St Francis Xavier’s Primary School, Narrabri

Activities and Events

LIVING WELL, LEARNING WELL  INFORMATION SESSION

Thank you to the families who attended our Living Well, Learning Well Information Session held on Monday 19th June. The LWLW Framework is being implemented in our school in a variety of ways including Mrs Nalder being appointed the new role of  LWLW Lead Teacher, reintegrating the LWLW Class Representatives (formally SRC), implementing the Ready to Learn movement program as well as establishing a Behaviour Intervention Team and providing professional learning for our staff in regards to social, emotional and behavioural support. 

 

Mr Baird led the session on the Monday evening and highlighted that as a school we are witnessing a higher rate of anxiety (school refusal) in young people, emotional regulation difficulties, exposure to social media/mature concepts at an earlier age, difficulties with social interactions between peers and a lack of engagement and motivation. Mr Baird went on to discuss emotional regulation and how our students are assisted when they are in “crisis” mode and the strategies used to help them self regulate and return to a baseline level of a person's emotions. This often includes offering the student something to eat and a comfortable place to sit, usually a beanbag and then turning off the lights. These steps help the student's emotions to calm, return to the baseline and then offer our staff the opportunity to discuss the worry/incident and find a resolution. 

 

Some helpful tips and strategies that you can use at home include the Catastrophe Scale - how bad is it really? Will the world end? Resilience Ladder - demonstrates the child’s support network of who they can approach for help, journalling or unpacking the problem with a comic strip - some children might prefer to draw rather than write. 

Lastly, the group discussed;

  • Setting a limit is not the same as giving an ultimatum - “When you take off your hat, then I’ll know you’re ready to work.”
  • Limits are to teach, not to punish - “If you stop shouting, then I may be able to help you. If you are shouting, I will not be able to help resolve this.”
  • Allow time - “Think about your choices. I will check back in a few minutes.”
  • Preparation is the key - Be firm, fair and consistent. The child should be able to predict the outcome. 

The relationship between home and school is vital to the success of implementing the LWLW Framework and working together to support each child’s faith formation, learning and wellbeing. Thank you Mr Baird for organising and hosting this session.

 

EISTEDDFOD MUSIC PRESENTATIONS

At the end of last Term, Mrs Dianne Shann from Narrabri Arts Eisteddfod visited our school to present two very honorable awards in music to our students. Congratulations Camilla Lampe who received the highest score overall in the music section and Angus Irwin who was awarded the Noeline Wales Memorial Award for Music. 

STAGE 1 SCIENCE - EGG DROP

In the last week of Term 2, Stage 1 participated in a Science experiment investigating the effects of gravity. The students were tasked with creating a safety box at home that, when dropped from the highest point in the playground, would protect an egg from cracking!! 

 

There were a lot of very creative ideas with students using marshmallows, clothing, bubble wrap and garden clippings to pad the inside of the box as well as a parachute, balloons and decorations on the outside. They cheered each other on and were excited to see the outcome of each individual drop. They discussed the materials used, which worked best and what pulled the safety box to the ground.

 

NAIDOC WEEK CELEBRATIONS

Our school celebrated NAIDOC Week throughout the last week of Term 2. We held an opening ceremony that included the raising of the Aboriginal flag as well as traditional Aboriginal dances. Thank you to our special guests who joined us and participated in this assembly. We were lucky to receive two visits from the Narrabri High School Clontarf Academy to perform the traditional Aboriginal dances. Thank you!

 

Our school community attended the NAIDOC Week Assembly held on the last day of Term 2, Friday 30th June. The students had a great day coming to school dressed in red, black and yellow with each stage presenting an item at assembly. 

 

Kindergarten performed the songs Ridgey Didge and Inanay while Stage 1 recited an Acknowledgement to Country and displayed an artwork they collaborated on. Stage 2 spent the week creating dot artworks to show at assembly with a selection of students reading their FAMILY acrostic poems. Finally, Stage 3 displayed their artworks in response to the novel “My Deadly Boots” and spoke about the importance of the knowledge our Elders pass down.

 

Following assembly our students and families enjoyed a sausage sizzle lunch and cake on the school oval.

 

A huge thank you to Mrs Patricia Lettice for your involvement at the NAIDOC Week Assembly, the Local Lands Council and Wahgunyah (Housing) Aboriginal Corporation for donating the delicious cakes and Michael and Jess Dowdell as well as Justin Saunders for cooking and serving the sausage sandwiches.