WELCOME BACK

We hope that all families experienced a safe and enjoyable school break. Term 4 has come so quickly, it is hard to believe! There will be many wonderful learning experiences to fit in between now and the end of the year, so don’t forget to watch out for the communications in the newsletter, emails and Facebook page to ensure you don’t miss anything. 

A reminder that our last Professional Learning Day for teachers is on 4th November 2019. This is a pupil free day and we are offering childminding for this day. Please let us know by contacting the school office prior to Tuesday 29th October if you require childminding so that staffing can be arranged.

The last day of the school year is on Wednesday 18th December.  

PARISH MASTER PLAN

Our School Design Team is very excited to be starting our "Project Nest" this week in our Hall, after our work with NOTOSH last term. From now until 11th November when NOTOSH work with our Design Team to engage in the information we collect from our community, we will be seeking that collection in a variety of ways. We understand that all families and members of our community have different needs and like to engage with the school in different ways, so we are aiming to provide opportunities to hear from everyone. Watch our Facebook page and newsletter for dates, times and activities on offer. 

Our Project Nest, located in our school Hall (at the end of the Year 4 and 5 classroom blocks), is where ideas collected from families, students and staff will be literally all over the walls! We will be inviting you at varying times to wander in and take a look, have a cuppa or refreshments, chat with some of the Design Team and add your ideas to our display. We will also have a mini Project Nest in the front office for those who can’t make it to the Hall this term.

Our first step to seek your ideas, is sending home an activity where students can interview their families around a small number of questions and bring your thoughts back to place in the Project Nest. Children will receive MJR tokens for completing this and returning to school. Once these ideas are up on the walls, you can see what others are saying and add to the comments. I have included a link to the Project Nest activity that was sent home this week.

Click here for Project Nest Activity

Each week in the newsletter, we will highlight an aspect of the work in the Nest so you can be there in virtual form. We would like this to be an authentic and collaborative process, so we value all contributions. Please don’t think that any idea is too big or too small to be included.

If there are a few parents out there who would like to assist in this process by sitting with some of  our Design Team early in Term 4, and then be available on some key times during October and November to help other families share their ideas with us, we would love you to contact the office. This is not a big investment of time, just some conversations with our Design Team members in the Project Nest to help other parents and community members know what we are seeking to understand.

Please remember that we are planning for the future as a community, so in offering comments, be respectful of what others have to say and choice of words to do so.

TERM 4 - PEER SUPPORT AND LEARNING JOURNEYS

Starting in Week 2 of this term, we will be working in vertical groups for our Peer Support program, led by our wonderful Year 6 leaders. This will be a wonderful opportunity for students to work together to build community and learn about how we work together. 

In an effort for parents, carers and special people in our lives to learn more about what we do at school, we will be holding an Open Classroom session in Week 2 for all grades on the same time and day, to coincide with Grandparents Day and our Book Parade. Please read about this special day in the newsletter article from our committee. Mark your calendars for Friday 25th October to join us for a day of sharing. Don’t forget to get those dress up clothes ready for the Book Week parade. 

This Open Classroom experience will replace our individual Learning Journey sessions that have previously been shared in the MPA for Term 4 on Friday afternoons, so that it is a “one-stop shop” for parents, especially if they need to visit more than one classroom during the day. There will be other opportunities for sharing learning throughout Term 4 too, look out for more ways to come in and enjoy learning with us!  

STUDENT TECHNOLOGY DEVICES

There are many students who now have devices at home which they bring to school for learning or to be in contact with parents when away from home. Students should not be accessing devices during the time they are at school unless they are directed by their teacher for use in the classroom for learning. To ensure students are using these as intended, we will be storing them in the office from Week 2 this term. If your child brings a phone or other device, they will need to come into the office and hand it in before school and collect it at the end of the day from the office. If you need to get a message to your child during the day, you can phone the office. Students are responsible for the use of their devices when they are not on school grounds.

YEAR 5 RETREAT

It was my great pleasure to join Year 5 on their first retreat day at Bonny Hills. We were blessed with David Ogg who lead us with prayer, stories and the wonderful art you will have seen last night. Thank you all for sending your children with us, we enjoyed spending this special time with them.

PRINCIPAL APPRAISAL PROCESS

CLASS PLACEMENTS FOR 2020 SCHOOL YEAR

Later this term, teacher teams in each grade will begin to ‘split’ their classes to create two new class groups for 2020. This is an important and complex process as teachers aim to create two ‘even’ groups. Children will be asked to complete a sociogram to identify a few friends they believe they work well with, and teachers ensure that every child is placed with at least one of these friends. Considerations include, but are not limited to, assessment data, peer dynamics, learning and behavioural needs and the ratio of boys and girls. 

If you believe that teachers need to consider a specific factor for your child to be a successful learner, please submit a written response to the Principal by the end of Week 3 (Friday, 1st November). You can email to: sjpport@lism.catholic.edu.au

Please understand that requests from previous years will not be referred to and only written responses received by 1st November will be considered.

P&F THANK YOU

On behalf of the P&F, I would like to thank the whole school community for such an amazing effort, help and generosity with our two main events hosted this year; the Disco in Term 2 and Colour Run in Term 3. We are very proud to be a part of such a positive community that worked together to create two special events, raising some funds to improve our children’s educational experience.

We are excited to let you know that the funds raised from our Disco and the Colour Run will be used firstly to purchase outdoor shade shelters which can be used for our sporting and other community events, including signage to promote our school. These will be purchased as soon as possible.

The P&F is representative of all parents and carers, and without the assistance of those who supported and supervised at the Disco and filled bottles and bags, set up the course and raising money for sponsorship at the Colour Run, these would not be possible. We would especially like to thank the staff who were so generous in their support of both the Disco and the Colour Run, taking time to make these wonderful experiences for our children and community. In particular, the Colour Run was a collaborative event and we thank in a special way, Laura Bell for her coordination of the event together with our P&F group, Mrs Ucdereli for her coordination on the day, Aunty Heather for the admin support, Matt and Darren and other staff who organised and set up the course with parent helpers. We certainly can achieve extraordinary things when we all work in partnership together with our children at the centre of all that we do.

THINKING OF OUR COMMUNITY

Tess Koning
Principal