Learning & Teaching

Parent Engagement 

Dr Jared Cooney Horvath 

We are excited to share that Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd has partnered with world-renowned educational neuroscientist, Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, to bring the latest insights from the Science of Learning into our schools. Dr Horvath, a global leader in this field, recently led a powerful three-day professional learning series for educators across our diocese at the start of Term 2.

As part of this exciting initiative, Dr Horvath has developed a special presentation series for parents and carers, designed to deepen understanding of how children learn and how families can best support them on their educational journey.

We are pleased to invite our school community to join us for these three engaging and informative recorded sessions, which will be shared onsite at school. Each session will be offered at two different times to support family availability. The final recording will also be made available online for those unable to attend in person.

Session Details:

We warmly invite all parents and carers to come along, share in the learning, and take the opportunity to ask any questions. These sessions promise to be both insightful and practical, and we are thrilled to bring Dr Horvath’s expertise into our school community.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to help every student reach their full potential. 

Celebrating Six Months of Magnify: Parent Observation Opportunity 

To mark six months of the Magnify initiative across Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd (CESL) schools, we are excited to invite parents into the classroom to see the incredible learning happening through our MiniLit Sage and MacqLitintervention programs. 

Parents are warmly invited to observe their child during one of their intervention sessions and gain a deeper understanding of how they are being supported in developing essential reading and comprehension skills. These structured, research-based programs provide targeted instruction to help students build confidence and achieve literacy success. 

By attending, parents will gain valuable insight into: 

• The structure and components of the program 

• The specific skills their child is working on 

• The strategies used by our educators to support progress and foster a love of reading 

Our Parent Observation Day will take place on Friday 8th August.  

And there's more to come! 

In the coming weeks, all parents will also be invited to observe an InitiaLit and/or OCHRE lesson in their child’s classroom. Stay tuned for this wonderful opportunity to see these powerful literacy and language programs in action! 

We look forward to welcoming parents into the classroom as we continue working together to support every child’s learning journey. 

Get Ready for Science Week at St Patrick’s! 

Week 4 is shaping up to be an exciting one at St Patrick’s School Tongala as we celebrate Science Week with this year’s intriguing theme: ‘Decoding the Universe’. In a fun twist from our usual format, students will have the opportunity to take part in lunchtime science experiments—offering an exciting, hands-on way to explore the wonders of our universe! 

Instead of scheduled class rotations, these activities will be 'opt-in' sessions held during lunchtime, allowing students from all year levels to get curious, experiment and dive into the mysteries of science at their own pace. 

Each day will feature a different experiment designed to spark imagination and encourage scientific thinking. We look forward to seeing some Elephant Toothpaste, Magic Water and other exciting experiments.  

We’ll be sharing more details with students next week to build the excitement, so stay tuned! 

Let the discoveries begin!