Principal's Report

Principal's Report

Dear Parents

Volunteer vɒlənˈtɪə/

Noun

1. a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.

"a call for volunteers to act as foster-parents"

2.  a person who works for an organization without being paid.

"the railway is operated solely by volunteers"

One of the most difficult aspects of being a parent is being able to give satisfying answers, that is, answers that not only give you the feeling you know what to say, but what you did say had real meaning to the child that asked the question. Hopefully, when giving answers to children that are of concern to them personally, we can always think of some way of expressing the answer so the child is encouraged to think positively about him/herself; in other words, we encourage our child to be the very best person they are capable of being.

Ultimately, it is adults who are responsible for the way in which children eventually express themselves in society. Loving children unconditionally, is not always an easy matter, but unconditional love is the rock on which each child builds a personal life. Discipline is never easy either; what counts is the spirit of the law, not the letter – it is the difference between exercising authority and being authoritarian. Children need an abundance of affection, support and encouragement. Each child is a unique being who because of their humanity, has the right for affection, love, understanding and full care of adults. Everyone, especially children, occasionally need a generous dose of self-affirmation which does wonders for self-esteem and personal confidence.

Parenting is sometimes compared to flying a kite: you need a kite that is sound, in good repair, you need favourable conditions, an assisting wind and then slowly you let out the string. Eventually you have the kite fulfilling its destiny far from you but still attached.

Lord, it is not easy to be a parent,

Sometimes I feel exhausted by the effort.

Send your spirit to guide my mind

so that I make the correct choices

for my children and myself.

Amen

PARENT VOLUNTEERS

This year has, once again, has proven to be very eventful and productive for all associated with Infant Jesus School.  Today we celebrated our Parent Volunteers in the school with a special mass and Morning Tea. I would sincerely like to thank all our parent volunteers for their support and efforts throughout the year.  It is terrific to have parents interested and involved within the school. It is certainly an area we work hard at developing and improving. Research shows that parent support and involvement within their child’s education impact this level of interest displayed in the growth of both the children and the school as a whole.  

Annual Community Meeting

“The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute.”

(Catechism of the Catholic Church)

As parents are aware, our Annual Community Meeting will take place on Tuesday 28 November, at 7.00pm.  Attached to this newsletter is further information about the ACM as well as details about the election process for position on either the School Board or the P&F Association Executive and Committee. We encourage parents to consider assisting the school community by serving on one of these committees.

China Delegation  

As parents are aware, last week we travelled to Hangzhou, an eastern city in China, to firstly establish a Sister School Partnership and secondly to present information related to education in Western Australia during a two-day conference. I thought I would share some of our learnings, as well as our experiences from the trip to China.

Hangzhou is a city on the eastern side of China. It is a large city by Australian standards with a population of 14 million. In comparison Perth has a population of only 1.6 million. In China however, Hangzhou is not a large city as Shanghai has 24.1 million people and Beijing has 21.5 million. 

In China, we were fortunate to visit two different schools -  a public school and a privately supported school.  The first school we visited was a public school - Hangzhou Jingcheng Experimental School which was a primary and middle school in Hangzhou for students from Year One to Year Nine. This school was very large with forty students in each class and four classes in each year level. The buildings of the school were five stories high!

The second school, was a private school (still owned by the government) and our Sister School - The Sports Park Campus of Hangzhou Changjiang Experimental Primary School. This was a new school and only had grades One and Two. Both year levels have five streams and each class has a maximum of 35 children. Last year, the school had over 1000 applications for 125 places and parents were interviewed and sat an exam for their child to be given a place. (I wonder if I should bring this into the interview process here at Infant Jesus??) Parents see it as a privilege and honour to send their child to such a good school and are appreciative of the school’s endeavours. They pay school fees (equivalent to ours) for their child to attend this school. 

Interesting facts about school in China:

• The school day commences at 7:30am for students and ends at 4:00pm (4.30pm at Jingcheng Experimental School). The students only have one break, lunch, which lasts for at least half an hour.
• A warm, cooked lunch is provided to every child each day and it consists of a meat, fish, a vegetable dish and rice or noodles. This is eaten either in the cafeteria or in the classroom.
• Lunch break lasts for half an hour in which this time the children eat and then may run around the school. At our sister school the children sometimes have supervised play on a ‘rock / climbing wall.’ They spend most of their time waiting in the line for a very short climb on the wall. After lunch is eye rest time. But not for too long!
• The classrooms are set up traditionally, with each child having their own desk. The teacher stands behind her desk on a small stage and teaches through a microphone headset. Some classrooms had blackboards and some had smart boards. The children used worksheets and workbooks to complete their learning.
• The children are taught by a different teacher for each subject, and each subject provides the children with homework. Year One students can do up to two hours of homework a night!
• Teachers must be on campus from 7:00am-5:30pm and most teach only one year level.
• Parents do not enter the school grounds in China, but rather wait outside the school gates. The children are walked in each morning by their teachers and walked out at the end of the day. If they have not completed their work for that day the children stay back until it is completed and their parents must wait. This occurs from Year One!
• Many children attend Friday evening tutoring and Saturday morning classes to give them an advantage to their studies.

On Wednesday, 15 November, the day that the papers were signed with the Hangzhou Changjiang Experimental Primary School to become a Sister School, we were welcomed by some children dressed in formal uniforms.  After the greetings, there was a tour of the school which included the Library, the Technology Hub, the Science area and the Art Room. We joined in an Art lesson and were helped by the Chinese children to make a paper artwork that symbolised ‘Happy person.’

The official ceremony to celebrate the signing of the Sister School Partnership was held in the School Hall. (See Photo) We were officially welcomed by all the staff and the children and were entertained by the Year One and Year Two students. Musicians, Chinese Karate, singing, flute playing, dancing and even an ukulele ensemble was all part of the performance!  Some important / official guests were also invited and included members of the Bureau of Education in Hangzhou. 

I then signed a document with the vice-principal of Hangzhou Changjiang Experimental Primary School to document the partnership. The children then gave Infant Jesus School some gifts to commemorate the event. I was able to address the children (similar to our assembly) and I had an interpreter to assist me.

After the official signing the children returned to their classes. I then was given an opportunity to speak with the invited guests about Infant Jesus School.  I outlined some the special features of our school and community, and showed two videos that we had produced to share our story. The parents were very interested in our school and loved seeing photos and watching videos. They also asked many questions about education in Western Australia.

After talking to the parents, we participated in a tour of the sports facilities adjacent to the campus. During this time, all the children in the school were participating in different sports including badminton, running, soccer, American football, tennis, basketball and karate and take place both at the school and in the Sports Park next door. The various clubs are run by professional bodies and the sport session lasted for two hours – without a break! Parents sign up for these sports at enrolment and continue with these sports throughout the time at the school.

Following the signing and celebration of the partnership with our Sister School an article on the event was published for their parent communication space. A local news reporter also attended the event and an article was included in the newspaper. 

During the visit to China three presentations from Infant Jesus School were part of the 2017 Forum of Educational Innovation.  The focus of this forum was on Literacy Education and the Transformation of Learning and Teaching Methodology. We spoke about three things:

1.    Leadership and leading schools

2.    Teaching and Learning using the inquiry method

3.   The importance of Building Relationships and providing Feedback

I was invited to talk to principals from all over the Hangzhou province about how schools operate in Australia. My talk focused on Leading Schools and developing an improvement culture within a school. I also shared information about Infant Jesus School and some of the challenges of leading schools in Western Australia. 

In the afternoon, Clare Moffat, Melissa Myles and myself demonstrated how Infant Jesus School encourages our kids to inquire and collaborate. In the auditorium, a classroom was set up and they taught twenty Chinese Year Sixes in front of an audience of 300. They taught the children in the same way that we teach at Infant Jesus School, but it was very different for the Chinese children as they are used to sitting in rows and the teacher teaching from behind her desk. They had never worked in groups, completed a brainstorm or sat on a mat before! 

At the beginning of the lesson the children were given a problem and in groups had to work together to solve it. This was based upon the iHour structure. It was lots of fun for the children but also tricky as it was the first time that they had worked in a group!

As the children were working lots of t

School Start Times 2018

Just to inform parents in the school community that from the start of the 2018 school year the school start times will change. 

School will commence at 8:45am with classrooms opening at 8:30am. This is to align more readily with the guidelines set by both the Education Department and Catholic Education Western Australia in relation to the school operational hours mandated. 

Morning supervision, for Year 1 to 6 students, will begin from 8.10am and children are not encouraged to arrive at school before this time. Class teachers (except Kindergarten) will have their classes open for the children from 8.30am.

Christmas Concert

The 2017 Christmas Concert

is on

TUESDAY 5 DECEMBER  

This is a whole school function and all students from Pre-Primary to Year 6 are expected to attend.

Children will need to be at school and in their classrooms by 6.00pm. The children will be seated as a class during the concert.

Other Information:

• The School Band will begin playing from 6pm.
• Parents will need to bring their own rug or chairs. 
• Please note that we will have a lawn area for rugs. All chairs will need to be behind this area.
• Playground equipment on the oval will be out of bounds
• We remind you that all young children need to be seated with parents during the concert.
• We encourage and welcome all family members - grandparents, aunts, uncles etc.

PARKING

A reminder that parking is available in the designated areas around the school as well as in the Church car park. Please respect the property of our school neighbours and do not park on resident's front lawns or block driveways.

At the conclusion of the gathering, the children will go back to their classrooms.  Parents will need to collect the children from each room.

We look forward to the Christmas Concert and sharing the end of year celebration together

Prayer for the Week

She was five, sure of the facts,

and recited them with slow solemnity

convinced every word was revelation.

She said:

they were so poor

they had only peanut butter and jelly

sandwiches to eat

and they went a long way from home

without getting lost. The lady rode

a donkey, the man walked, and the baby

was inside the lady.

They had to stay in a stable

with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)

but the Three Rich Men found them

because a star lited the roof

Shepherds came and you could

pet the sheep but not feed them.

Then the baby was borned.

And do you know who he was?

Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars.

The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air

whirled round, dove into the sofa

and buried her head under the cushion

which is the only proper response

to the Good News of the Incarnation.

(Quoted from John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected

bbicatholiceduau-html@lists.fraynework.com.au)

Did You Know?

• 11% of people are left handed
• the 3 most common languages in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and English
• 85% of plant life is found in the ocean

 Thought for the Week

'Kind words can be sort and easy to speak,

but their echoes are truely endless'

Mother Teresa

#ExpectGreatThings