Junior School
Welcome Back
I trust that all students, parents/carers and extended family enjoyed a safe and peaceful mid-year break! The new term ahead promises to be a busy one from the outset as the Junior School will host two exciting events next week: the Semester 1 Academic Awards Assembly and the Year 5 Grandparents’ Day celebration. Further information about both events is detailed below.
Semester 1 Academic Awards Assembly
On Monday 25 July, the Junior School will be holding an Academic Awards Assembly in order to recognise various prize winners from each class in Year 5 and Year 6 during Semester 1.
In the past, these awards have been presented to students during Pastoral Care Program (PCP) sessions at the beginning of Term 3, without any parental involvement. However, the Junior School is committed to providing further opportunities for parents and carers to be involved in the educational journey of their son/s at the College. As such, this new format for announcing academic prize winners from Semester 1 will be trialled this year.
The Academic Awards Assembly will be held at 9:00 AM in the College Gymnasium and will conclude at approximately 10:00 AM. Parents/carers of prize winners have already been notified via email if their son is due to receive an award.
Please note that parental attendance at this assembly has only been offered to parents/carers of student prize winners. Following the assembly, students will return to class as per their regular class timetable.
Year 5 Grandparents’ Day
On Friday 29 July, our Year 5 students warmly invite their grandparents to the College as we celebrate Grandparents’ Day.
The day will commence with Mass in the College Chapel at 9:00 AM.
Following Mass, the Year 5 students will host their grandparents in their own classroom for a short period of time.
To conclude Grandparents’ Day, morning tea (coffee/tea and light refreshments) will then be served in the Junior School library from 10:45 AM.
Students will have their own recess as normal at 11:00 AM before commencing Period 3 as per their regular class timetable at 11:20 AM.
Please note that Grandparents’ Day is only for the grandparents of Year 5 students. Parents/carers are welcome to attend if there are grandparents who require assistance with movement. If your son has two sets of grandparents, they are both able to join us for this event. Finally, students who do not have any grandparents present on the day will still be able to take part in all aspects of the celebration.
We look forward to welcoming those parents/carers and grandparents who are able to attend our two upcoming Junior School events.
As always, if you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email (glenn.stephenson@spc.nsw.edu.au) or phone (8705 9247) and I will endeavour to assist you in any way that I can.
May God bless you,
Glenn Stephenson
Director of Junior School
ICAS Assessments
This year, we are pleased to offer our Junior School students the opportunity to sit the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) English and Mathematics assessments. These challenging competitions present real-world scenarios where students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts, using higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. You can learn more about the ICAS
Assessments at the following site: https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas.
Parents/carers are invited to register and pay for their son to participate in either or both assessments by completing the following:
1. Go to the Parent Portal: https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps
2. Enter our school’s access code: TAN920
3. Enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.
Registration and payment close on Monday 1 August.
After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records. We will notify you of the date(s) that we run ICAS at the College and when your child’s ICAS results are ready.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss your son’s involvement in these assessments.
Sarah Tatola
Learning Support and Enrichment Coordinator