Term 3, Week 10, September 2021

Principal's Message

I am not sure there are enough words to thank you all for the work you did during Blended Learning in Lockdown. Families had to not only support their children but do their own work and then for some battle financial challenges. My sincerest congratualtions for everything you did and I hope the holidays brings some relaxation and reduced stress for all.

The students are to be congratulated too. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing their work during Blended Learning and catching up on zooms. Their resilience and positivity shown during lockdown was truly remarkable. I would also like to take this time to thank the staff for their efforts and agility to adjust to these trying times in education. I am so blessed to work with such a brilliant team.

Due to the ongoing restrictions at Level 3, our parents are unable to join us on site. If you do need to visit school to drop things off, pick up students or for other reasons you will need to call the office for assistance.  Thank you for your understanding around this.

There can be no assemblies, no singing, limited sport on site. The Uniform shop is only open for emailed or phone-through orders (no visiting) and the Canteen will resume on Friday.

All staff will be wearing masks here at school. Students are not expected to wear masks in the primary school setting. Our Kindergarten orientation sessions for next Term are currently on hold and we are desperately hoping restrictions will change so we can proceed.

We were unable to proceed with Book Week during Blended Learning but it has been rescheduled to week 5 next Term. Book fair will be on at the same time.

There is a Staff Development Day scheduled for Monday November 1st next Term. Please save the date.

We also have swimming booked during next Term but under current guidelines we cannot proceed but if restrictions change we will let you know as soon as possible.

Stay safe and well over the holdays and we look forward to seeing everyone in Term 4,

Renay Condon

Assistant Principal's Message

Eye of God weaving project reflects community resilience during COVID lockdown                                                                            Sue Davidson, a local artist who  introduced the ‘Eye of God’ weaving project to the children as part of this year's Brunswick Nature Sculpture Walk was delighted with the art created. She said in her notes on the artwork; “despite interruptions by COVID stay at home orders the collection of ‘Eye of God’ weavings made with coloured wool and random sized support structures came together to create a lively patchwork of individual sculptures, celebrating imagination, determination and community.”  

Sue’s words about the artwork aptly summarize the work of our whole community in successfully navigating the challenges inherent in the learning from home period this past term. It has been truly wonderful to see the children back at school and reconnecting with each other again.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN results for our year 3 and 5 students went home this week. The strong results from this year’s NAPLAN assessments indicated very clearly that our recent whole school learning focus on maths and writing has paid dividends. The learning focus is part of our annual School Improvement Program and involves staff engaging in finely tuned professional development using our student data & results to identify how to improve student outcomes and ensure each child achieves growth. I hope parents of NAPLAN students can find time to sit down and celebrate the successes, inspiring your child to greater efforts in the future. 

I wish everyone a very well earned safe, enjoyable and happy holiday.

 Best regards Greg

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Problem Solving with Hands On Learning

It has been great to have students back this week to engage in some hands-on learning tasks. Working alongside Stage 3 teachers and students we explored fractional concepts using counters. The counters represented a different fractional value. Students organised handfuls of counters into quantities and recorded their value as a mixed fraction and an improper fraction. Being able to manipulate objects makes the learning visible and develops understanding. Students went on to investigate representing their fractions on number lines.

In Stage 2 today students were highly engaged in a very hands-on STEM challenge. Students needed to design and make a Marble Run which would see the marble travel down a slope for 5-10 seconds. Students investigated concepts such as friction, speed, gradients and angles. They could only use cardboard, tape and paper cups to construct their design. Most students collaborated with a partner but some worked alone. The process involved planning, drawing their design, sharing and altering their plans, constructing and continually testing and changing their initial design ideas. There was a real buzz around the room and it was amazing to see the creativity, team work, perseverance, scientific discussion and problem solving to achieve their goal. You know students are engaged in their learning when the recess bell goes and you hear groans of “Oh no, I don’t want to go out. I want to stay here and finish this!” Thanks to Mrs Baccon and Mr Flint for planning the task and organising the materials. It was a great hands-on session of learning. 

Stage 2

STAGE 1: Over the blended learning period, Stage one students were investigating changes in the sky and changes in weather. Upon the return to school, students had great discussions about changes they have noticed in the weather and their surroundings since last being at school. The students used recycled materials to create different flower patterns to dip in paint and print onto paper, creating their own personal spring blooms. 

Stage 1

Kinder

SCHOOL NEWS

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"

Our birthday people

Phoenix TM & Estelle

People Celebrating during the Spring Holidays

Noah E, Ryder, Lulu, Tundra & Mr Flint

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS PARENT ASSEMBLY