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Dear Parents and Carers
Dance Concert Next Monday we will send home information about the 2022 dance concert including times of the performances and seat booking procedures. The children are getting excited in anticipation of this great event in the St Pat's annual calendar. The staff are also growing in excitement, especially that we are going to be as close to 'regular' than we've been for a few years with live audiences! We are working hard to have a great event whilst still being covid safe!
Celebrating Learning Every day at morning assembly many children are acknowledged and honoured for their attributes for learning and engagement. Please ask your child to tell you about a time they have been honoured by a teacher or peer!
Junior Ministers This week Mrs Sheahan and I have been delighted by the number of Year 3-5 students applying for Junior Minister roles. It is great to see that many of our students want to take active leadership roles around the school. We look forward to announcing some minister roles next week.
Teacher PL day Monday 5th Sept - Limited spaces for care
On Monday 5th September, Week 8 of this term, St Patrick's staff are engaged in a teacher Professional Learning day. Thank you for working on a plan to have your child/children cared for on that day. As noted in first communications, we are able to provide a supervised space for school hours care for a limited number of students on that day. Members of our Classroom Support Team will be supervising. Places will only be considered if a booking form is submitted. Children who are not booked in will not be able to be accommodated on the day.
Please note, this is not a fun day for your children to choose to attend, supervision is being provided for children of parents and carers for whom no other care arrangement can be provided. Thank you for your understanding. Please email the office by Friday 26th August to request a booking form. The form is to be returned to me for processing by Monday 29th August.
Online Safety How do we keep our children safe online? What do you do when you find out your child is making mistakes online? How do we supervise our children's screen time? What apps are safe? What are the big issues?
The office of the eSafety Commissioner has a website to help parents navigate the online world and support safe and happy online behaviours for our children. Please take a look!
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents
Please book in for our parent session with ySafe Tuesday 6th September at 6pm. https://bit.ly/stpatricks-ps
Prayers Please We pray for Mrs Therese Lunghusen and her family at this sad time. Therese's partner Leigh Kavanagh passed away last weekend after his battle with cancer. You may remember Mrs Lunghusen who taught in senior primary in 2018 and 2019. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. AMEN.
Blessings
Jo
This year St. Pat's teacher have participated in ongoing Professional Learning to enhance the teaching and learning of writing in our school.
The Writing Revolution is being implemented across the school and enables students to master the skills that are essential if they are to become competent writers.
In turn, those skills equip students to become better readers, to communicate more effectively in writing and speaking, and most importantly, to elevate their thinking.
The Hochman Method is a set of specific writing strategies that teachers use in every grade and in all subjects, including Religion, History, Geography and Science.
The Six Principles of The Hochman Method
- Students need explicit instruction in writing, beginning in the early elementary grades.
- Sentences are the building blocks of all writing.
- When embedded in the content of the curriculum, writing instruction is a powerful teaching tool.
- The content of the curriculum drives the rigor of the writing activities.
- Grammar is best taught in the context of student writing.
- The two most important phases of the writing process are planning and revising.
I visited Year 4/5Y classroom who were incorporating this approach to their MAPPEN Science based unit of work. Students were encouraged to write a statement or a question about the topic of planets. Here are some examples;
Zoe;
Statement; Science is a dynamic process of questioning and discovering the universe.
Question; Why does a planet have to orbit around the Sun?
Hannah;
Statement; Scientists discuss each others discoveries.
Question; Does a planet have to be in a spherical shape to be called a planet?
Colin;
Statement; Scientist are changing their previous ideas of our solar system and the universe.
Questions; Are Pluto and Ceres considered planets? What does the word planet mean?
Students were also working with a partner to write interrogative sentences.
An interrogative sentence asks a direct question and is punctuated at the end with a question mark.
In Year 3/4 students have embraced our CMC maths program. Part of the program requires students to have exemplary bookwork. Setting out their mathematical tasks so they can easily calculate the answer. Mrs Scott Pegum and myself were visited by 3 students who have been demonstrating excellent bookwork. Well done Kye, Charlotte and Savannah.
STUDENT PROGRESS
Student progress monitoring is an important part of education — and it’s not just about the students! Regular formal and informal assessments provide teachers with valuable information on the progress and achievements of their students. Not only this, but monitoring student progress also gives teachers the opportunity to reflect on their own teaching and assess the impact of the instructional strategies they use.
At St. Pat's our teachers have been working hard to track student progress throughout the year. We want to acknowledge student growth and are able to do this through tracking Reading Data (DIBELS, InitiaLit and PAT Reading tests) and Maths Data (CMC Progress Monitoring and PAT Maths).
Photo below shows Mrs Franco conducting DIBELS (Reading test) with Thea to track student progress.
What Are the Benefits of Monitoring Student Progress?
#1 Collecting Useful Data
Carrying out regular assessments and collecting student samples of work is a useful way of gathering informative student performance data.
This data is helpful when monitoring the progress of individual students across a range of learning areas, as well as tracking their achievement throughout the year. The data can be used to identify where a student is placed in relation to their personal learning goals, the other students in the class, or other targeted benchmarks. It’s also valuable information to share in your parent-teacher communication.
#2 Improving Teacher Instruction
One great benefit of monitoring student progress is that it allows the teacher to evaluate the effectiveness of their own teaching. If the majority of the class is finding it difficult to understand or demonstrate a specific objective, it may not be the ability of the students that is the issue. The teacher may need to re-evaluate the delivery method through which the concept is being taught. To do this, it is especially important for teachers to assess their own instructional strategies to see if they are working.
#3 Encouraging Student Growth
Monitoring student progress on a regular basis also enables the teacher to analyse a student’s current performance level, as well as evaluate growth throughout a school year.
#4 Enhancing Differentiation Opportunities
Finally, an important benefit of ongoing monitoring of student progress in the classroom is that the teacher is able to identify students at risk and provide intervention when required. Additional support and instruction can be given to at-risk students and areas that need to be retaught or taught differently can be identified.
Monitoring all students on a regular basis ensures that no student “slips through the cracks” along the way. It also highlights which students require extra help or additional challenges.
Religious Education
Upcoming Dates:
15th August - Feast of the Assumption
2nd September - Virtual Father's Day (Details to be confirmed)
11th September - First Eucharist Family Mass 9:30am (please note change of date)
16th September - First Eucharist Retreat
18th September - First Eucharist Mass 9:30am
Feast of St Mary MacKillop
This week we celebrated the Feast of St Mary MacKillop with a liturgy facilitated by the junior primary classes.
Winter Appeal & Catholic Mission
In support of Vinnies Winter Appeal and Catholic Mission students came to school dressed for the cool weather!
Supporting Healthy Screen Time Habits
Term 3 school fees have been sent to families.
Term fees are due 7 September 2022, except those with direct debit arrangements.
If at any time your family is experiencing financial hardship due to Covid-19 or any other reason or your family is in need of other support, please contact the school to make a time for a confidential meeting with our Principal, Jo Scott-Pegum to discuss how the school can help support your family.
