Kindergarten 2022

Once again, we had a wonderful time this week welcoming our new Kindergarten children for 2022 to school for our transition morning. They were supported beautifully by our Kindergarten team to meet each other, explore our school and learn more about what happens at school for when they come next year. We thank our team at school for the preparation for these days and the parents and carers who have entrusted their precious children to our care. We can’t wait to see them again when they collect their “Ready Set Go” packs on Monday 6th December.

P&F Colour Explosion  

As you will be aware now, we have been planning with our P&F Committee for a fun end to the year by hosting our Colour Explosion Fun Day. We put this off until December in the hope that restrictions would ease enough to have families onsite to enjoy the fun. Sadly, we are still in Level 3 until the end of the school year, which means we cannot have large numbers within the school grounds. We will be unable to invite parents and carers into school to join the fun, but there is no restriction outside the school fenceline, so if you are around on Tuesday 7th December, you may like to peek through for a look! Please see the flyer in the P&F article of the newsletter and continue to watch out for further details of the day. If your child is not able to join in, please contact their class teacher.

Thank you to the P&F Committee who have been committed to making this fun for our students, at no cost to families. Thank you also to the parents who assisted with colour packing this week; we got it done in no time with much fun and laughter. Some of us were being too clean in our packing resulting in a high five to the cheek!

CONGRATULATIONS

Special congratulations to Chayse Jones (3H) and family who welcomed a new baby brother named Finley. 

Year 3 and 4 “Young Mary” performance

Our Year 3 and 4 students were fortunate to spend time learning about the life of Mary MacKillop on Tuesday through a performance by Glenn and Taylor from STARRS Productions. This had been organised earlier in the year through a CSO initiative but was postponed due to COVID. Our teachers and students found this a very engaging performance and had some wonderful questions to ask at the end of the play. Please enjoy a reflection from two of our Year 3 students.    

On Tuesday Year 3 and 4 watched a Mary MacKillop play. It was about the story of Mary MacKilllop and how she started the first St Joseph’s school to help all children to get an education. She was a brave and strong lady with a kind heart. The story  was fun and interesting and was easy to understand. We learnt a lot about the life of Mary MacKillop. - Zoe and Ivy 

Celebrating Our Faith

Our Kindergarten students have been learning about ‘Creation’. This unit explores the wonder and beauty of God’s creation. It presents creation as God’s gift to God’s people and a reflection of God’s goodness. Prayers of praise for creation and commitment to care for it have been shared as ways of responding to this gift. The story of Noah and the Ark has been told as it tells of the renewal of creation and God’s promise of continued blessing on the whole of creation throughout time. As you can see they all enjoyed retelling the story through play.

Learning Together

New K - 2 English and Mathematics Syllabus

We all know that it is vital our children have strong foundations in literacy and numeracy. Literacy and numeracy skills are essential to unlock children’s academic potential at school, improving their overall academic outcomes. 

Next year our Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers will begin implementing a new English and Mathematics curriculum.  It is very exciting to see the changes which have been made to ensure our students are laying the foundations for future learning. The new syllabuses emphasise key concepts, identify essential knowledge and skills, and include new outcomes to clearly show what is essential. 

 

Drop Off and Pick Up Safety Reminders

As we become busier at this time of year it is a friendly reminder to follow our traffic management plan shared with parents earlier this year.  It is important we are mindful that children are entering and leaving our gates at key moments. 

Parents and carers dropping their children to school in the morning are encouraged to use the ‘Kiss and Drop Zone’ located before the bus bays. This area is designed for the convenience of parents and carers and for the safety of children. This is a non parking zone, which means drivers can stop for a maximum of two minutes. This area minimises traffic congestion for all and aims to maximise student safety.

If you arrive after the school gates are closed at 8.55am, please enter via the School Office under the care and supervision of a parent or carer who will need to sign the students in for their day of learning.