learning in our first newsletter back next term.
COVID Update
As we begin to plan for the return of community events, we remind you that the existing requirements are that parents and visitors will need to show proof of double vaccination. This does not include pick up and drop off or entering the front office.
There will be some planned Masses that will be open to parishioners and as such are not subject to the current school restrictions. This means that we will be able to have visitors join us for Mass without vaccination proof.
Community news
A big thank you to Rob, Richard, Shane and Nick for installing our new basketball backboards.
We congratulate Olive Chodowski on becoming a Nonna this week. Laura and baby Isla are doing well.
Finally, I wish you a blessed Easter.
God, please give us eyes to see beauty and to behold Your glory and majesty in all things. Help us to live daily with joy and hope in our hearts; knowing that whatever happens, Your love and peace surround us every day.
Teach us that we need only to open our hearts and minds to Your love to truly experience the celebration of personal rejuvenation during this blessed Easter season.
Looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks,
Sonia
On Tuesday and Thursday our Prep, 1 and 2 students visited Lifestyle for Kids as part of their Gymnastics program. They incorporated some of their gymnastics skills that they have been learning in PE and had lots of fun.
The NAPLAN (National Assessment Program— Literacy and Numeracy) Tests are held throughout Australia for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students' academic performance is measured through standardised language conventions, writing, reading, and numeracy tests. These tests indicate fluctuations in performance levels as they progress through primary and high school.
As we approach the holidays, there is an opportunity to check out the public demonstration site (click the link) and do a little more voluntary practice for any student who may find it challenging or any parents or any families who would like to see what it all looks like and how it operates.
Students, teachers, parents and carers are invited to use the public demonstration tests to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and related functionalities available in the online NAPLAN assessment.
Some of the key features include a range of question types, onscreen tools, timers and interactive navigation. Students are encouraged to try all the tests for their year level to practise the complete range of question formats available.
Yours in Education
Matthew Taylor
Leader of Learning & Teaching
Vacation Care Term One School Holiday Program for Quantin Binnah is NOW OPEN. Please visit their website to find out more about all of their services.
They run Vacation Care at the following Venues (click for activities guide):
Please see attached above the activity brochures for all of the vacation care programs.
Well, we FINALLY made it! We had SO much fun on our excursion to DREAM CITY.
DreamCity is a brand new high-tech city where children are inspired to learn through fun career activities, an amazing world where science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths collide in an explosion of fun.
Some of us tried being a neonatal nurse and looked after babies, others tried out being a firefighter fighting fires. We had a go at virtual reality and even tried aviation and electrical engineering activities where we built circuits.
Dream City photos
We had a great time being together. Our teachers and helpers were so very proud of us and we have some great stories to tell.
Your 3/4 team
Lisa Said, Nicole Barnes & Randa Assaad