College News

St Augustine's Years 7-12 Athletics Carnival

Today - Friday 20th August

We remind parents that under the current School Operations Guide, spectators at College sporting events and interschool sports are not permitted.

We will endeavour to bring highlights of our school sports throughout the day via our College social media.

We appreciate your understanding and support with this.

Book Week 2021 Dress Up Day - next Monday, 23rd August

Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds

This year, CBCA Children's Book Week is 21st- 27th August. 

Our Book Character Parade and dress up day will be held next Monday, 23rd August.

A large gathering is not possible under the current COVID regulations so there will not be a parade this year but we will be putting up an 'Other Worlds' photo booth backdrop so we can record everyone dressed up and make a video to share with the College community.

All students and staff are encouraged to get involved and have fun to help us visit different 'worlds' from stories.  No money is required for this day.

Students love coming dressed up as their favourite book character on the day. You can find some costume ideas here.

Family Engagement CORE Group Invitation

We have a Family Engagement CORE Group that meets twice a term to listen and reflect on the voice of parents. New participants are always welcome to come along! Our next gathering will be next Monday, 23rd August, via Zoom at 7.15pm (approx 60mins). https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83695763953?pwd=S3lTa0dLUENuMVZFY2djUnphUEJ4QT09

Meeting ID: 836 9576 3953Passcode: rNPVY2

Family Engagement Survey

A reminder to families to complete our Family Engagement Survey sent via Operoo this week.

Student Leadership

This week, students currently in Years 3, 7 and 11 received written information about the 2022 Student Leadership opportunities  available to them. 

We are looking forward to receiving many applications from aspiring leaders to lead our College, Community and Houses. We even have a role for those who want to lead in the area of faith and social justice. We call these leaders our Catholic Social Teaching (CST) Leaders. 

Please have a conversation with your child and encourage them to consider applying! 

Applications close Thursday 26th August.

Subject Teacher Conversations - Student Free Day - Wednesday 25th August

A reminder that our Subject Teacher Conversations will be held next Wednesday, 25th August from 3.30 to 7.30pm. 

These conversations are for all F-12 students and their families.

The purpose of Subject Teacher Conversations are to check in, provide feedback, plan and provide tools, strategies and learning for specific subjects moving forward.

In line with current Operational Guidelines, these conversations will be held via Zoom. Each conversation will be held for 7 minutes. When families click on the link in preparation for each conversation via PAM, you will be placed into a waiting room.  The teacher will begin the conversation shortly after this. 

Bookings for Subject Teacher Conversations are now open for all families to book, via PAM.  In areas of the College where more than one teacher is in a learning space (Years 3-8), please contact your child’s TA and they will be able to support you. 

Due to the volume of conversations which will occur on the day, there is a limit to the bookings which can be made for each family. We would also recommend that as a family you leave space between bookings and try to avoid making all appointments back to back. This will allow time to transition between each Zoom conversation. Please consider this when booking. If you have any difficulties with this, please contact your child’s TA to discuss further.

Bookings will close at 12.00pm on Monday 23rd August.

Melissa Key

Deputy Principal Student Learning and Professional Practice

Staff Profile

Hello Everyone - my name is Sandy Carver, I am one of the new Wellbeing Officers at school.  I have worked in Wellbeing for over 10 years, supporting students and families.  I am very excited to be working at St Aug's and look forward to meeting you all at some stage.  Students can find me in the project room - pop in and say hello!!  

A little about me:  

Family: husband Matt and children Molly, Isla and Oscar

Barrack for: AFL: Collingwood, Suncorp Super Netball: Magpies and AFLW Geelong (Favorite player: Julia Crockett-Grills)

Favourite Food: everything really but I do love Italian food

Favourite Colour: Green

Favourite Movie: In the Name of the Father, Bohemian Rhapsody and Shrek

Favourite TV show: Anh's Brush with Fame

The perfect weekend: Camping in beautiful weather

....as you can see from my photo, I need to work on my selfies!

email address: sandycarver@sakyabram.vic.edu.au

National Science Week - Experiments to do at home

National Science Week runs from 14th-22nd August.  This year's theme is Food, Different by Design so here is a collection of experiments you can do with food that you probably have in the pantry at home.  We have included a few examples and the full collection can be downloaded via the attachment.

If you do an experiment, take some photos and write down what you observe. There will be some forms on SIMON that you can fill in to submit your scientific observations to display at school in Science Week. 

Congratulations to our Sacramental Program Students

On Thursday, 5th August, children from St Augustine's, St Patrick's Tongala and surrounding schools participating in this year's Sacramental Program made their First Reconciliation.  We congratulate the children and wish them well on their journey towards receiving the sacraments of Communion and Confirmation later in this year.

Helpful Hints from the Office 

This week's Helpful Hint is a reminder to bring a face mask from home. 

We recommend a reusable mask to reduce the impact on the environment. 

Future Enrolment Information

We are currently collating enrolment information as part of our regular school review processes.  If you have a child/children due to begin schooling at St Augustine's in future years could you please email nicoleelliott@sakyabram.vic.edu.au with your child's name, date of birth and year which they will start school at St Augustine's. 

Supporting your children with maths at home - Resources from the Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV)

Helping your kids to do maths at home can be  a positive experience!  Maths is taught to and learned differently by kids these days.  It is about understanding the reasoning and using strategies to do maths. Focus on thinking and having a go, not about right or wrong!

To help you support your children with maths at home to increase their interest and engagement in maths, MAV has produced a number of tip sheets and resources for both primary and secondary students on their parent support pages.  You can find them at https://www.mav.vic.edu.au/Resources/parents 

SOLE Stars

Congratulations to our Weeks 5 and 6 SOLE Stars.

A special mention to Alyse, Piper and Katerina who each received two nominations in Week 5.

Week 5

Week 6

Term 3 F-4 Lunchtime Activities 

We are very excited to offer our F-4 students the opportunity to engage in Lunchtime activities.  This initiative supports students in interacting with their peers in traditionally unstructured times of the school day. Lunchtime activities are an opportunity for students to have fun and interact, including with peers from different year levels, who have similar interests and passions.

Lunchtime activities are known to create many benefits for students, including:

• Improving social skills
• Increased friendships
• Promoting peer social acceptance
• Engagement in teamwork, co-operation and collaboration
• Increasing feeling of safety whilst at school
• Learning social cues and opportunity to practice social skills

Sock it to the Can - Bring in your Donations

A reminder to send your donations for our annual 'Sock it to the Can' collection to school with your children.

Families are asked to donate new socks and non perishable food items within their use by dates to the appeal. Donations can be brought to your child's classroom/TA space.

At the conclusion of the appeal, all collected items will be donated to St Vincent de Paul Kyabram for distribution to members of our local community in need.

College Production 2021 - The Wizard of Oz

Given the current COVID restrictions we have amended the format of the 2021 production of The Wizard of Oz.

The format will now be as follows:

• No live audiences will attend the Plaza Theatre.
• The performances will occur during Production Week as previously scheduled at the Plaza Theatre.
• The performance will be a recorded format which will be available for purchase.

We look forward to sharing our final product. 

Loretta Shannon, Bianca Anderson & Brendon Lane

Recycling Old School Uniform Items

We have already received donations of many uniforms that are no longer required by families.  Keep them coming!

With the upcoming changeover to our new school uniform in Term 4, we encourage families to continue donating superseded uniform items to Rotary Donations-In-Kind, rather than sending them to landfill.  A collection bin is available at our College Office for items that are clean and in good condition.  Donated items will then be distributed to communities in developing countries.