APRE & Curriculum News
This week let us include in our prayers…..
- The leaders of the world may they have the courage to do what is right;
- For those who have no one to care for them,
May these prayers and all those we hold in our hearts, be felt by those who need them most.
Sunday’s Gospel- 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Please find shared in this week’s newsletter: the Sunday prayer at home which has some wonderful resources to unpack this week’s readings in a family friendly way.
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Today we might wonder about the reply Jesus gives to his hostile questioners about paying taxes to Caesar. Is he really answering the question or is he being cleverly evasive? They ask Jesus whether the people should pay taxes to the Emperor, as the law told them to. If Jesus answered “No’, he would have been reported for crimes of treason. If he answered “Yes’ then he would have confirmed his critics beliefs that the people who believed that God was their only king and by paying taxes was a form of insult to God. Either way, his response, like the parables, opens the way to reflection and debate. No one has a monopoly on the “right way” for Christian persons and communities to relate to secular authority. There are innumerable variations on this theme. It’s easy enough to say that Christians are called to respect and obey lawful authority while living out the demands of the gospel. How that plays out is vastly different for people around the world. Australian Christians are not exempt from the challenge of this dilemma. We live in a world and we have responsibilities to the world that cannot be ignored. Bills to pay, shopping to be done, work that can not be ignored. We also live in relationship with God and that too brings responsibilities which can not be ignored. We have obligations as Catholics to bear witness to the teachings of the Church. Something to think about this week. How can we balance our obligations? To society? Our families and to God? This week let’s take some time to reflect on these balancing responsibilities and how we can be better at fulfilling these balancing obligations. |
ACER TESTING
This week the students begin their yearly standards tests, the ACER Progressive Achievement Tests. ACER’s Progressive Achievement approach is used in thousands of schools in Australia and around the world. The approach focuses on assessing and monitoring student growth over time and is underpinned by an understanding that students of the same age and in the same year of school can be at very different points in their learning and development. Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT), are a series of tests designed to provide objective, norm-referenced information to teachers about their students’ skills and understandings.
At St Joseph’s we undertake yearly standardised testing in the areas of Mathematics & Reading Comprehension. Each test is completed online and lasts for forty minutes each. The results are used by the school to track each student’s progression in these areas.
Daniel Morcombe Curriculum
This term for Health the students of St Joseph’s will be undertaking the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum. The Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum has been developed to support Queensland schools’ delivery of key safety messages to students in Prep to Year 9. Through a series of lessons, students will learn how to recognise, react and report when they are unsafe or find themselves in situations that can have a significant detrimental effect on their physical, psychological or emotional wellbeing.
Some of the safety lessons for students will include:
Recognise
- Safety clues and situational awareness
- Risk taking
- Rules, rights and responsibilities
- Private body parts (using anatomical names) and body ownership
React
- Problem solving
- Strategies
Report
- Safety helpers and persistence
- Online and mobile phone safety
- Review of personal safety using self-confidence skills
As part of the modules, students will need to discuss body parts with the correct use of vocabulary and reminders of the appropriateness of these words in the right situation. If there are any concerns about the content of this unit, please contact myself. To support your understanding at home we have uploaded the curriculum supporting resource at home on the parent portal. You are welcome to access this at any time to engage with discussions around each weeks learning content.
Please find attached the Daniel Morcombe Curriculum information flyer for parents. This is a great resources as it assists parents to learn about the curriculum and the messages your child will be receiving. If you would like further information about the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum, it can be found at www.education.qld.gov.au/child-safety-curriculum.
May St Joseph smile on you,
Meg Newell
APRE/CST