ISSUE 5: 19th March 2021

Principal / Executive Leadership Team

Welcome to our update for next week.

It is very hard to believe that we only have two weeks of school remaining for Term One.  

On Friday we have a Pupil Free Day with staff involved in Professional Development.  This PD will provide support to teachers to improve writing skills and achievement and increase reciprocity between reading and writing.  We will aim to have a more consistent approach across the school in teaching writing, improve learning outcomes and improve teacher capability in this area.  This was identified as a need within our School Improvement Plan 2021-2025.  Camp Australia will be operating on this day.

We wish our Year Four students all the best for their three day camp to Roses Gap.  Students and teachers will leave at 7am on Monday morning and return to school on Wednesday evening.  We will inform parents of their return time.  This camp is a fantastic opportunity for children to develop their learning, social skills, independence skills, health and fitness and decision making.  An enormous amount of work goes into organising a camp and so we must thank Miss Price and the Year 4 teachers for their many hours spent preparing for the camp.  Have fun everyone!

Boys Division Cricket is being held this Thursday at the Aerodrome Ovals.  The boys will be playing games against The Lake, Mildura South & Irymple South primary schools.  The Girls Division Cricket is being played this Friday on our School Closure day.  The girls will be playing only the one game against Irymple South PS.  Mr Burford will attend both days with our students.  We wish both teams all the best.

It is a big week for our Year Four’s as many are celebrating the Sacrament of First Reconciliation on Thursday evening.  This is being held at the Church at 7pm.  Students have been preparing for this over the last four weeks by doing home group lessons.  We pray for our Reconciliation candidates and wish them all the best.

The Police in Schools program continues for all Year Six students this Tuesday from 9-11am.

Thank you to Narooma for hosting today’s Assembly.  There is no Assembly this week due to our School Closure/Professional Learning day on Friday.  There will be no Student of the Week or Ray White awards this week. 

We have Illawarra participating in this Wednesday’s Parish Mass at the church.  Students will do some of the readings and jobs throughout the Mass.  This celebration will begin at 9.30am and parents are welcome to attend. 

What a fantastic St Patrick’s Day we had on Wednesday.  It was great to see everyone dressed in green and to see our students participate in many great activities to learn more about St Patrick.

Thank you to parents who attended our Staff Meeting on Tuesday to listen to Lilly Pointon, an Occupational Therapist from Lime Therapy. Participants learnt about what sensory processing is, the seven senses, types of sensory breaks and examples of sensory breaks. Lilly provided us with some useful strategies to use both at home and at school. This session had a significant focus on what we can do for all students.  This is what we consider under our Response to Intervention (RtI) framework as Tier One supports and universal strategies.  Other students who have identified sensory needs are provided specific adjustments to their program.  Over 2021, our staff will continue and are even investigating ways we can improve and support students with identified movement/sensory needs through small group (Tier Two) and one-on-one (Tier Three) interventions. We hope to continue to work in close partnership with parents as we investigate and implement these supports for students.

I would like to thank the parents who have attended Program Support Group (PSG) meetings and to Mrs Deacon who has facilitated these meetings with classroom teachers. We have had over fifty meetings in the two weeks.

Well done to Liana McClaer (3rd Butterfly & 3rd Breaststroke), Grace Brown & Evie Smythe who participated in the Region Swimming, which was held in Swan Hill on Thursday. Grace and Evie just finished outside the placings in their races.  Thank you to their parents who transported them to Swan Hill to compete.

A reminder that school photos were sent home with students this week.  If you have any questions please contact Leading Image on 1800 750 586.

We hope everyone has a great week nine of term one.

Mr Gibson

Religious Education News

Palm Sunday Mass

This Mass is being celebrated next Sunday, 28th March at 9am as we begin Holy Week.  Students from Sacred Heart & St Paul's will join to form a choir for this Mass.  We will also have some students who will bring up Palm Sunday banners at the beginning of Mass.  We hope to see staff members and school families join in this celebration. 

First Reconciliation

As mentioned above First Reconciliation is being held at the church for Year Four students this Thursday, 25th March at 7pm.  Parents please note that the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be added to your child’s stole that they would have from their Baptism.  Iron on transfers for Reconciliation can be purchased from the Parish Office.  

Sacrament of Confirmation

Information regarding the Sacrament of Confirmation has been sent home with all Year 5 & 6 students.  Any parents wishing to register their child for this Sacrament must do so prior to the Parent Information Evening which is being held at the church on Wednesday, 21st April 2021.  The blue registration form needs to be filled out and payment can be made at the Parish Office (cash required as there is no eftpos).  Please contact Ryan O’Callaghan at school or the Parish Office if you have any questions regarding this Sacrament.

Project Compassion

We appreciate those families that have been able to support this year’s Project Compassion.  Project Compassion boxes can be handed in to the front office at school by Thursday, 1st April (last week of Term One).

Sunraysia Catholic Communities Bulletin

We have attached below the bulletin for this weekend for the Sunraysia Catholic Communities. (Link to be added when published.)

Learning Diversity & Wellbeing News

Thank you to parents for attending your child’s Program Support Group (PSG) meeting over the past two weeks.The Program Support Group brings together parents and teachers who have relevant knowledge of, and responsibility for a student. PSG meetings allow parents, teachers and student support services to collaboratively establish shared goals for the student’s social, emotional and educational development. 

We have set up a Passive Play area each lunchtime this week and will continue to offer this to students until the end of the term.  It has been well received and gives students an opportunity to participate in activities such as Lego, card games, colouring, Duplo, Jengo and the like.

We will be offering Passive Play to the students in Term Two also and are asking families to donate any toys that can be used during that time. Items such as a doll house and dolls, barbie dolls, toy cars, tracks for either cars or trains would be great. If you are doing any cleaning out over the holidays, please think of us rather than throwing away!

Learning & Teaching News

Since our School Review in 2020, staff have had the chance to evaluate and critically reflect on our approach of learning in mathematics. In 2021 teachers have committed to using the primary math program Origo Stepping Stones. The program is aimed at specific year levels although it allows teachers to view and use content across all levels. In each year level the program is comprised of 12 modules with each module addresses two or three big ideas from the Curriculum. It allows the learning to be differentiate for students requiring additional assistance or those who need extra challenge while consolidating the concepts being taught.

Teachers monitor the progress of the students through regular checkups which helps target our teaching to individual needs. Some weeks the children’s homework may consist of questions that will be ongoing practice from what they are learning in maths. This program will help embed a consistent use of mathematical language and strategies in our teaching of maths which will ensure success for our students as they move through their learning journey.

There are many different components within the program which allows the children to be more active in their learning, staff will be taking part in some Professional Learning presented by Origo next week. To find out more you can access the website below.

Prep Unit News

No news to report this week.

Junior Unit News

WOW! What a fabulous day we had on Wednesday. Thank you all for getting into the spirit of St Patrick. Did you check out our Students in the Sunraysia Daily?

This Monday (Yr 1’s) and Tuesday (Yr 2’s) Junior Unit students are participating in their Science Immersion Day. Students are required to wear their usual school uniform and will be taking part in many experiments, hands-on learning tasks and exploring elements of the water cycle. 

'Tricky words' (located in the back of the students' diaries) are a big focus for us in the Junior Unit. All students revisit these each week and are encouraged to practice them at home. Year 2’s also have these words included in their Spelling Homework. 

For the remainder of the term, Barramunga students will have their ‘Show and Tell’ and Library borrowing on Thursday instead. It would be great to see all Barramunga Students bringing their library books and their library bag on these days.

Middle Unit News

Thank you to those children who are remembering to bring their library bag to school each day along with their signed diary. Please encourage your child to continue to develop these organisational skills.

We are very much looking forward to our Year 4 camp on Monday. Students are reminded to please arrive at school by 6:30am. Please ensure that your child has all the necessary items needed for the camp as well as a backpack with their packed lunch, snacks, water bottle and hat for the first day. Please also remember to hand any medications, labelled clearly with your child’s name and  instructions for dosage to Mrs Beer at the bus on Monday morning. We will be in contact on Wednesday to adivse parents of our exact arrival time back to school, but we expect this to be between 5:00pm and 6:00pm. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns regarding camp. 

What a fantastic time we have had during our Science Immersion days over the last few weeks! Students learnt all about packages and how certain materials protect items when they are sent in the post. Our final task was to work collaboratively in a team to design and create a package that would protect a cookie when it was sent in the post. At the end we all tested our packages to see how well our design worked! Well done to all students for their engagement and participation in these days. Please see below for some photos and videos from our lessons.

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Senior Unit News

Year Six Melbourne Camp: A note has been sent via PAM in regards to camp attendance. We ask that Parent Consent be completed on PAM by Friday, 26th of March.

The Year Six students were fortunate enough to be entertained by some guest musicians and dancers on Wednesday afternoon for Saint Patrick’s Day.  Students all had a great time learning a traditional Irish dance.  Thank you to Lindsay Barbary, Bethany Hartwig & Peter Doody for taking the time to entertain us.

Student Leadership Groups

The Student Leadership Team will be working on revising and developing a Student Safety Policy for Kids over the next couple of weeks. Once completed it will be shared with each classroom and shown at an assembly.

General News

Library News

Library days Week 9:

Monday:  Year 5, 6 & Bundaleer

Tuesday:  Year 2

Wednesday: Nangare, Mootwingee

Thursday: Preps, Karinya, Amaroo, Yongana, Eumeralla, Barramunga

Please note: Due to the Year 4 camp and PD day on Friday, children from Minga who wish to borrow from the library will need to visit during lunchtime on Thursday.

Overdue notices:

Children in Prep - Year 2 have a two week loan limit, and Year 3-6 have a three week loan limit. After this time, if children are still reading their books they may renew their books in the library once only. Children who currently have overdue books have been handed a slip detailing the titles. Please remind the children to bring them into the library to return. If unable to find the listed books, please send me an email on wcollins@shmildura.catholic.edu.au

Parent/Teacher book swap & borrowing for younger siblings

As mentioned last week, all parents/grandparents are encouraged to pop in and have a chat about these initiatives. 

St Joseph's College 2022 Year 7 Enrolments

Please contact Mrs Tracy Aston, Admissions and Communications Manager on 5018 8034 or email taston@sjcmda.vic.edu.au if you wish to receive an enrolment information package for your child for 2022. Please visit the College website - www.sjcmda.vic.edu.au

TennisMad Holiday Clinic

Warratah's Hockey Club

Mildura Horse Riding School Holiday Program

Sacred Heart Tennis Club

Irymple Basketball Association

Please refer below to a flyer from Irymple Basketball Association.

Weekly Awards

Student of the Week

Congratulations to our Student of the Week winners for this week!

Ray White Award Positive Behaviour Award

Congratulations to the following students who demonstrated our school beliefs of either being Safe, Repsponsible or Respectful.