Newsletter, week 6, term 4, no 3

Principal's Report

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to the Week 6 newsletter. It’s hard to believe how quickly this term is flying by!

As restrictions continue to ease and adjustments are made I’m pleased to say we can now have people come onsite provided they follow these guidelines:

Any person who enters a school building for any reason or will be in close proximity to staff and students and/or on the school grounds for a longer time than it takes to drop off and pick up students, is required to check-in with a QR Code and have their vaccination status verified at the office. Hand sanitising, social distancing and wearing a mask when indoors continues to be required.

As you will know the guidelines we are required to follow are being updated often and I will do my best to keep you informed of any additional changes in the coming days/weeks. Thank you once again for your understanding and cooperation as we all work together to keep our school community safe.

This week we have begun our Term 4 swimming program. All Prep-Year 2 students are participating in lessons along with some of our older students. Thank you to Kieran Mays and Ebony Dickie for their organisation of this program and for providing the lessons. If your child has lessons on a particular day please remember to make sure they have all the gear they need at school. We run to a fairly tight schedule and chasing things up can ultimately lead to less time in the pool for students.

A quick update on our building project. The project was due to begin this year but, as with a lot of things recently, the start date has been delayed. The good news is that the project will go ahead and we anticipate beginning around the end of Term 1 2022. Something to look forward to next year!

As I mentioned in a previous report we have made the decision not to go ahead with our camp program this year. In lieu of camps, between now and the end of the year, each unit is planning a Fun Day for their students. We look forward to sharing the details of these events a bit later in the term.

Yesterday we celebrated Remembrance Day with our own wreath laying ceremony. The respectful manner in which our students conducted themselves during this important event was a credit to them and their teachers. Thank you to Jodie Gregus and her team for organising the event.  Nicole Zappia & I also had the privilege of representing our school at a small yet significant community wreath laying ceremony. Lest we forget.

Next week we have two exciting events to look forward to. As you know, we are currently celebrating Mission Month. Each year at this time we focus on those who are less fortunate than ourselves and engage in fundraising activities across the school. We will continue our Mission Month celebrations with a whole school Liturgy & Colour Run next Friday. To make the day even more special we will end the Colour Run with a BBQ lunch for our students. Please note there will be no canteen available next Friday (19th November). Anyone who would prefer not to eat BBQ is most welcome to bring their own lunch.

We are very excited to begin our Prep transition program next week. This is always an enjoyable time as we get to know the newest members of our school community and we look forward to welcoming them into our school next Tuesday.

Kind regards,

Andrea Welsh

Religious Education

Students have been exploring the various themes for Mission Month. These have included learning about how to care for the earth and  Indigenious beliefs on creation.  These themes will continue for this week. 

On November 26th we will hold a coloured clothes day to raise money for Catholic Mission. Students are asked to wear colours found in nature.

Wellbeing

SWPBS

This week the SWPBS focus is ‘doing our best work’. This will be important as this week is assessment week. Discuss with your child/ren what it means to try our best, why we need to complete work to the best of our ability, taking pride in what we do, etc. 

The SWPBS focus next week will be ‘participating in activities and experiences.’ This will be particularly relevant as we have our Mission month liturgy, our whole school colour run and as we return to live assemblies. Please discuss with your child/ren the value of participating in all school activities.

SWPBS Sponsorship

We would like to thank our current SWPBS sponsors Irribiz Robinvale and Elders Insurance Robinvale for their support of our school wide positive behaviour approach.  Their sponsorship is greatly appreciated and  has enabled us to recognise students with special awards each week at assembly. These awards are presented to nominated students who are consistently demonstrating the expectations of our school behaviour matrix and setting an excellent example for the rest of our school community.

This sponsorship has been used to provide award recipients with a Robinvale Euston Business Association (REBA) voucher.  Providing these vouchers as part of the awards has not only enabled us to raise the profile of SWPBS in our school but has also enabled us to support other local traders by having the vouchers spent locally.

If you are interested in sponsoring our School Wide Positive Behaviour approach in 2022 please see the attached sponsorship flyer and contact the office for more information.

Our school wide positive behaviour awards are proudly sponsored by Irribiz Robinvale and Elders Insurance Robinvale. Each week students who are displaying the positive behaviors shown in our school matrix are nominated for the award. The winners then receive a certificate and $20 REBA voucher. 

Congratulations to the students who have received the School Wide Positive Behaviour in the Yard award, this is awarded to students displaying the positive behaviours shown on our school matrix at lunchtime and recess.

Primary School

Prep

The Foundation students have continued to have a busy few weeks of school learning new and interesting things. On Tuesday this week we started swimming lessons with Mr Mays and Miss Eb. The students thoroughly enjoyed their first swimming lesson where they learned to safely enter the pool, how to correctly kick their legs and float in the water. Please remember swimming lessons will continue every Tuesday until the 7th December. In Reading, we have been learning to read longer words with four sounds. For Writing, we are working on producing 1-2 exciting sentences using a stimulus picture, focussing on using a capital letter at the start of our sentences and ending with a full stop. In Maths, we are looking at the teen numbers 11-19 and shapes (triangle, circle, square and rectangle). For other learning areas, we are looking at the importance of Rosary Beads in RE and in Health we continue to look at the human body, in particular the important function of our brain, heart and lungs.

Year 1/2

In Year 1/2 the children have been busily doing assessments to see how far they have come in their learning this year. We have started our swimming program, and were lucky to have a nice day on Tuesday for our first lesson.

We have been doing lots of work in our writing to understand what makes up a good narrative, or story. We have identified characters, setting, problems and solutions and are now writing sequels to stories we have read. 

We are getting ourselves ready for some fun activities over the next few weeks with the colour run next Friday and a humanities day next Thursday. 

Don’t forget that the community Christmas colouring competition is due next Monday, so get your entries in by Monday morning!

Year 3/4

The Year 3/4 students have been busy in all areas of their learning. In writing they have been building their knowledge around adverbial phrases and prepositional phrases to help them write complex sentences. In reading they have been looking at different text genres to expand their thinking and comprehension.

Beautiful lanterns have been made and decorated based on the Buddhist religion that they have been learning about. 

In humanities the students are understanding the beliefs of Australia’s Indigenous people. Recognising the importance of Country and different ceremonial practises.

In Science the students have been having fun doing different experiments around the way things melt when heat is added to them.

Just remember students need their reading diaries every day and to read every night for 10 minutes.

Year 5/6

The Year 5/6 students have been working diligently across all their learning tasks this fortnight. In Reading, students are using decoding strategies to help them pronounce unfamiliar words. They have used syllables, prefixes and suffixes so far to support them in technical words.

In writing, they have been using their creativity to produce their own poems. They have been working on acrostic, colour and simile poems and will present their published work to the class next week.

In religion, students are becoming familiar with Covenants and their personal relationship with God.

Art

Here are a few of the finished work by the Year 1/2’s. They have all put in a lot of effort and their work is colourful and individual. They should be very proud of themselves.

The Year 3/4 students have made a great start on their set design for their short animation films.

The Year 5/6 students are coming up with some fun onomatopoeia with dramatic shapes and bold colours.

Secondary School

Year 7

In Homeroom, The Year 7 students have been remembering to bring their diaries each day and making sure they read the night before which is great to see. The classes behaviour has improved a lot as well and they are working succinctly and respectfully.

Maths

Year 7 students have begun working on Geometry this week. We have been learning how to use protractors to measure different angles.

Year 8 Students have begun working on cartesian planes and linear graphs this week. They have been plotting a range of coordinates on cartesian planes (x & y axis).

These have been supported by completing Maths Pathways modules to support this learning.

Religion

In Religion 7/8 students have been continuing on with their learning and using what they have learnt to begin looking at creating their end of the year class Mass. They will be working on this for the next few weeks.

PE

In PE students have been learning how to play Ultimate Frisbee and also European Handball. They have been practicing their throwing and catching skills and found it rather difficult when the wind was involved. Overall they all did a great job learning these skills and playing these games.

Health

In Health, the students have continued learning about Adolescence and the changes and challenges they will face during this time of their lives. They are asking lots of clarifying questions to assist with their learning.

Humanities

Both Year 7/8 Students have completed their first module of Economics and Business with finishing their Post-Test and Exam and are now moving onto their last module for the year. The Year 7 students are looking forward to learning about how businesses are run and how to earn a living and manage their money.

Technology

Students have been getting into the festive spirit this week. They have been baking Christmas cookies and expanding their skills using royal icing for decoration.

"Just one small positive thought every  morning can change              your whole day"

Dalai Lama