Newsletter Term 4 Week 1

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Dear Families

Welcome to the last term of the 2021 year, how quickly time flies by!  This is a very busy term so please keep an eye on the calendar and announcements.

I am pleased to announce that the following permanent teaching positions have been made:

1. Early Years – Daniella Barilla
2. Primary Years – Louise Santillo and Samantha Muir

I am sure you will join me in congratulating these excellent teachers.

In this newsletter you will find an article about our fantastic NAPLAN results, it is worth a close read!  On our Pupil Free Day, we looked closely at our results and what they meant for classroom teaching.  One of the changes we are making this term, is to be clearer to parents about the marvellous extension work that is done daily in this school for students working beyond the curriculum.  As a school we are targeting Maths and a whole-school approach to sharing the great work that students and teachers are doing.  At the start of the week, you might receive a seesaw post or other electronic communication from your child’s class teacher, or even your child.  This post would indicate that your child has successful shown that they understand the topic at their year level and that the rest of the week they will be extended.  At the end of the week, you will receive a second post relating to that extended work.  This trial will run for the next four weeks.  Remember, you will only receive communication if your child is working beyond the maths curriculum.

Our other area of work, on the pupil free day, was with the SEQTA program.  You may have heard about this, as many secondary schools use this program.  SEQTA is described as a learning management system.  SEQTA supports teachers with workflows and decision making.  It is a collaborative teaching and learning ecosystem, providing teachers with a range of tools to support student outcomes.  We are very much at the beginning of this learning journey, but the future possibilities look very exciting.

Last term we introduced lunch-time Clubs.  These were very successful, and I am pleased to say that we will continue to run these sessions this term.  At every lunch period there is a Club for R-2 held in the Atrium and a Club for the Years 3-5 in the Stella Maris Room.  Numbers are limited depending on the activity, but children can line-up when the bell rings.

EARLY YEARS CLUBS
Monday – Paper Craft
Tuesday – Lego
Wednesday – Dance
Thursday – Dance
Friday – Surprise

PRIMARY YEARS CLUBS
Monday – Lego
Tuesday – Board Games
Wednesday – Zumba
Thursday – Chess
Friday – Art/STEM

Tomorrow we have the School Disco and next week the School Ball and we thank the Parents and Friends committee for organising these fantastic events.  Just for the record the disco dress has been changed to casual clothes.

Over the holidays there was a variety of maintenance undertaken around the school.  The most visual of these has been the upgrading of the signage on the grandstand.  The “Tony Quinn” signage is dedicated to a past teacher of our school and I am sure that Tony would be very impressed with the new sign!

Staff are currently working on creating classes for the 2022 year.  If as caregivers, you would like to contribute to this process you will find information about this on the link below.

Have a great term
Damian Weeks

Welcome back to school for this term and it was fantastic to see all of our children back in the school yard on Tuesday morning. A friendly reminder that school hats need to be worn when children are playing outside. Please ensure that all hats are labelled with your child’s name on them. 

School Disco
On Friday, 15 October we will celebrate our school disco during the school day with our year 4s and 5s disco session beginning at 3:15pm. Children are encouraged to wear casual clothes and a gold coin donation via QKR. A splash of white is also encouraged to be worn at the disco sessions. We are excited to get our dancing shoes on. 

Motorist and Pedestrian Safety 
I remind all of our families, family members and friends who pick up children from school, about safety around our school crossings and not parking on clearly marked yellow lines or parking or stopping on pedestrian crossings. 

Pedestrians need to ensure that vehicles have stopped at the crossing before they cross the road. 

Please remember speed limits around our school. 

School Ball 
The school ball this year will be at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday 23 October, and we look forward to this fantastic event on the school calendar. A massive thanks to our parents and friends group who have spent hours and hours organising and coordinating this marvellous event. Tickets are available through QKR until midnight tonight.

Yard supervision in the morning
I remind parents and families that yard supervision in the morning begins at 8:20 am

Children arriving before this time will need to go to OSHC. Thank you for helping us maintain our duty of care. 

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser – in case you thought optimism was dead. Robert Brault

Thanks and Blessings
Matt Perry

“To change the world, we must be good to those who can’t repay us”. Pope Francis.

Children’s’ World Mission Day is Wednesday 27 October and to celebrate we are holding a Market Stall Day. The Tuckshop will be closed at recess. Students in Years 4 to 6 can nominate to be stall holders and after recess, year levels will have the chance to visit the market to engage in fun activities, raffles and buy goods. COVID protocols will be followed, and ingredients displayed that are used in baked goods etc. Loyalty cards will replace cash and these can be purchased via QKR. Students will need to submit a business plan for their stall and parent permission is required. A detailed proforma with stall guidelines will be available soon. Monies raised will be donated to Catholic Charities and Missions, which supports children both here in Adelaide and around the world. Casual clothes is the go for the day.

Let’s Pray. Give. Go!
Stella