Principal's Report
Dear Parents,
We welcome two new LSOs to our St Finbar's team this week. Cecilia Hedley is joining our staff, and will be supporting the Year 3 and 5 classes on Wednesdays to Fridays. One of our former LSOs, Trish Davis, also returns to work with us after a couple of years' break. Trish will be with us on Mondays and Tuesdays, mainly in the Year 1 level.
Well done to our seven Cross Country runners who represented St Finbar's on Tuesday at the Division event - Mrs Thompson has all the results on her Sports Update page.
Just a reminder that we have our school closure day next Friday 7th June, with teachers undertaking professional learning on the Seven Steps of Writing.
Year 6 Leadership
Our Year 6 leaders continue to play an important role in supporting our younger students at St Finbar's. Each week a group of Year 6s organise some activities for the playground, and facilitate play for those keen to participate. The Year 6s also assist the younger classes to line up at the end of each lunch and snack time.
Science Week
A team of staff met on Wednesday afternoon to form a Science Week committee. Science Week runs from August 10 to 18 this year and we're planning a week of scientific learning and fun. Some of the things that we discussed include:
- an optional family event to build a Solar Buddy together - watch out for an expression of interest coming soon.
- an Open Morning in Week 5 where parents are invited in to view the Science learning that is taking place int he classrooms
- Science challenges during lunchtime and snack time.
All students from Years 3 to 6 will undertake a standardised Science test within the next few weeks in readiness for their Term 3 unit of work. This will provide teachers with some baseline data about students' understanding of Science concepts as they start to plan their Science unit.
Podcast
Our latest podcast episode is now on the website, or you can listen to it here. It was an honour to be interviewed as the first guest for the St Finbar's student Podcast leaders Isla, Dane and Ariana asked me about my recent appointment as principal and my career before St Finbar's.
Over the coming weeks, the Podcast Leaders will be hard at work preparing their next episodes, including a chat about Leadership with Alastair Clarkson from the North Melbourne Football Club and a discussion with the Hon. Ms Zoe Daniel about political issues that affect youth in our society.
Seesaw
Seesaw is one of the best ways that you can find out what is happening in your children's classroom. Posts can often serve as conversation starters over dinner when children "can't remember" or are reluctant to talk about their day. We have a renewed focus on Seesaw happening as a school so you are likely to see more activity in Seesaw over the next few weeks. It might be worth checking your notifications on your phone and deciding whether you would like to be notified when there are new posts.
Around the classrooms
There was a big focus on National Reconciliation Week in the classrooms this week. Year 3 classes were using a Venn diagram to compare two texts related to Reconciliation. Year 2 students worked in groups to write their own Acknowledgement of Country. We will use some of these student-written Acknowledgements of Country statements to begin our staff meetings.
Take care and God bless.
Michelle Hill,
Principal