St Finbar's Newsletter

Principal's Report

It has been another eventful week at St Finbar's. On Wednesday our Year 5 and 6 students participated in their first Cluster Day for this year. This long standing tradition allows students to meet students from neighboring schools in readiness for their transition to secondary school.  

 

The Preps enjoyed a cinema outing on Saturday  along with their families, which sounds like it was a lot of fun. Thank you to our Prep teachers Louise Pickering and Fiona Byrne who joined their students to see Garfield...I'm sure the Preps were surprised to see their teachers outside of school.  The Year 2 Family Mass was a great success on Saturday night, and once again we had many parishioners comment afterwards on how impressed they were by the children's reverence during Mass.  

 

We farewell the O'Reilly family today and wish them well as they return home to Ireland. Good luck to Isla-May and Flynn, we will miss you both here at St Finbar's. 

 

All teaching staff will be on site tomorrow undertaking training in the Seven Steps to Writing Success, which will better enable us to support our students to become better writers. 

  

Enjoy your long weekend everyone, hopefully you manage to spend time together as a family and make the most of the extra days. 

 

Semester 2 learning support

Our student learning team got together on Monday morning to begin planning for our semester 2 support program. It is important to ensure that we are meeting the needs of students and a lot of time goes into identifying which students are eligible for extra support, based on data. There was lively, robust discussion on Monday and we are confident that the decisions made are in the best interests of the students. 

Youth Resilience Survey Results (by Laura Zeeng, Wellbeing Leader) 

Earlier this term, 168 students from Years 3 to 6 completed the Youth Resilience Survey. This survey provides us insights into the various factors that affect students’ resilience, strengths and needs. Classroom teachers have reviewed the data to provide targeted interventions throughout their weekly SEL lessons as we aim to enhance student’s wellbeing and resilience. 

 

Based on the data our students provided, here are some areas that stood out:

  1. Strong Family Support: An overwhelming majority of students reported feeling loved and supported by their families, with percentages like 95% for Year 3 females and 100% for Year 5-6 females, significantly surpassing the Australian norms.
  2. Encouraging Teachers: Students have a positive perception of their teachers, with high percentages of students feeling encouraged by their teachers. For example, 100% of Year 4 males and females reported having teachers who encourage them, which is notably above the national average
  3. Engagement in Learning: Students exhibit a high degree of engagement in their education, with many reporting that they try hard at school and care about their school, often scoring above the national averages
  4. Active Participation in Extracurricular Activities: There is a high level of involvement in extracurricular activities among students, indicating a strong engagement beyond academics
  5. Safety Perception: Many students feel safe in their various environments. For example, 100% of Year 4 students feel safe at school, with similar numbers throughout Year 5 and 6. Again, these statistics are above national norms.
  6. Positive Relationships with Peers: Students reported having good relationships with their peers, with high percentages of students having at least one good friend at school. 

Students were asked: ‘If you could magically do anything, what is one thing that you would do to support the wellbeing of young people?’ 

Some of their responses were: 

I would magically make them happy

I would tell them if things are hard, you have to push through to succeed.

I would talk to people about how they are feeling at home, school and in their community and make sure everyone is feeling happy, safe and healthy

Make sure that everyone in the world has the right education to make their future or career good.

Everyone in the world has clean food and water

I would encourage them to go outside and have fun and to not stay inside and play games.

Make sure that they are able to get the support and help they need no matter what

This data presented above is one of the many ways we support and track student wellbeing and resilience at St. Finbar’s. 

 

Lost Property

Our lost property area is looking very full at the moment, including six woolen jumpers and four winter jackets. We always endeavor to return items when they are clearly labeled but often the names are faded beyond recognition or have ex-student names on them (presumably from items being passed on). 

 

Around the classrooms 

It is always great to visit classrooms and see the learning taking place. This week I joined a Prep B lesson on the importance of vowels, and read some entertaining sentences in Prep P.   A group of Year 1 students were very engaged in their small group reading session with Miss Lennon.  The Year 6 students are working on their Magazine Mayhem projects, writing magazines on a topic of their own choosing. I joined the Year 5 students at Mayflower Aged Care Home on Monday, where they continued to interview the residents. 

 

Take care and God bless. 

Michelle Hill,

Principal