This Week

This week from Tuesday 19 until Friday 22 July I will be representing the MACS Southern region by attending a professional learning course Leading with Integrity for Excellence in Brisbane. Carmel Donlon will be absent due to sickness. In my absence Megan Moore, supported by Maree Hills will be delegated authority. 

Learning Assemblies -are back!

This term we will see a return of our level learning assemblies. For parents/guardians and friends who have not experienced St Catherine’s learning assemblies before, we hope you will make a note of the dates in your diary and join your child’s class for their learning assembly this term.

Level learning assemblies came about as we looked for ways to support parents to find out what their child has been learning about at school. Learning assemblies provide students with a platform to showcase, communicate and celebrate their learning with parents/families, peers and staff.

Tuesday 26 July- F-MH at 9:00am

Tuesday 26 July - 5-6AT at 2:45pm

Tuesday 2 August- 1-CG & 2-TC at 2:45pm

Tuesday 9 August- 3-4MD & 3-4JB at 2:45pm

Learning Assemblies will take place in the Library/Learning Hub. Adults attending will be asked to wear a mask and sign in. Family members and friends are welcome to attend.

Cold Weather

With the sudden snap in cold weather, students are encouraged to wear a coat to school. Students may wear any type of coat as long as it keeps them warm. School beanies are now available from PSW uniforms. If it is not raining we try to get the students out for a run around for at least some of the playtime. Due to so much rain our school oval is often out of bounds, however students still have plenty of play spaces on the playground and asphalt.

RAT’s

Additional RAT kits for students will be available towards the end of July and be distributed to staff and students who are symptomatic or who are household contacts, as required. It is recommended that rapid antigen tests are used by students and staff when symptomatic. Household contacts are required to test negative using a rapid antigen test on at least 5 out of 7 days if they are attending or working at a school onsite.

Face masks

Current advice from the Victorian Government on the wearing of face masks is available here:

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/face-masks: 

It states:Wearing a face mask can help protect you and those around you. Face masks stop droplets

spreading when you talk, cough, sneeze and laugh, which lowers your chance of spreading or

catching the virus.

The advice also strongly recommends the wearing of face masks in indoor settings (noting

that exceptions to the recommendation apply when teaching)

COVID positive

If a child or staff member tests positive-Isolate at home or in private accommodation for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and do not attend school during this period. Inform the school that they have tested positive to COVID-19. A negative test is not required to return to school following completion of 7 days of isolation.

Follow the Checklist for COVID cases.

Household Contacts

If students or staff are household contact (that is, they have spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house, accommodation, or care facility), they need to inform the school that they are a household  contact.

Follow the Checklist for COVID contacts

Parents/carers are able to leave isolation if other arrangements cannot be made to transport their non-infectious child via private vehicle to and/or from school. The person leaving self-isolation must travel directly to and from the location, making no stops, unless there is an emergency or as required by law. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to deliver the person to and from school, and must wear a face covering whilst outside the place of self-isolation.

School Closure Dates

There will be no school for students on these dates:

Friday 12 August

Monday 1 November

Tuesday 20 December

Update on Our Patch Out of School Hours Care

Our Patch have received a number of applications for the leader of our school’s program and they are currently interviewing to find the right person for our school.

Parents/Guardians can pre-enrol your child via the Our Patch Website.

https://ourpatch.education/before-and-after-school-care/ 

More information about the official start date and the specialist programs on offer will follow shortly.

Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings- and Program Support Group Meetings-

 thank you

Experience Foundation Sessions this term

This term we will be offering our 2023 Foundation Students two transition sessions at school in the Foundation Classroom. Maree Hills will run these sessions. Any family, friends or neighbours that still may be undecided about where to send their children to school are welcome to attend. Please direct them to call the school office to book their child into a session.

Screen Time- How much is too much?

What does quality screen use look like?

“There are two main strategies to focus on. The first is to engage with what your child is watching or playing.

The research calls this ‘co-viewing’ or ‘co-engaging’. This idea focuses on using children’s engagement with television and games as a chance to talk, promote language and build comprehension.

After or during viewing, parents could ask children to explain what they watched. For example, ‘wow, you watched some PAW Patrol today, what were you noticing?’ or  ‘I see you’re loving Hey Duggee, which parts do you like?’.

This also gives us a chance to say if something doesn’t align with your values: ‘they fight a lot in Ninjago, it is better to talk about your problems than fight about them’. This also allows you to teach your kids to be critical about the media they watch.”

Kate Highfield is Senior Lecturer, Deputy Head of School (ACT and regional NSW) at Australian Catholic University.

Interested in reading more, click on the link below for the complete article.

Why is Screen Time an outdated Concept?

The Parents Website

https://theparentswebsite.com.au

Sacramental Program

MACS schools have been asked to share the following new resource to support families in preparing their child to receive a sacrament. 

Journeying Together Sacrament Resource for Families

Lunch Orders

There will be no lunch orders until further notice. I am currently looking into a number of companies that may be able to provide online orders. Unfortunately this is proving to be a difficult process as many companies have indicated that they are experiencing staffing shortages and are not eager to take on new business.

I will keep you informed.

Teachers will email parents Curriculum Term 3 Outline this week. Please note important events and  dates for your child’s class are listed in this document.

Oh what a night! In the last week of term 2 our school community was entertained by the wonderful talents of our students in a colourful display of dance, drama, song and music. The evening was a proud moment for everyone involved and the many hours of rehearsing was realised with all acts unifying to present a ‘slick’ and engaging presentation to our school community. Needless to say it was also a wonderful opportunity for families to come together after a long hiatus from whole school events.

We hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did. The smiles on the student’s faces said it all. We would also like to thank the talented finalists in the St Catherine’s Got Talent Show for their commitment, courage and creativity. We take our hat off to you for stepping out on that stage with a 200 odd audience waiting to be entertained.

 

Please enjoy a small snapshot of moments…

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To celebrate NAIDOC week this week the Foundation class read the books Sharing and Family by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson. These 2 books have been beautifully illustrated with each page capturing the attention of the students. As we discussed the books we focussed on two phrases “ Yarning old people, endless skies, breeze through silky oak. Family, stories and songs.” We talked about the meaning of yarning: ‘A yarning circle is the practice of speaking and listening from the heart, for sitting together to talk and listen and share ideas and stories. It is a harmonious, creative and collaborative way of communicating to: encourage responsible, respectful and honest interactions between participants, building trusting relationships.’

After reading the story we watched a video clip from the Koori artplay series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqDZBJCuW2I&t=203s

As a class we discussed the procedure and then went outside to each collect a stick. The students chose several coloured strands of wool and began creating their own yarning sticks. The beautiful sticks have been placed in a large jar on our prayer table. When we have ‘circle time' in our classroom we will choose a stick to be passed around the students as they share their thoughts and ideas.

In Grade 1 we celebrated NAIDOC Week on our first day back at school after the holidays. We watched a video where Christine Anu answered kids' questions about NAIDOC Week. We then listened to her song, ‘Island Home’. As a class, we then discussed the theme for this year, ‘Get Up, Stand Up, Show Up.’ We brainstormed ways that we can celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Students then created their own flower heart and copied down some of the ideas that we brainstormed. 

Ideas that students came up with:

• Celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures every day
• Treat others fairly and with respect
• Be nice to everyone 

NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In 3/4 MD, we celebrated NAIDOC week by first educating ourselves about Australia’s history - an essential for healing and reconciliation. We then acknowledged the people who have driven change in First Nations communities - those who have stood up and shown up! 

YARNING CIRCLE

Here are some images of us in a yarning circle discussing how Archie Roach’s book, ‘Took the Children Away’ made us feel.  A yarning circle is where we use a ‘talking piece’ while we speak and listen from the heart. 

RESPONDING WITH ART

After listening to the story of ‘Kunyi’ by Kunyi June Anne McInerney, we used art to show how we felt reading this true story about a young girl growing up very differently from what Australian children know today.

HAIKU POETRY

We wrote Haiku poetry to respond to Archie Roach’s deep and personal song, ‘Took the children Away’. Haiku poetry is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that follow a 5, 7, 5 syllable pattern. Here are some examples - 

This week the students in 3/4JB have completed a variety of learning activities to celebrate NAIDOC week. Their favourite learning activity has been using their iCT skills to research and write about famous Aborignial and Torres Strait Islander role models. Here are a few examples of some of their amazing work and research. 

During NAIDOC week in 5\6 AT, our class learnt all about inspiring Aborignal and Torres Strait islander peoples. All these people  are influential  because they made a huge impact on the Aboginal / Torre Strait Islander community because most of them were the first Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people to do what they did. We researched about some of   where they lived, family life, awards, accomplishments ETC. For example: did you know that singer/songwriter Jessica Mauboy won Aria awards in 2013 and 2016? Did you also know that Adam Goodes went to Merbein West primary school? 

We also created our own NAIDOC  Google Doodle. We all had different ones! It was so fun to create! We did all this to show that we respect and think about what the Aborignal and Torres Strait Islanders had to do to get equal rights. It's still happening today! Let's all remember this year's saying: GET UP ! STAND UP! SHOW UP!