A Message from the Principal

Lachlan Foott

Dear Parents/Carers,

First of all, we are now on Instagram, so please follow us as we share highlights of our enthusiasm for learning with you. Spread the word and invite your friends and family to share in our community by following us too.

At the beginning of this school year, we had a Parent Information Night and one of the key messages shared during that evening was how the school would be placing a heavy emphasis on improving student outcomes in Literacy and Mathematics. While the 2020 school year has looked very different to what we expected, there has still been a concerted effort from school leaders and staff to ensure this has occurred.

There have been a number of adjustments made, some which have been very visible, others which have been more subtle. The first and most obvious adjustment was to our school routine and bell times. Slight changes in bell times allowed for a two hour, uninterrupted Literacy block in Prep to Year 2 from 8.50am to 10.50am and the same for our Year 3 to 6 classes from 11.35am to 1.35pm. This adjustment also ensured there was a regular time for a daily, one hour Mathematics block. At the beginning of the year, we introduced a ‘Co-teacher’ into the Reading block from Prep to Year 2 and in Mathematics from Year 3 to 6. This model was implemented to ensure we had more opportunities to provide targeted small group instruction to our students.

As we transitioned into remote learning, the emphasis on Literacy and Mathematics has remained constant, particularly this second time around. Regular, small group and individual Reading and Mathematics sessions have been a feature of the work done in Remote Learning from Prep to Year 2. The structure of our Year 3 to 6 program has prioritised “time with teacher” in Reading, Writing, Spelling and Mathematics. At a staff level, there has been further focus on closely tracking reading accuracy in our junior students and comprehension strategies with our senior students. We are confident that our approach has continued to provide a high level of teaching and learning support, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic. As the Principal, I am proud of our school community - students, staff and parents - for your resilience and persistence through what has been a difficult six month period.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have fielded many questions from parents about a return to onsite learning in Term Four. We would love to have our students learning onsite again and while the downward trend of case numbers provides a level of hope and confidence, I am no more informed than anyone else as to when or how this return may occur. We still have four and a half weeks until the commencement of Term Four, so time is on our side.

The final term of the school year is always very busy with events such as Year 3 Camp, School Disco & Walkathon, Public Speaking, Prep Orientation, Swimming, Christmas Carols and Graduation. We will have to wait to see what the restrictions are, but where possible, we will forge ahead with these events or adapted versions of them. The aim is to make the finish to the school year as normal as possible for our students and community.

5 Secrets Parent Seminar

A little under two weeks ago, we had over 50 families from our school community and beyond join us for an online Parent Seminar with Georgina Manning. During the Seminar, titled 5 Secrets to Boost Resilience During Difficult Times, Georgina shared five ‘secrets’ to helping your child to be more resilient, and thereby reducing anxiety.

Secret 1 - Develop problem solving skills: Allow your child to make lots of mistakes, because mistakes are part of life and learning. It is also important for parents to role model that mistakes are okay. Helpful questions include - What could you do? What do you think could fix this?

Secret 2 - Healthy Thinking Habits: Children can often catastrophise events in their lives. Talking with your child about Unhelpful thoughts versus Helpful thoughts can help bring things into perspective. An example of an unhelpful thought might be “This is the worst thing that could happen” versus a helpful thought “This could be worse / it’s not that bad”.

Secret 3 - Coping Skills & Reflective Listening: When a parent simply ‘reflects back’ what your child has said, the child will open up more and share more so you can continue to listen and reflect back each time. Once a child has shared for a while they may be ready to move to problem solving mode, where parents can guide their child to think of creative ways to solve their current problem.

Secret 4 - Nourish Body and Brain: Allow for boredom and free play. Encourage your children to engage in ‘Flow’ activities (hobbies, projects) and model this for them. It might be exercising, connecting with others, journaling, walking in nature, hot bath, meditation, eating healthy foods, reading, disconnecting from social media or time out.

Secret 5 - Self Efficacy: Encourage independence in your child and build self efficacy by letting your child do what they can for themselves. Examples of this include letting your child make their own breakfast, clean up after themselves, carry their own bag to school, put their bag & things away in the morning, change their reader etc. The more you do, the less they will want to do, so try to remember - Never do for your child what they can do for themselves.

If you were unable to attend the seminar and would like to be sent the slideshow, please contact our Student Wellbeing Leader Anthea Georgiou (ageorgiou@sahighett.catholic.edu.au).

Father’s Day Liturgy

While the normal Father’s Day Mass and Breakfast cannot take place as it usually would, we will still mark the occasion and celebrate our dads with an online Liturgy this Friday at Assembly. We are lucky to have many active Dads in our school community and on behalf of the staff and students, I would like to wish all dads a happy Father’s Day for Sunday. May your day be filled with laughter, good food and better company.

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful first day of Spring and stay well.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to get in contact with me or your child’s teacher.

Best wishes,

Lachie

St Agnes' Newsletter

Issue 13 · 01 Sep 2020

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