Around the School 

Year 3 News - Catholic Education Week at St Mary’s

This week, we celebrated Catholic Education Week at St Mary’s. Our Year 3 students took time to reflect on what it means to be part of a Catholic school community. Here are some of their responses:

My teachers at St Mary’s Catholic School encourage me to think about others and to be kind and respectful.   Boyd

Being a student at St Mary’s Catholic School means learning about God, Mary and Jesus, and doing things for other people.    Anika

St Mary’s is different from other schools because we learn about God and we pray when we go to Mass.    Harvey

Being a student at St Mary’s Catholic School means being cooperative, caring and thinking about others.    Arno

My teachers at St Mary’s Catholic School encourage me to be myself and try my best, even if I get some things wrong.   Olivia

Being a student at St Mary’s Catholic School means learning, being respectful, responsible and safe, and always doing my best.    Jack

I am grateful for my Catholic education because I learn about God and Jesus. I will be smart and educated when I grow up.   Amelia

We learn about God not only in Religion lessons, but also in church, and we say a prayer every morning.   Cooper

Being a student at St Mary’s Catholic School means that everyone feels included in the classroom and on the playground.   Paige

I am grateful for my Catholic education because St Mary’s students think about others. We learn about Project Compassion, which is about donating money to people who are less fortunate.   Ellie

Prayer is an important part of my school day because it helps me to be closer to God.     Lheon

Being a student at St Mary’s Catholic School means being kind and respectful, and following Jesus and God.   Emily

Year 4

The students and teachers from Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 joined approximately 10, 000 students from across Australia for a live webinar all about writing to persuade. We were reminded of some techniques that make a persuasive piece of writing even more persuasive. The topic was ‘Camping- love it or hate it!’ The majority of 4M love camping…but some of us really do not! 

Here are some examples of us using the persuasive techniques we learned about in the webinar.

Rule of three technique: 

“The tooting of the birds. The laughing of the kookaburras and the hooting of the owls.”-Harry

“The adorable, shy platypus who lives in the beautiful, cool, shady creek.” - Doyean 

“Warm, gooey, sweet toasted marshmallows. Your tasty, daily, gourmet desert.”- Audrey

“Hot sunny day, boiling hot body, jumping into a deep, cool, fresh river…beautiful!”- Josh

Aliteration: 

“When you are camping, and it is windy, the tent wibbles and wobbles…it is so much fun!”- Kayla

Painting a picture with words:

“The tiny, flickering stars shine in my eyes while I listen to the crackling leaves on the wonderful, warm campfire.”- Paul.

“Red, orange and yellow flames licking my marshmallow. I wait patiently until it turns golden brown.”- Roman.

Concluding with a call to action:

“Go and tell your parents to book a campsite now. The weather will be great. No screens….Let’s go!”- Hugo

Alliteration and sound effects: 

“Snakes hiss at you. Dangerous dingoes howl at you. You don’t really know where or what it is!”- Sophie

Using interesting vocabulary: 

“The sun’s rays shine brightly through your tent and tickles you ever so slightly…environment that enriches you.” - Ellie

Emotive language: 

“Go! Beauty is a tent, so hey get your bag, fetch a sleeping bag and you can enjoy a happy, cheerful, peaceful adventure under the glowing stars.”-Sunday

Rhetorical question: 

“Do you want to cook things you can’t at home?....Don’t you want to try some recipes with a camping twist and call yourself a chef?” - Arabella

Alliteration and emotive language:

”Bugs buzzing everywhere, mozzies biting you all over and there’s no way to avoid them. Sleeping is nearly impossible. All you can feel is a swarm of bugs having you for dinner!”-Camyra

To conclude our  presentation at Assembly, Maddy, Orison, Mason, Mila and Margot challenged all of the St Mary’s students with this rhetorical question, “How would you rate your own persuasive powers?"

It is exciting to use these brilliant new techniques to influence our readers. Even though our parents believe we are already masters of the art, we are taking our skills to the next level.