Week 6 Newsletter

Dear Families and Friends of St Joseph’s,

This week our students and teachers gathered together in the flexible learning space for a simple Ash Wednesday liturgy. The liturgy reminded us of the significance of Lent as a time to prepare well for Easter...a time to become a little more like Jesus. How can we do this? Of course, there are many ways, but technically it is said that Lent is a time for praying, fasting and almsgiving. The one that is hardest, seems to be fasting as we are supposed to do without something, but that "something" can be lots of things and doesn’t have to be lollies/chocolate/ice-cream.

Pope Francis has said...

• Fast from hurting words and say kind things
• Fast from anger and be filled with patience
• Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others
• Fast from words and be silent so you can listen

I hope his words might help you to discuss what your children are doing as part of their preparation for Easter.

" Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

                                                         Saint Teresa of Calcutta

As we commence our Lenten journey, these words help us to focus on the theme of 2020 Project Compassion, "Go further together". At school, all students have been introduced/ reminded of the work of CARITAS, which works around the world with local partners to offer hope to people most vulnerable to extreme poverty and injustice. Over the next few weeks we, as a school will be doing some "awareness" activities and also some fundraising. We thank you in anticipation of your support.

Later this week I will be attending the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Leadership Conference in Toowoomba.  At this forum we learn a huge amount regarding keeping informed of Diocesan updates, changes in the administration of schools, as well as work on developing our leadership and the practices that make good leaders.  Beyond this, we have the opportunity to work with our fellow principals in order to determine what works best for our staff and students. I look forward to the experience, as well as enacting my learnings when I return. 

Our school continues to develop a strong learning culture. Teachers expertly plan, teach and assess in accordance with the Australian Curriculum. One way to assess how we are making a difference for each student is to check for deep use of assessment “for” and “as” learning by asking five critical questions:

1. What are you learning?
2. How are you doing?
3. How do you know?
4. How can you improve?
5. Where do you go for help? (Lyn Sharratt Learning Walks and Talks Training Materials, 2008-2015)

The Power of Five Questions is in answer to the question “How Do You Know All Students’ are learning?”  As the Principal of St Joseph’s, this process of asking students the five questions gives me feedback on how explicit the instruction is and improvement is progressing. As a staff we use this feedback to become a large and focused part of every Professional Learning session, which is critical for all teachers and leaders to craft collaboratively. Regular Learning Walks and Talks to ask learners the five questions is essential. Similarly, ensuring that teachers have the time to reflect on the firm foundation necessary for all students’ mastery of reading, writing, oral language, and problem-solving skills to answer the five questions provides the springboard needed to incorporate the 21st-century learning skills into the curriculum content.

The Leadership Team have committed to visiting classes and spending time with the children asking these 5 critical questions throughout the school week.

The ability of a student to self- assess is the ultimate goal in teaching. When students can answer questions confidently and accurately about their learning, then we know that self-assessment has taken place. Teachers help this process by being explicit about their learning expectations and making the success criteria for a task visible and transparent. It is important to be clear about what and why we are learning.

An example of this to help you understand...Let’s say, for example, students are learning how to express their viewpoint or persuade others in an oral presentation.

The learning intention might be:

We are learning about how to deliver a successful oral presentation.

An example of the success criteria:

In order to be successful, I need to:

Consider the audience

• Look interested
• Make it interesting by using pictures or diagrams
• Keep it short

Easy to follow

• Identify the topic straight away
• Be mindful of pace of speech
• Use specific examples to get the point across
• Use small cards for notes
• Have a conclusion

Speech and manner

• Look up at the audience
• Speak clearly and so they can hear you
• No fidgeting
• Stand straight

By making this clear to children, they know exactly what they need to do in order to be successful. They are also more likely to be able to self-assess and answer the learning questions (what are you learning, how are you going (and how do you know), and what do you need to do next in order to improve?

Keep supporting your children by asking them these good quality learning questions. We aim for all children to be effective learners at St Saviour’s Primary School.

Parents and Friends Last Tuesday night, the annual general meeting for St Joseph’s Parish School Parents and Friends Association was held. All positions of the Executive were declared vacant and the following parents were successfully nominated and endorsed:

• President: Mrs Rachael Steele
• Vice-President: Mrs Jo Abbott
• Treasurer: Mrs Cindy Kelleher
• Secretary: Ms Stacey Edmonds

Congratulations to these new members. There has also been an establishment of two sub committees to support the activities of the P and F. All parents are invited to come along and be part of the committee.

• Sustainability Committee led by Mrs Kylie Argent and Nicole Emerick
• Social Committee led by Nat Dooley

I take this opportunity to extend a huge thanks to the outgoing 2019 executive:

Mrs Sarah Ward, Mrs Rachael Steele, Mrs Kylie Argent and Mrs Cindy Kelleher  

These giving parents have made significant contributions throughout the 2019 year to help support the families, staff and children of St Joseph’s Parish School. This tireless, hardworking group gave of their own time to ensure that families and children were engaged in activities to help strengthen the community of St Joseph’s Parish School. I look forward to working in partnership with the executive in 2020 and to continue to engage parents in their children’s education.

Parent Teacher Interviews Parent Teacher Interviews will take place in Week 9 of this term (beginning 23rd March). This term, interviews will take place before and after school with the exact days to be confirmed in the very near future.  You will be notified when bookings are open and will be online via Pto on the School Portal. Please remember that these interviews are an important feedback opportunity for parents on their child's learning and you are encouraged to make a time to attend when they are released.

NAPLAN Online NAPLAN Online will be rolled out in our College in 2020.  We will conduct practice tests for students in Year 3, 5 Week 9 (Monday 23^rd March).  I encourage all parents of children in these year levels to familiarise yourself with the test platform via https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site. 

Be Safe At this week’s PB4L Assembly I will talk to students about our ‘Be Safe’ rule. It is important for students to recognise that this rule applies, not just to physical activities such as running on the walkways, but also to emotions. Every child has the right to come to school feeling safe and happy. I have challenged the students this week to intentionally think about what they do and say that may negatively impact others. It would be very worthwhile to have a discussion at home about the importance of safety and care for others in our community.

Teaching your child to be calm – ways to increase relaxation

Knowing how to calm and manage your emotions is an important life skill. When children are stressed, they experience higher levels of anger and anxiety.  Learning how to relax is a skill that can be learnt. First identify what causes stress for your child. Then teach your child to become aware of what they are feeling. Ask them to name the feeling and tell you how it feels in their body, such as physical sensations, like butterflies in my tummy. Teach your child a few ways to calm down so they can use this when they feel upset, some examples are slow breathing, mindful colouring in, physical activities like jumping on the trampoline.  Choose one or two calming activities that your child prefers and get them to do it often, like before bed, or straight after school. This will support your child in their ability to use coping tools to keep calm and reduce their experience of stress. 

For more ideas check out the links below:

Go Zen: 50 Calm-Down ideas to Try with Kids of all Ages

https://gozen.com/50-calm-down-ideas-to-try-with-kids-of-all-ages/ Coping Skills for Kids

Coping Skills for Kids: Calming Anxiety in Children and Managing Anger

https://copingskillsforkids.com/calming-anxiety/

https://copingskillsforkids.com/managing-anger

It is important that all families have access to the Parent Portal.  The Parent Portal is used to report absences, receive reports cards and to update your personal information, just to name a few.  Please follow the steps below on setting up your Portal access.  If you have any trouble please send a screenshot of the error through to Aimee at secretary.weipa@cns.catholic.edu.au