Term 2 - Week 11

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On Tuesday night we concluded the assessment and reporting process for Semester One and by all reports, the conversations between parents and teachers were a continued celebration of the wonderful achievements of the children. We are very grateful to our staff for the effort they have put into this important documentation and we hope you enjoyed reading your child’s report. Term Two has been a long one and I know that many families are looking forward to the recharge opportunities offered by the upcoming holidays. School concludes for this term on Friday at 1.30pm and Term Three commences on Monday 15th July.

Term Two Highlights

This term has seen the school immerse the children in many wonderful learning opportunities as part of our academic curriculum, but also in terms of school community events and extracurricular opportunities. We look back to the start of the term, the accomplishments are vast: SSV Soccer (boys champions); Open Days; Cross Country; Anzac Day commemorations; Playgroup growing and thriving; excursions to Basterfield Park, Melbourne Museum, historic city walks; Fire Rescue Victoria Visits; Mothers Day stall, dinner, breakfast and liturgy; Prep Prayers in PJs; Year 1/2 Family Faith Night; Biggest Morning Tea; Fun Lunches; Year Level Parish Masses; Year 5/6 Netball and Football Lightning Premierships; the list goes on and on. I would like to thank all families for your support throughout Term Two. We are looking forward to a strong start to Term Three.

Student Achievement - Reading fluency

This semester, we have had a whole school focus on improving reading fluency. We have implemented a strategy we call ‘Paired Fluency’ to facilitate growth and progress in this area. Being able to read with fluency is an essential bridge between decoding and reading comprehension. Daily paired fluency is an excellent, evidence-based approach that provides students with opportunities for repeated reading, which in turn, builds their fluency. The fluency texts are differentiated based on student need and changed often, with a focus on improving speed and accuracy. Recent assessment data has shown considerable improvement in this area in all year levels across the school, with average fluency rates starting much higher than the ‘expected’ and still making gains, which is terrific. I would like to spotlight two year levels though, and that is Year 1 and Year 4. The table below outlines the average oral reading fluency scores, in terms of words read, per minute. In Year 1, because of where the children are in the journey of learning to read, fluency development is critical. You can see below that the fluency rate in Year 1 started much higher than the ‘expected’ and finished much higher than expected. This is a result of terrific, daily paired fluency. In Year 4, it’s a different but equally fantastic story. Our Year 4 cohort started the year only slightly above the ‘expected’ fluency rate and finished Term Two well above this, showing amazing growth which has enhanced their comprehension skills considerably. Outstanding stuff!

Shine the Light on Social Justice Day

On Friday, the last day of Term Two (28th June), we are having the Shine the Light on Social Justice day to further support the Vinnies Winter Appeal. On this day, we will be raising money for the Vinnies Winter Appeal. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation in return for wearing casual clothes on the last day of term.

St Agnes’ Big Sit Out

Usually at this time of year, Vinnies runs ‘The Big Sleep Out’, where people experience sleeping outside at night. At St Agnes’, our students are invited to participate in an adapted activity, which will allow them to experience some of the feelings and impacts associated with homelessness in a safe and familiar environment. Our Social Justice Captains have designed and will run the St Agnes’ Big Sit Out, where students will experience sitting out on cardboard at recess. We are asking students to bring a piece of cardboard to sit on, this can be an old shoe box flattened out or a fruit box from the supermarket; anything you have at home. This activity is designed to promote empathy and is an action of solidarity. The St Agnes’ Big Sit Out is open to all students, but is not compulsory. We ask those students participating to seek sponsorship for every ten minutes they sit. The sponsorship form was sent home this week, please drop into the office if you need another one.

We will start the day in the Hall with a presentation, and we will conclude the day with a reflective liturgy run by our Social Justice Captains and Mini Vinnies. The liturgy will take place in the Church after recess at 11:40am, and parents are invited to join us.

Save the date - Parents and Friends Social Night - Friday 16th August

The St Agnes’ P&F is excited to invite all parents to the upcoming social event - St Agnes’ Op Shop Ball! Held in the school hall on Friday 16th August. Save the date and book in your babysitters, it promises to be a wonderful night for all.

Faith Life at St Agnes’

This week our students and teachers have welcomed parent visitors for end of term Class Liturgies. These are a celebration of the learning completed in Religious Education for the term. The children love having special visitors for these special occasions; thank you to those who were able to be there!

Netball and Football Lightning Premierships

Over the past couple of weeks, our Year 5 and 6 (with the help of some Year 4s) have been off to the Netball and Football Lightning Premierships. The netballers braved the elements and competed strongly all day, with the mixed team winning the final! Our football team made the final and lost by a couple of goals, but won the admiration of many watching with the competitive spirit and positive attitude. We also had a girls football team compete against three other schools at the first ever competition of its kind in our region. It was a tough day on-field in terms of goals scored, but the girls had a great afternoon mixing with other girls, being active and having fun. All of our Year 5/6 students should feel very proud of the way they represented the school in recent sporting events.

Reporting Absences

While some days are busier than others, often the office phone is running hot first thing in the morning with phone notifications for student absences. The most efficient way to report your child absent is to notify your child’s classroom teacher. Their teacher will then mark them absent on the roll as part of their normal morning routine. The second best way is to email absences@sahighett.catholic.edu.au and our office staff can update the roll on the teacher’s behalf.

Parking in Staff/Parish car park

This is a friendly reminder for all parents (and grandparents/helpers) that the Staff/Parish Car park is not for use before or after school. There is a significant amount of foot traffic through this space before and after school, so for the safety of all children, parents are asked to park elsewhere at the start and end of day. Parents are also reminded not to stop in the middle of the road to pick up children, holding up traffic behind.

Kelly Sports - Holiday program and Wednesday mornings

Paul and Tash from Kelly Sports continue to engage with our school community in offering engaging extra-curricular sporting activities for our students and families. In Term Three, Monday lunchtime soccer club will be offered and a new Wednesday morning session will also start. This session will commence at 8am for 40 minutes and will be four weeks of basketball and five weeks of cricket. Parents are not required to stay for the before school sessions. Kelly Sports also have their holiday program running at St Agnes’ for the upcoming holidays. Please see the attached information.

St Agnes' Playgroup - call out for donations

Due to the success of our Playgroup sessions we are looking for some more toys to add to our current collection. If anyone has any used, yet in good condition dress-ups, matchbox cars, picture books, train tracks please drop them into the office.

Building Community Relationships

Over the last couple of weeks, we have had a lovely visitor to our school. George, who lives in our neighbourhood, has popped in a couple of times to chat with Amanda and Shannon in the front office. Last week, he very kindly dropped off some hand-made Bluey and Bingo puzzles. We thank George for his thoughtfulness and generosity. George used to be the woodwork teacher at Sandringham College and is obviously extremely talented and creative! We look forward to his next visit and letting him know how much the puzzles are being enjoyed by the younger students.

I trust that all families will enjoy a well-earned rest over the holidays and return to school recharged and ready for a big Term Three.

Kind regards,

Lachie.

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