Learning & Teaching 

LITERACY - Bernadette Parnis

Hi Everyone,

My name is Bernadette Parnis and it is my privilege to be joining the staff as Literacy Leader at St Fidelis Catholic Primary School.

I have been a teacher in Catholic education for over 30 years across a number of schools in the west. I have held various roles from classroom teaching positions, teaching physical education, specialist literacy intervention roles including Reading Recovery, teaching English to new arrival and refugee students, introducing new initiatives and being responsible for pre Foundation transition programs. 

More recently I have held the role of Literacy Leader supporting teachers with the implementation of both the Victorian English Curriculum and English as an Additional Language Curriculum and analysing data to improve student outcomes. Supporting teachers' growth and development has been extremely rewarding. Following, it has been my absolute pleasure to witness student growth as a result. 

For me, teaching is more than imparting knowledge. It’s about shaping the future of each and every individual student supporting them to develop skills that will lead them to grow into lifelong learners. The reward of seeing students flourish continues to motivate me. I am grateful and proud to have witnessed many children progress through primary school.

Outside of school I am a wife and mother to three sons, who are now young men, all working in various fields. My interests include reading, gardening and spending time with my family. My most favourite pastime is going to the gym. (I think I can pass as part of the furniture.)

I look forward to facilitating literacy professional learning for all in our school community, getting to know the students and working alongside the parents. I anticipate meeting and getting to know everyone. I hope to continue to build on the already existing solid foundations at St Fidelis. I am grateful for the opportunity and thankful for the warm welcome that I have received. 

Scholastic Book Club - Issue 1 Catalogue out now - orders due this Friday Feb 9

NUMERACY - Colleen Monaghan

Welcome back to another school year. I am looking forward to getting into the classes this week and sharing some numeracy cheer!

Dates to put in diary February for Foundation parents

• Tuesday 20th 8:50 am 
• Thursday 22nd 2:30 pm 

I will be running sessions on these two days for the Foundation parents on how they can  support their child at home with Maths.

All classes will begin testing children this week and once tested we will look at students' needs and plan accordingly.  

Looking forward to working with you and your children this year,

Colleen Monaghan, 

Numeracy Leader  

SPORT & PE - Michael Jennings

HOCKEY VICTORIA ROADSHOW

St Fidelis is excited to welcome the Hockey Victoria Roadshow to our school!

Our Year 1-4 students are being given the fantastic opportunity to try out the exciting game of hockey! They will learn the skills of the game through exciting game-based activities suited to every year level and ability. Year 1-4 students are required to wear their sport uniform on Friday 9 February.

Hockey Victoria will be sending their amazing Participation Officers to our school on Friday 9 February to provide an engaging, fun, and safe hockey experience for everyone concerned.

At Hockey Victoria, they pride themselves in providing an enjoyable experience for every student, so keep an eye out and see if you can spot one of their coaches at school soon!

If you enjoy the sessions during school, you can continue with your hockey experience by joining a local Hookin2Hockey program www.hookin2hockey.com.au. With programs all over the state you can find a local program that will suit your schedule.

St Fidelis Primary School is an affiliated member of School Sport Victoria and competes in various sports within the Coburg District. The Coburg District aims to provide the children with the opportunity to participate in well-organised and enjoyable sporting events that are an extension of school based Sport & Physical Education programs. It is our school’s belief that children benefit greatly from visiting and competing with other schools within the Coburg District.

SSV Coburg District Program Outline

SSV Coburg District Summer Sport Competitions

Term 1

Friday February 16 - Friday March 15

ELIGIBILITY

Grade 6 (priority) and Grade 5 students

Games:

Boys/Mixed Softball, Girls Softball, Boys/Mixed Bat Tennis, Girls Bat Tennis, Boys/Mixed Basketball & Girls Basketball.

SSV Coburg District Swimming Trials

School Sport Victoria conducts swimming competitions at district, division, region and state levels, however, the Coburg District does not conduct swimming championships. Students, however, can progress to the next level of competition (Inner North/Moreland Division) by competing in Coburg District Swimming Trials, to be held on Tuesday 27 February at Elite Swimming, Brunswick.

In order to nominate and to compete at this event, students are required to swim for a club outside of school hours, or be at a very good standard (squad). Students swim in 10, 11 & 12/13 year age groups. Ages are calculated as of December 31st in the year of competition. Therefore, if your child is 9 or 10 years of age this year, he/she will compete in the 10 year age group. Children 11 years of age this year compete in the 11 year age group and children 12 years of age this year compete in the 12 year age group. If your child wishes to nominate for this event, please complete and return the form made available to your child at school.

SSV State Team Selection Process

Each year, talented Victorian school students have the opportunity to trial for a place in the School Sport Victoria (SSV) Team Vic state team and participate in annual School Sport Australia (SSA) Championships. The School Sport Australian Championships offer gifted and talented students the opportunity to participate in higher levels of sporting competition against students from other Australian states and territories.  Please note: The opening of the 2024 Team Vic State Team Trial registrations are open and close on March 1 2024.

Go to https://www.ssv.vic.edu.au/team-vic to view information regarding the nomination process for each sport re. dates, times, venue, age eligibility, nominations closing dates, trial fees and Championship venue and dates-by clicking on the respective links under the Team Vic tab on the SSV website.

Please note that participation in SSV Team Vic state teams is self-funded, so students will be required to contribute to the costs of being a member of a team.  Costs include host state and administration levies, uniform, flights, transport, accommodation and meals.

SSV makes every effort to keep all costs to a minimum and tries to assist team members through contact with schools, sponsor letter and a media release. SSV also conducts a State Teams raffle to assist with meeting the costs of participation, plus students can also apply for grants from the Australian Sports Commission Local Sporting Champions Program or nominate for an opportunity to obtain funding from the Sports Excellence Scholarship Fund. Students registering for trials are indicating that they will be in attendance at all trials unless otherwise informed. Team training schedules will be available at the trials and team training is generally held on weekends or during school holidays. When registering, SSV recommends using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as your internet browser as there have been reports of problems when registering when using Internet Explorer. 

Eligibility

To be eligible for selection, students must be enrolled and in regular attendance as a full-time student at a primary or secondary school affiliated with SSV; available to attend selection trials and training sessions; and meet the costs of participation. Your child’s school is affiliated with SSV and competes in the Coburg District. Students wishing to register for trials for sports will need to apply directly to SSV via the website. If your child wishes to nominate for football, soccer, netball or basketball, please follow the steps outlined:

PRIOR to registration:

1. Your child's Sport Coordinator must confirm/ endorse your child's athleticism and sport specific ability to trial so discussion with this person prior to registering is imperative.
2. Please note that only a maximum of 3 students per school are permitted to register for football, soccer, netball or basketball so this endorsement is important.
3. If the Sport Coordinator endorses your child, please register online.
4. If your child is nominating for more than one sport, please complete a separate nomination form for each sport.

PLEASE NOTE: There are no longer Coburg District Trials for these sports. The ultimate goal of nomination is State Team selection in these sports. Therefore, only very gifted and talented students can be selected from districts to trial at division trials.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION TIMETABLE

TUESDAY

FOUNDATION CLASSES

WEDNESDAY

YEAR 1/2 CLASSES

THURSDAY

YEAR 3/4 CLASSES

YEAR 5/6 CLASSES

SPORT TIMETABLE

FRIDAY

YEAR 3/4 CLASSES

YEAR 5/6 CLASSES

STEM - Joe Frazzetto

EXPECTATIONS

This week in STEM I will go through the expectations with our students, so they have a common understanding when they come into STEM, using or borrowing the technology. 

CHROMEBOOKS

I will go through and introduce the ICT & Chromebook Acceptable User Agreement with the Year 3/4 and 5/6 students in STEM. The students will receive their chromebooks, email and password. The students will receive a note to take home for their parents. There will be another note to take home regarding the students using the Google Apps for Education, the parents will need to go through this with their child, sign it and return it to you ASAP. 

Foundation and 1/2 New Ipads and Chromebooks

Foundation and Year 1/2 students have new ipads and new chromebooks.  The chromebooks will be for the Year 2 students only to use in their learning areas.

ITALIAN - Rosa Fokianos

BUONGIORNO!  

Salve a tutti! (Hello everyone!). 

Firstly, to all the new parents at St Fidelis Primary School…Benvenuti, (welcome) to our school community. Let me introduce myself…mi chiamo signora Rosa. I have the pleasure of teaching your child/ren italiano for an hour each week here at St Fidelis. 

Your child/ren will be engaged in Italian language learning through songs, stories, games and conversations. My goal is to create a rich linguistic setting whereby language and culture are intertwined in an enjoyable and meaningful way.

This year, I will be at the school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have included my timetable below so you will know when your child has Italian for the week.

I am still fortunate enough to continue teaching Italian in my own learning space located upstairs in the main building, opposite the Art room. This space allows me to not only display Italian language all around the room but also display children’s work that they have learnt during their Italian sessions. You may also notice that there are various places around the school that have been labelled in Italian. I wonder if your child/ren has been able to locate any yet? 

Throughout the year, I will be including items in the school’s newsletter, informing parents what each year level is/has been learning about in italiano, as well as any extra news in relation to Italian happenings at the school. 

Until next time…buona settimana! (Have a good week).

Signora Rosa 🌹