Tuesday, 10 June, 2014 - St Patrick's Primary School...

1 www.spgww.catholic.edu.au [email protected]

Tuesday, 10th June, 2014 Term Two, Week 7

‘Pentecost’ Readings for the week:

Acts 2:1-11 Jn20:19-23

(Jesus Appears to the Disciples)

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Tuesday 10th June P&F Meeting 7pm

Thursday 12th June School Council Meeting

Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd

1st

Holy Communion Masses

At Sacred Heart Church

Friday 27th June

Parent Teacher Interviews

PUPIL FREE DAY

Please note:

Monday 14th

& Tuesday 15th

July

PUPIL FREE DAYS School resumes for Term 3

On Wednesday 16th

July

Prayer to the Holy Spirit Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful

And kindle in them the fire of Your love Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created

And You shall renew the face of the earth Amen

Principal Visit to Year One

What a pleasure to see Mrs Piper’s charges developing their handwriting skills. All the students were very keen to show me their work. At St Patrick’s, learning Foundation Handwriting is an important element of the curriculum. Each morning the students spend up to fifteen minutes developing their skills and refining letter formation. St Patrick’s like most state school use Foundation Style of handwriting based on research related to children’s motor skill development. Our Early Childhood teachers ensure that the Foundation Style emphasised in the early years includes the gross motor movement of left to right direction across the page and then in later years focuses on finer fluent movements. Our staff believes that the movements involved in Foundation Style are ergonomically efficient for both wrist and arm movement and suit both right and left-handed students. All letters in Foundation Style are based on three basic movements: clockwise ellipse, anti-clockwise ellipse and downward diagonal stroke. In my visit it was exciting to see our Year One students use these simple movements which are combined and repeated to form letter shapes. Rather than the ‘bat and ball’ style, these patterns assist students to ‘pick up’ and ‘put down’ the pencil as little as possible. This way, our students can maintain consistency of size and slope. Now that is the spirit of writing. Next week I look forward to visiting the marvellous Year two students.

http://www.spgww.catholic.edu.au/


Staff on Leave Next week Mrs Piper will be accessing her entitlement for Long Service Leave. While she is away, Daniela Armanini and Mrs Anita Forlico will be taking the class for the last two weeks of this term. A process has begun for a replacement teacher for Term Three in Mrs Piper’s class. Being a Catholic School, part of the Diocese, we have the unique opportunity to select our staff , hence the process to ensure we have the right person. Once this process has been completed, I will inform the community.

P&F Pie Drive I am seeking all parents and friends support for the current Pie Drive. We are encouraging all our families and staff to support this activity, as the funds raised will go directly towards the purchase of new readers for our students. To assist families, the school will provide “a free tank of fuel” for the family who raises the most amount of money from the pie drive. The P&F will announce the lucky family early next term once all the forms and funds have been collected. The Pie Drive finishes this Friday. All forms and money due in this Friday 13

th June. Thank you for

your support.

Process of Master Planning On June 20

th Catholic Education staff from the Block

Grant Authority will be visiting our school on June 20

th. The staff are from the Dioceses of Wollongong

and Newcastle. The panel from school will consist of Fr Grace, Roy Cantanzariti (Chair of the Master Plan Committee) Andrew McIntosh from our Diocese of Wagga Wagga, a teacher from the committee and myself. Part of the process will be to submit a presentation highlighting our future and a walk through the school. After the visit the staff from the Block Grant Authority will continue their visit through the other eleven Dioceses across New South Wales. It is envisaged that we will know the success of our application later in October this year. I will endeavour to continue to keep the community up to date via our newsletter and my monthly letters.

Q&A Master Planning It is affirming to hear the buzz around the community about our exciting future for St Patrick’s. The way students learn today is very different to the way we learned at school. To cater towards student learning we need to aligned ourselves to the

researched of what is happening across the Nation and around the globe. New schools today, are more open, have common areas where students can congregate together to share their new information. They are simply places that support and influence staff collaboration and allows everyone to communicate more effectively. An interesting comment I heard recently was around the young people in the work place today don’t have the skills to work collaboratively together and it can be frustrating for employers. This may be true, but the young people in the work place today are part of the previous century in which they were educated. Although, we are fourteen years in the 21

st century, by the time

they exit school, they will be presenting the work force with a whole new set of skills that employers. The response from the work force is that they will have to do what teachers in schools today are doing today-that is up skill and prepare themselves to make changes. At St Patrick’s, we firmly believe that it is the unique relationship between the teacher and student that is linked to higher student outcomes. In other words, when teachers are view as engaging facilitators alongside students rather than standing at the front of a classroom, perceived as the font of all knowledge. In order to build on the foundation blocks of communication, collaboration, critical and creative thinking skills our teachers at St Patrick’s have already engaged in this new way of teaching. How do we know if this new way of teaching is working? Our NAPLAN results have been solid throughout the last three years, the increasing number of new families enrolling at St Patrick’s and the feedback from current and new families alike, feel a strong sense of connectiveness–a sense of spiritual belonging. As mentioned last week, parents today want their children to be fully engaged in their learning, to have the insightful higher order skills, emotional intelligence and a Christian foundation.



Skills Outlook for the Workplace

What does this mean in the workplace today? The research from the OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills clearly indicates that the workplace consists of a multi aged environment that requires employees to be able to get along,

work as and in teams, to be able to communicate effectively using literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills within a technological rich environment. For example, a motor mechanic in the previous century would tune cars with limited technology as cars didn’t have computer chips and so forth back then. Today, mechanics work in a fully automated industry where higher order cognitive and interpersonal skills enhance

the technological changes ocurring that bring employees together to solve problems. In order to answer the call for the 21

st Century our teachers and staff have begun a journey that now will leads us

towards a learning space that reflects the needs of our children.

Welcome to our new families On behalf of the community at St Patrick’s Primary School, I wish to formerly welcome our new families who start schooling today. We warmly welcome Delray (Yr 5) & Pearson (Yr 2) Kasawaya Assembly-Congratulations Everyone! A big congratulations to all those students who received awards at today’s assembly. It was wonderful to see so many parents at the assembly, supporting their child. Well done everyone, we are all very proud of your achievements. Due to Monday public holiday, photos of students who received awards will be on the Facebook page later this afternoon.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week and continue to “Do all things well!” As always “Everything is awesome. Go the Maroons!”

David Adams-Jones,

Principal

Merit Awards at Assembly

Kindergarten Nicholas Sergi

Rajinderpal Brar Key Punch-Jackson Orlando Guidolin

Gemma Lynch Inoki Loki

Year One Tahlia Quinn Kaleb Serafin Amna Raza

Chloe Zamin Alexander Forlico Elizabeth Ferraro

Year Two Julian Puntoriero Enrico Bianchini Georgia Salmon

Ky Young Emmerson Waide

Nicolas Minato

Year Three Christian Codemo Dayja Fergusson

Jessica McMaster Sam Trimboli Jess Moraschi

Rocco Sergi

Year Four Isabel McDonald Max Vardanega

Jamie Young Preetpal Kaur

Year Five Grace Adams-Jones

Sarah Zambon Manmeet Lally

Alexis McMaster Francesca Sergi

Patrick Star

Year Six Dharmik Mangrolia

Anna Harrison Liviana Railo

Emma Snaidero Sara Negus

Molly Balind

MJR AWARDS – Liam Codemo, Shyanne Hodges & Taleea Hodges for donating money to CanAssist last Thursday.

CONGRATULATIONS!



From our Assistant Principal Prepare for the new school day routine As part of our ongoing discussion and assistance for parents and students starting school, we here at St. Patrick’s provide the following tips to assist you, as we know it has been of use to other parents and is featured on the KidsMatter website (www.kidsmatter.edu.au) The following steps are a useful guide to teaching your child about problem solving. Encourage your child to take part so that they can slowly learn to do it for themselves. Remember, it is best to begin when your child is feeling calm and relaxed. Start with an issue where you know they are likely to experience some success. If your child is very anxious or angry, help them to calm down first (eg having some quiet time, taking some deep breaths) or leave problem solving for another day or another issue when you know your child is ready to participate. 1. Identify the problem (content changes below) This step can be difficult as children do not always have the words to tell you how they feel or know exactly what the problem is. Finding a quiet space where your child feels comfortable and relaxed may help them to start talking about it. Using your active listening skills will also help your child to feel understood and supported in talking to you. (For more information see the Starting School Understanding behaviour information sheet). Your child will benefit from your help in trying to understand what might be happening, particularly when they are having difficulty identifying the problem. Remember to step back and not jump in to solving the problems for your child at this stage. 2. Find solutions and try them out(content changes below) Once you have a better sense of what the problem is, you may like to generate some solutions with your child. Brainstorming two or three solutions is a good place to start as any more may seem overwhelming for a young child. They may not yet be able to generate their own solutions, but you can encourage their thinking with questions such as “what do you think you/we could do?” With practice and support from others, your child will gradually be able to come up with more of their own solutions. However, you may need to make some suggestions in the beginning. Once you and your child have identified some options, you can decide together which one to try first. Work out a plan for how they will try out their solution. Do they need support from you, another child or a teacher? When will they get a chance to try it out? (eg at home or in the school playground.) 3. Check in: how did it go?(content changes below) Once your child has tried the solution, check in with your child as soon as possible. Did it work? If not, why not? What could your child try next? Remember to give your child lots of support and encouragement if the solution didn’t work out. Sometimes we have the right solution, but need to practise it many times. Other times, we may need to return to step one to see if the issue was correctly identified. You and your Child’s teacher can work together to help to support your child’s problem solving skills.

Professional Learning Last week from Wednesday 4

th June to Friday 6

th June, I was fortunate to be selected to attend a Professional Learning

Opportunity in Sydney: The Emerging Principal’s Program. This program is run by the very highly regarded Queensland Educational Leaders Institute (QELI) The Programs aims were to:

Acquire an in depth understanding of leadership theories and models in order to gain a framework through which to lead and develop.

Develop a selfawareness of their current leadership strengths, lesser strengths and begin to clarify and build a personal leadership philosophy.

Examine the challenges to drive change in learning organisations and learn how to lead others with emotional intelligence.

Identification of key leadership challenge or project to apply leadership skills on‐the‐job.

Engage with innovation approaches to improving student learning outcomes.

Set clear goals for future leadership development and establish mentoring relationships for support and challenge.

Establish a strong network of aspiring colleagues to continue to extend and build on their learning. It was a powerful learning experience and I will be continuing to share with the school community my learnings, including a very exciting Action Research Project.


https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/families/starting-school/4-problem-solving

https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/node/2640





To see more photos of what’s

happening in our school, have a look

at the photo gallery on the

School Website and Facebook.

Parent Teacher Interviews

We will be using our online booking system (SOBS) for our Parent & Teacher Interviews again this year. A full set of instructions is available in last week’s newsletter .Parents unable to make a booking online are asked to contact the office and leave their details and I will arrange for assistance to be provided. Each interview will be for 10 minutes and all interviews will be conducted in the Father O’Dea Hall on Friday 27th June. Note that this is a pupil free day. Reports will be sent home on Monday 23rd June. By way of update, there have been 320 Bookings thus far for Parent Teacher interviews for Friday 27th June. The window for Parent Booking closes on Wednesday 25th June at 12pm.

Maintain & share your awesomeness, Alan Wedesweiler Assistant Principal

From our Religious Education Coordinator First Communion

Just a few reminders:

Children will receive their gowns this week. They will wear these to their Mass and return these straight afterwards for dry-cleaning.

All children participating in the Sacrament must attend Reconciliation Tuesday 17

th June. Reconciliation will be at 5pm and 6.30pm. Please choose a time which

suits you.

Further information will be distributed at the practise evening of Thursday 19th

of June.

Please keep all participants from St Patrick’s in your prayers.

Sarah Dunbar, Religious Education Coordinator

Pastoral Care Corner Dear Members of our School Community, As the parent/teacher interview day draws near, we are very mindful of all the hard work that goes into the preparation and delivery of the students reports. The report is a tangible measuring tool that is used as a gauge to indicate the level of competency of learning for each of the students. As the pastoral carer at St Patrick’s school, I am blessed to witness some amazing insights of academic abilities, kindness, thoughtfulness, bravery, friendships and a true spirit of service that our students possess and display in their daily interactions with teachers and with one another. We can look forward to a bright future with these fine young people leading. This is made possible as a result of a community of parents, teachers, students and parish working together in unity of purpose. This unity of purpose is reinforced by your commitment to your family, school and parish and especially by the dedication and commitment to Catholic education by our amazing teachers. God bless you all

Cath Catanzariti, Pastoral Care Coordinator



From our Parish Dear Friends, Where is God? We are only two weeks away from our First Holy Communion Mass which happens to fall on the magnificent feast of Corpus Christi. A couple of years ago the Pope’s homilist when preaching at this feast day Mass said I cannot hide a certain sadness. There are certain forms of mental illness that prevent people from being able to recognize persons who are close to them. They continue to call out for hours: “Where is my son? Where is my wife? Why don’t they come?” And maybe the son and wife are there holding their hand and saying: “I’m here.Don’t you see me? I’m with you!” This also happens with God. Our contemporaries look for God in the cosmos or in the atom; they debate over whether there is a God who created the world. They continue to ask: “Where is God?” They do not realize that he is with us and in fact that he became food and drink to be united to us even more intimately. Sadly, John the Baptist had to repeat: “There is one among you whom you do not know.” The feast of Corpus Christi was born precisely to help Christians be aware of this presence of Christ among us, to keep alive what John Paul II called “Eucharistic wonder.” Indeed Jesus is truly present in every Holy Communion: body, blood, soul and divinity. What a gift! Let’s never miss an opportunity to receive him as frequently as we can, especially on Sundays our day of obligation. St Pope Pius X said that the fastest way to sanctity is through frequent reception of Holy Communion. When you and I appreciate this gift to a greater depth we will be transformed into the-best-version-of –ourselves! God Bless,

Fr Grace, Parish Priest

P&F Information

All money and order forms are due in THIS FRIDAY the 13th

June for our Pie Drive Fundraiser. Please return your orders and money in an envelope to the school office. Thank you. Andrea Crockett P&F President 2014

Chess Competition

This Friday St Patrick’s welcomes chess enthusiasts from as far as Temora, Coleambally and Deniliquin to the Father O’Dea Hall to compete in the NSW Junior Chess League Primary Schools Competition.

Forty students from St Patricks will match their skills against fellow primary students from our area. Students will play in teams of four, playing between eight to ten games each. Points are awarded for a win or draw with the winning team at the end of the day crowned Griffith Primary Schools Champions. This is the first of this chess season’s competitions so all players are very excited to match their skills against fellow enthusiasts. We wish our students and all students involved the best of luck for the day. Any parents wishing to come and view some very high level chess matches are most welcome. Games will commence at around 9:30am.

Peter Moraschi Chess Coordinator

Canteen

Canteen Roster:

Wednesday 11th

June: K DeMartin C Snaidero S Bell Smith

Thursday 12th

June: K Adams-Jones C Pollard

Friday 13th

June: J Murray L Campbell R Savage

Monday 16th

June: K Andreatta N Carlo R Scott

Tuesday 17th

June: B Serena J Gulielmini

Wednesday 18th

June: J Salvestro T Feltracco



Extend Our Weekly Recap The children have been very excited to start our Extend Recipe Book. Last week the children all contributed to making a batch of shortbread biscuits. They were a success! Given the recipe ideas that have been exchanged we are very excited to see what is to come. Also last week, we made trampolines for plastic animals; and we used baking soda and lemon juice to create carbon dioxide (in a bottle) to blow up balloons. Whilst not quite the 'exploding' task some had hoped for, it was definitely an exciting activity for all. - Melissa

Picture: Many hands making shortbread. The Superstar Award went to Kaleb S. for his outstanding manners and being a great influence for the younger Extend members. Monday 16th June: Finger Knitting Tuesday 17

th June: Cookbook Activity - Lachlan

Wednesday 18th

June: Mini Worm Farm Thursday 19

th June: Electric Potatoes

Friday 20th

June: Art Journals

Sport Information

Representative Sport Trent Barrett Finals Day – Year Four Girls The Finals Day for Trent Barrett will be held next Monday June 16

th for our Year Four Girls. Training will be continuing with Mr

Parisotto at lunch time this Friday and we thank him for his efforts. We wish all those involved a great day at Parramore Park in Wagga for the games.

Mackillop Rugby League Last week Mr Curry was in Cronulla for the NSWPSSA 11 Year Rugby league Carnival. Next week Moraschi will be away with the MacKillop Open Rugby League team.

Netball NSW Schools Cup – Year Six Girls Our Year Six girls have progressed through to the next round at Wagga on July 31

st. We have

had a good response from parents with transport and help for the trip. Miss Graham will be our teacher.

Paul Kelly Cup – Senior Girls Team Tomorrow the girl’s team will play Beelbangera Primary at the Beelbangera Sportsground. The winning team will go to Wagga later in June. A bus will take the team out about 12.30pm ready for a skills/training session with the game to start around 1.30pm. Miss Bordignon will inform girls of final arrangements.

MacKillop Cross Country Our Cross Country representatives are readying themselves for the MacKillop Cross Country to be held at the Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney this Friday. Mrs Dodd has been giving the students training at school and many students are continuing their own training in their own time. Our team consists of Beth Huxley, Joanne Macrae, Alice Macrae, Ava Kelly, Breanna Restagno, Taine Moraschi, Jonathan Codemo, Isabella Salmon, Jordan Austin, Brock Twigg, Matthew Scremin, Abby Favell and Sara Negus. Abby Favell, the Diocesan Senior Girls Champion, is one of the Diocesan Flag Bearers at the MacKillop Carnival. Mrs Dodd, Mrs Zanatta and Mrs Keenan will be attending as Diocesan Managers.



Diocesan Athletics The Diocesan Athletics Carnival is set down for Wednesday June 18

th. Students selected to represent the

School and Deanery at the Diocesan Carnival should have received their notes and I ask for the notes to be returned as soon as possible so we know who will be attending. If parents/students have any questions please let me know.

Griffith Regional Aquatic & Leisure Centre --- Future Developments The next Community Engagement Session will be held on Thursday June 26

th at the Griffith City Library

beginning at 6.00pm. The first two meetings drew reasonable numbers and many ideas have been brought forward about what is needed in Griffith for the future. If you have a point of view, try and make it along to the meeting. The Griffith City Council website also has a link where you can make submissions that will become part of the discussions for the future planning.

Bill Ross, Sports Coordinator

Administrative Information CanAssist and State of Origin Don’t forget to wear your Blue or Maroon colours to school next Wednesday the 18

th June.

Once again students and staff are encouraged to wear their state colours to school for a gold coin donation. All funds raised will directly go to Griffith CanAssist.


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