Courage, Faith, Love

Dear Parents and Friends of St Agatha's Primary School,

Spring has certainly sprung! It is wonderful to see the sunshine and feel a little warmth in the air. It would seem we are in for a warm Summer ahead!

Over the past two weeks we have worked with students, staff and parents in focus groups to think about and discuss future directions for St Agatha's School. As mentioned in our previous newsletters we recently completed a School Review and are now in the planning stages for our new School Improvement Plan.

The following questions were explored at these focus groups;

How would you like your child to be described when they leave St Agatha's School
What skills and knowledge do you think your child needs to prepare them for their future beyond primary school?
How do you think our teachers can help your child develop these skills and knowledge?

The next step will include the Leadership team collating all responses and creating a statement that reflects the big ideas from all stakeholder groups; students, staff and parents.

Here are some of the most common words and phrases that were included in the results of the focus groups;

grow in faith, collaborative, good sportsmanship, able to solve problems, resilient, leadership skills, listening sills, be prepared for high school and beyond, literate, numerate, creative thinking...

Thank you to everyone for your contributions and I look forward to sharing the final statement that will guide the 2024-2027 school improvement plan.

The Scholastic Book Fair has now arrived and we encourage you to come along before and after school to have a look. It will be set up in the School Hall. Thanks to Kerryn Dunn for her work on organising the Fair. Don't forget Grandparents' Day will take place on Thursday 26th October from 9:00am till 10:30am in the Hall. Our Year 2 students are looking forward to leading the event with a prayer liturgy.

On Wednesday 26th October it is also Day for Daniel day. We invite everyone to wear a splash of red on this day. For example, a red T-Shirt, red socks, red ribbons, a red hat. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation provides personal child safety education to children and young people to prevent abuse and promote lifelong health and wellbeing. I encourage you to check out the website that contains great resources that can be used by families at home. The teachers will also be using resources with students to promote Child Safety and especially Cyber Safety.

https://danielmorcombe.com.au/about/

On Friday 27th October we will celebrate World Teachers' Day. On behalf of the school community, I would like to acknowledge all the staff who work with students at St Agatha's School. From our admin team who field phone calls, first aid etc and ensure the school runs smoothly, to our ESO staff who assist students with their learning with such patience and grace, to our teachers whose commitment and passion to teaching your children is excellent and to my leadership team who support me and the staff in creating a safe and predicable learning environment for all. I thank you all! Here is a video from the new Director of DOSCEL celebrating World Teachers' Day.

Distressing content

Graphic imagery and footage have flooded social media since the conflict between Israeland Hamas erupted. Adding to the ensuing chaos is a host of false and misleadinginformation, including historical videos and photographs as well as fabricated assertions,which together add even greater confusion and deception.

Please be mindful of the content your children are being exposed to on their personal devices and even on TV. It can be quite confronting for adults and children may not know how to process the unfiltered imagery they are seeing.

Here is a fact sheet that may help if your child is exposed to distressing content. It is taken from the eSafety Commissioner website.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and I hope that you might find time this week to pray for peace in our world.

Heavenly Father, we pray for the many people whose lives have been torn apart by conflict in Israel and Gaza.

We pray especially those who have died, those who are grieving, the injured and those now without food, shelter or medical supplies. Strengthen and support the work of all relief organisations.

We pray also for those who have the power to bring peace. May they be touched by a spirit of compassion and kindness.

Lord hear us as we pray in the power of your Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Yours sincerely,

Michelle Bruitzman

VillageOSCH News