Dear Families

I hope you all had a relaxing break and had many opportunities to spend time with your children over the past two weeks. The children have settled back to their school routine and I’ve enjoyed listening to their adventures over the past two weeks.

As you are aware we are renovating our children’s toilets, beginning with the Junior Block. The toilets will be gutted and new cubicles, urinals, basins and hand dryers will be installed. Once the Junior Block is completed, work will begin on the Senior Block and Disabled Toilet. I realise the building work has caused some disruption to parking and access into classrooms, but I am sure you will be patient while the builders are onsite so our facilities can be improved for our children.

We welcome three new staff members who will be facilitating our Maths Intervention Programs. We welcome Jill Marr who will be working on Mondays and Paul Hogan who will be with us on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Sean Morris will be teaching PE on Thursdays.

Year Four - First Communion

We wish our Year 4 children all the best as they receive the Eucharist for the first time either this weekend or next weekend. The children and their parents participated in a faith night this week with Fr Frank Moloney. He shared gospel stories where Jesus broke bread, drank wine and shared with his disciples. He spoke about how we can live the Eucharist by caring for one another just as Jesus did at the Last Supper.

School Review

Our school is being reviewed this term. A Catholic school is reviewed every four years. The reviewer, Emma Richardson ensures our documentation, procedures and processes are compliant with the requirements of the Victorian, Registration and Qualifications Authority. Emma will review how successfully we have implemented our goals from our School Improvement Plan. She will seek feedback from children, staff and parents. Recommendations will be made from which we will set goals for the next four year cycle. On Tuesday, Emma Richardson ensured we were compliant with the VRQA requirements and she will return next week to review our School Improvement Plan.

Football and Soccer Teams

We wish our football and soccer teams all the best as they play in the district finals in the next two weeks. They should feel very proud of themselves as they represent not only St Anne’s but the Sunbury primary schools.

NAIDOC Week

This week at school we are focussing on NAIDOC Week. Although NAIDOC week was celebrated last week our children have been focussing on writing a class Welcome to Country

The 2023 NAIDOC theme is ‘For Our Elders” which acknowledges the incredible role that Elders play in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Communities.

For many First Nations peoples, Elders are tasked with passing down cultural knowledge and guidance. Many First Nations Elders are Survivors of the Stolen Generations, advocate for social justice and human rights, and have passed on thousands of generations worth of knowledge and culture to the younger ones today.

Many Elders have passed on their knowledge through stories and our children have been exposed to many of these stories throughout this week.

Term Three

Our Children continue to cover some exciting units of work this term.

Our Prep Children will cover a Science Unit, How Can We Make Light and Sound. They will focus on how scientists use their senses to explore the world around them. They will learn that materials have different characteristics that influence how they are seen or heard.

Year One children will also focus on a science unit. They will be asking and discovering, How Do Things Move. They will learn the way things move depends on a variety of factors including their shape and size.

History and Tradition will be the focus for our Year Two children. They will discover, ‘How Has Melbourne Changed and Continues to Change’. They will learn that there are people, places and stories that hold particular significance to Melbourne.

Year Three will be Investigating how Melbourne has changed? Through the lens of history and traditions. They will focus on Melbourne and recognise the people of the Kulin Nations who have lived in Melbourne for more than 40,000 years.

Year Four will focus on Designing and innovations, looking at the importance of design, creativity and innovation when cooking.

Year Five will be focussing on different aspects of being healthy which will include physical, emotional, spiritual, digital and social wellbeing.

Civics and Citizenship is the focus for Year Six. They will research different government systems and look at our democratic history in Australia.

A detailed overview will be sent home to you shortly.

Positive Behaviour For Learning

Our focus for the beginning of Term 3 is to be safe. Our goal is for all our children to use their feet, hands and objects safely. We also want our children to use equipment safely. It is important that our children have a strong awareness about being safe, especially when they are exposed to a risky situation.

To support us you can talk to your children about being safe and taking positive risks by

Using fun, interactive and practical activities so your children learn to be aware of potentially dangerous things and hazards to avoid and gain a healthy respect for safety precautions.
Demonstrating safe behaviours. Most children will copy your actions in preference to what you tell them verbally.
Repeating safety rules often and be consistent. Explain to your children what you are doing and why you are doing it by using language they can understand and comprehend.
Encouraging safe play. Teach children how to avoid many injuries, such as those resulting from unexpected falls at the playground.
Managing the risk environment of your child but try not to control it. This helps your child explore freely and to practise their personal safety skills with the added benefit of developing their confidence and competence in their abilities.

God Bless

Ms Noelene Hussey

Prayer