Assistant Principal

Learning at StMM’s - Let’s talk about Maths!

Mathematics is a skill for life. Through Mathematics our students develop the ability to think logically, critically and creatively by applying different strategies to solve real-world complex problems. There are a lot of myths that influence the way we talk about Maths. For example:

• Myth 1: You’re either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ at maths. 
• Myth 2: You’re either a ‘Maths’ person or an ‘English’ person
• Myth 3: If you don’t know the answer right away, you’re not good at maths

Positive Maths attitudes help children persist with the work. We can help shape our children’s attitudes towards Maths by talking about it in a positive way at home. Below are some tips to help; they may be things you are already doing:

• Encourage your child to keep trying, even when they make mistakes. Making mistakes is a normal part of learning. 
• Praise your child for the persistent effort they are putting in when trying to solve Maths problems. 
• Ask questions to prompt your child’s thinking when solving a problem:
  • What facts do you know that could help you solve the problem?
  • Can you prove your thinking by drawing, or writing a number sentence?
  • Tell me how you solved this problem?  
• Help develop your child’s number sense, fluency and overall mathematical knowledge by making Maths fun through:
  • playing board and card games such as Snap, Go Fish, Uno, Snakes and Ladders, Battleship. Connect 4, etc
  • finding the Maths in everyday activities, such as, cooking, shopping and sport (comparing the cost, measuring or discussing how many points a team needs to score to win)

Everyone can achieve great things in Mathematics when we know we can work together to find a suitable solution to a problem. We look forward to working together with you at our Maths open classrooms on Monday 2nd September, a time to enjoy solving Maths problems with your child.   

Uniform

Thank you to our families for ensuring our students come to school everyday wearing their correct school uniform. As we move towards the season of Spring, the weather can be unpredictable, with warmer weather during the day and cooler weather in the morning and late afternoon. Students are able to wear either their full summer or winter uniform, depending on the daily weather, until the end of the term. The wearing of our school uniform plays an important role in instilling pride in our students and maintaining our school identity and spirit. 

Please ensure jumpers, jackets, hats and other school uniform items are clearly labelled to ensure your child is able to easily identify their items. We have noticed an increase in the number of jumpers and jackets being left on the playground. If your child has lost a jumper or jacket please check the lost property bin near the uniform shop. 

Attendance - every day counts

School attendance plays a critical role in enhancing the lives of children and young people. Every day of attendance adds to a student’s opportunity to learn, develop and experience success in education. There is no safe number of days for missing school. If a student misses as little as four days each term they will have missed over a year of learning by the end of their schooling.

Our aim is to have all students in every grade achieve 100% attendance. To encourage and support regular attendance at school, at the end of each term students who have 100% attendance will receive an award at our end of term assembly. 

Thank you for your continued support. Together we can achieve more. 

Happy Father’s day.

God Bless

Rochelle

Rochelle Borg

Assistant Principal