SCHOOL OF WONDER

Well what a flying start we have gotten off to in the School of Wonder!

The holidays have again come and gone, and children have returned to the college full of excitement, stories and ready to jump into their new experiences for the term.

A warm welcome to St Anne’s College to our new families, and a welcome back to all previous families. We are looking forward to again working with you all to ensure a year full of success and personal growth.

Foundation children (and their families) have shown great resilience, perseverance and excitement as they begin their first year at school. Learning all about school; new spaces, new routines, new friends, the smiles and excitement is lovely to witness as all the ‘new’ things are explored and investigated.

Children in Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 have returned to school refreshed and ready to explore their new learning spaces, meet learning mentors and share their holiday joys. They too have begun the year so calmly, spaces are settled and new routines are being learnt.

It’s been refreshing to return to the School of Wonder, and be met with so much joy and happiness. We are ready for a wonderful year of learning, and together Emma and I have big and exciting ideas to ensure the School of Wonder continues to grow and develop to offer our children exciting, and engaging learning experiences.

We welcome back our Learning Mentors; Nikea, Glenice, Laurel, Lauren, and Cindy, and Learning Support Officers (LSOs); Mia, Tina, Molly, Nicole, Hannah C, Shannon, Hannah S, Jorji, Ella and Alicia. And we send a special welcome to new college staff, Learning Mentors; Nick, Ryleigh, Cath and Sophie, and Amy and Bliss who are joining the SOW team from the SOI. We look forward to getting to know all of the new faces in our spaces, and encourage you to come in and say hi.

Adults and children alike continue to develop their learner assets and opportunities to collaborate, communicate, think, research and self manage are provided on a daily basis. We aim to ensure children are as independent as possible, and strive to develop into the best version of ourselves.

Learning focus:

Foundation: 

This term in Foundation children will be learning about the idea of ‘Who we are’. They will be investigating relationships, family dynamics - what they look like and how they behave, personal identify and connections to communities.

Children will answer questions such as;

Who is in my family? Who’s in my class? Are there different kinds of relationships?

How are we all similar? What makes my family special? Do all families look and act the same? How does my identity help me build relationships? How am I connected to the school community? 

What is the purpose of a family? Why do we need to feel connected? Is culture important ?

Years 1 & 2:

Children will be looking into ‘How we organise ourselves’. Investigating the idea that Communities depend on effective systems to meet the needs of the people. They will look further into different communities and their needs, systems within different communities and relationships between community and systems.

Children will answer questions such as;

What is a community?  What do people in our community need? Systems in place to meet the needs of the community.  What is in our town? 

Years 3 & 4:

Children will be looking into ‘How we express ourselves’. Investigating the idea that people express their uniqueness and ideas through the arts. Children will look further into uniqueness, different forms of the Arts used to express ideas and reasons individuals express uniqueness through the Arts.

Children will answer questions such as;

What is uniqueness? What does it mean to be unique? How am I unique? What are the Arts? How does this piece of Art tell a story? What message is the artist trying to share? Why?

Children in the School of Wonder are encouraged to share their knowledge and new learning in a variety of ways; oral, visual, written. This may look like discussions/conversation, artworks, pictures and words, acting and play. Children are always exposed to a variety of learning experiences and Learning Mentors work hard to collaborate closely together to provide the most robust program they can. 

Seesaw:

Seesaw is the digital link between the learning experiences at school and home. You should now have received the Seesaw information with QR code to connect to your child's account. Should you have any challenges, please contact your child's Learning Mentor.

Arriving at school:

Please support our staff, and remember that drop off for children is from 8:30am. This is when staff are on duty and begin the all important supervision of children. Prior to this, any staff onsite are preparing for the day ahead.

Kara McCann & Emma O’Keeffe - School of Wonder Leaders

kmcann@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

eokeeffe@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞, 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝...

St Anne's College was proud and delighted to greet its 2024 Foundation children and their parents on Thursday, February 1. A bright, eager and very cheerful group of children, the new Foundlings quickly and happily settled into their new learning spaces, getting to know their classmates, learning mentors and support staff.

We hope you enjoy some of the delightful 'snippets' from the day in this reel.

When is teaching and learning at its most powerful? 

When students teach each other of course! There was an abundance of authentic learning conversation occurring on Thursday as Year 1 & 2 students taught each other some tried and true numeracy games, not only excellent for developing number fluency and subitising, but also a great way to develop language and listening skills to boot.

𝐈𝐧𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞 were warmly welcomed last Friday as they visited Foundation students in their learning spaces. Keen to introduce themselves to the newest and youngest cohort at the college, Chiara and Jesse enjoyed spending time chatting with our Foundlings while joining-in with some of the children's morning activities.

"If you have any problems, or if you just need a helping hand, we're here to help," Jesse said as he and Chiara addressed Nikea's grade.

What a wonderful first step on the captains' journey of leadership this year, and what a comforting gesture for our Foundation children!

It's down to business in the vibrant and joyous Foundation rooms with children centring their learning foci on letter identification and sounds, as well as a very tactile exploration of number. Learning new skills through play, our Foundlings are enjoying a very engaging start to their College careers.

𝔻𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕧 𝕦𝕡 𝕖𝕩𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕕 𝕗𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕠𝕞...

It was the lucky Grade 3, 4 & 5s  who enjoyed an inspirational and entertaining meeting with three Essendon footy stars on Monday, February  5.

Dyson Heppell, Matt Guelfi and Harrison Jones spent a jovial half hour with the students, good-naturedly answering a barrage of eager questions while handing out prizes to budding sports journos and generally having a blast!

Hats and Sunscreen

In Term 1, it is a school expectation that we are all wearing hats when we are outside. If a student does not have a hat, they are required to stay under the covered areas provided. Please ensure that hats are clearly labelled with your child’s name. 

All students are reminded and encouraged to bring their own SPF30 (or higher) broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen to school. Staff will oversee the safe use of sunscreen.

We are committed & dedicated educators

Teaching and Learning:

Our aim as Educators is always to improve student learning outcomes for all our learners. We continue to strive to improve our professional practice to ensure that our learners get the very best learning opportunities and outcomes. Our SOW team works collaboratively to provide thought provoking learning experiences to our learners. Our learner assets (collaboration, communication, self-management, thinking and researching) are life long skills that set our young people up to life long learners and to continually question, explore and challenge their thinking. Please direct any teaching and learning inquiries to Kara McCann kmcann@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

Wellbeing:

Wellbeing is a holistic term that encompasses all aspects of a student's life, including their physical, social, mental and emotional state. It is often defined as a sustainable state of positive mood and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships and experiences at school.

Wellbeing at St Anne’s is driven by the themes of doing our best, allowing everyone to succeed.