St John's Student Inquiry Learning Expo

Tuesday, 25 June - 2.20pm

The students of St John's Mitcham, warmly invite their parents, families and friends to celebrate their learning this term and to participate in a Health and Wellbeing Lifestyle Expo!

This exciting event is a culmination of all we have learned over the term about Health and includes information about physical, mental, spiritual health and wellbeing.

Students will be sharing activities and information with all participants and we hope you are able to come along and join the experience.

The expo will take place in all of the classrooms

Tuesday, 25 June from 2:20pm - 3:20pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Tournament of Minds 2024

St John’s is thrilled to be able to offer our Year 5 and 6 students the opportunity to participate in Tournament of Minds (TOM) in 2024! Presentation day will be held at Deakin University, Burwood on either Saturday 17th or Sunday 18th August. Students will be expected to meet at the venue and be able to commit to the expectations of the program.

Tournament of Minds is a problem solving program for teams of students from both primary and secondary years. Tournament's aim is to enhance the potential of our youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management, and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive environment.

Teams are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges from one of the following disciplines:

The Arts
A new discipline for those who have a love for the visual and performing arts!
The long term challenges will involve research before developing a creative interpretation in response to the Challenge. Plenty of opportunities for artistic expression in the form of dance, song, musical instruments, theatre and all forms of the Visual Arts.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
The combination of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics principles provides an integrated approach for students to deepen their conceptual understanding and use their creative and critical thinking skills to solve the challenges within an authentic context.
Language Literature
Language Literature Challenges will involve in-depth analysis and research of texts from a variety of fields.
Social Sciences
A journey through the moral and ethical issues confronting society in the 21st Century.

Tournament of Minds is an opportunity for students with a passion for learning and problem solving to demonstrate their skills and talents in an exciting, vibrant and public way. The rapidly increasing and widespread involvement of thousands of participants throughout Australia and internationally, demonstrates that Tournament of Minds is not only a worthwhile investment in the education of our youth, but is also an integral part of our collective future.

Real World Benefits

Tournament of Minds offers real world benefits as it looks beyond academic achievement and understands that the pursuit of excellence knows no boundaries.

The Tournament process provides a platform for excellence and equips participants with twenty-first century skills and strategies.

Objectives

Provide the stimulation of real, open-ended challenges
Develop creative problem solving approaches and techniques
Foster cooperative learning and teamwork
Promote knowledge and appreciation of self and others
Encourage experimentation and risk taking
Expand and reward creative and divergent thinking
Stimulate a spirit of inquiry and a love of learning
Develop enterprise
Celebrate excellence

Encouraging Teamwork

Teams are required to work together on a Long Term Challenge for six weeks without assistance from teachers, parents or peers. They are encouraged to explore possibilities and experiment with ideas as they endeavour to produce their best possible solution. They develop a creative and original way to communicate this solution to others, working within predefined parameters such as limited materials, complex challenge criteria and the deadline of Tournament Day.

Students present the product of their ideas - their challenge solution - to a panel of judges and an audience on Tournament Day. They have ten minutes in which to present and must do so within a 3 metre by 3 metre performance area.

The teams must also participate in an unseen Spontaneous Challenge on Tournament Day. This challenge requires rapid interchange of ideas, the ability to think creatively and well developed group cooperation skills.

If your child is interested in participating, please ask them to collect and complete the application form and return it to St John’s ASAP!!!

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. More information can be found at www.tom.edu.au

Ange Crowe Mel Kerwin

Learning Diversity Leader Learning Support Officer acrowe@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au Literacy Leader

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and St John’s Mitcham is excited to be participating.

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 6 September 2024.

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge

All students at St John’s will be receiving a login to get started this week. We look forward to supporting this challenge and am going to take up this challenge myself!!

Watch this space for details of student progress…and happy reading!

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