Welcome back to another great term of learning. This term we will continue to focus on building the necessary learning dispositions or capabilities of all our students. The areas of skill development will fall into three categories, intrapersonal, interpersonal and cognition. The skills gained from the explicit teaching in class will encourage engagement, motivation and improvement in understanding what it means to be a learner and how this will support the learning.
As you are aware, Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta have released a new draft Religious Education Curriculum. This new curriculum was trialed in certain grades last year and is now being immersed across all stages this year. The success of this curriculum is noted, not only in building a strong faith understanding, it has also demonstrated a deep connection to our world and our role in continuing the mission of Jesus in each one of us.
The teachers are committed to continuing Professional Learning in all areas of their craft to ensure a solid foundation of learning is evident across all grades. This consistent teaching practice will continue to drive school improvement. I wish to publicly acknowledge the dedication and commitment each teacher has to our school and students. School improvement and building a faith community is a happy marriage between school, Parish and home. This is an area that we will be consolidating as the year continues. At the moment restrictions are still an obstacle to holding community events, when this changes we will continue to host events for our school community.
Winter is nearly upon us
This term children are expected to wear their winter uniform to school each day. As the weather can sometimes be warmer than expected in the early days of April, there is a transition period for uniform change over. As of next week 3rd May, all children must be in full winter uniform. Please be mindful that it is an expectation that children wear the correct uniform with pride and that hair cuts follow school policy.
Mother’s Day Stall
All gifts will be $5.00. the P&F will be selling the gifts on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th May. They will also have gifts available for Aunty, Nan, Grandmothers. See note in Newsletter.
Cross Country
On the 4th of May the Diocesan Cross Country event will take place at Eastern Creek. We wish our squad our best knowing that we are all very proud of what they have already accomplished. My thanks to Mr. Paynter for training our squad and supporting the children on the day.
OUR SQUAD
| 8/9 Girls | Marcella Archilo, Alyssa Poon, Ivy McCarthy, Gabriella Themistou, Jinal Kanbi and Eliana Kirkham |
| 8/9 Boys | Sammy Bagaric, Tanav Merugumala, Michael Giffney, Asoka Lama, Lachlan Flood and Ben Wilson |
| 10 Girls | Leah McSweeney, Yollyn Tanyag, Martha Arshilo, Isabella Culili, Jasmine Metcalfe and Hannah Farag |
| 10 Boys | Hayden Straub, Luca Bagaric, Isaac Torok, Arman Papazian, Hudson Mulroney and Uriel Labo |
| 11 Girls | Melissa Eskander, Kirar Bartley, Keana Hickey, Isabella Mau, Amelia Farag and Mykaela Beattie |
| 11 Boys | Lucas Wu, Christian Calleja, Sahas Shergill, Dylan Borg, Michael Azzi and Luka Bastalic |
| 12/13 Girls | Saige Prats, Latani Marsters, Taylah Caukill, Jolena Valencia, Abbigayle Downes and Jasmine Fowler |
| 12/13 Boys | Emmanuel Elisa, Nathaniel Watkins, Solomon Elida, Zac Lazaro, Shaun Christian and Ashton Poon |
Staff Development Day
Please place in your diaries that our next Staff development day will be held on Friday the 4th of June. This means that the children will not have school on this day. Teachers have a day of Professional Learning.
NAPLAN- Commences on the 11th of May
NAPLAN will take place this year for all children in Years 3 and 5. Our teachers have been supporting the children in preparation for the test. The schedule for the tests is below for parents to include in their diary. Please ensure that your children have a good night sleep and a healthy breakfast. It is important the children see this day as a normal school day with no additional pressures from home.
Issues at school
It is important that school and home work together to solve issues that may arise at school. Parents, your first point of contact is with the class teacher. Most of the time the issue is already known to the teacher and they have begun to unpack the issue with the children involved. If you feel that the issue is still ongoing and not resolved to your satisfaction please contact the school office to make an appointment with Mrs. Van Der Burg or Mrs. Baird. In my experience every issue can be resolved or working toward a better outcome once all parties have had an opportunity to share concerns.
Kindergarten Toilets
The kindergarten toilets have been totally refurbished. The works are now complete.
New Student Academic Reporting Format
This semester, students will receive their formal Academic reports. In the past these have been delivered via hardcopy sent home with students. Due to the new Compass platform, Student reports will now be emailed and stored for your convenience on the Parent Portal of the Compass Platform. This means parents can access student reports at any time. Further information will go home closer to the end of term with information to access this feature.
I encourage all parents to please register for the Compass Parent Portal via the information sent out to parents last week. This will be our main source of communication with our parents. Eventually the SkoolBag App will be phased out and replaced by the Compass messaging system. If you need any assistance to access this please contact the office - attention Mr. Haynes.
Whole School Assembly
Our next whole school assembly will take place on Friday the 7th of May.
Due to the large number of parents attending this event, invitations will be given to parents whose children will be receiving an award on the day. Parents will receive a letter of invitation in the coming days.
The infants assembly will begin at 9.15am and the Primary assembly will commence at 2.10pm. I thank you again for your continued support.
