From the Deputy Principal

Our new value focus for the remainder of the term is show kindness and compassion even when you don’t agree. Small acts of kindness and compassion can have enormous power for both the person being kind and the recipient. Studies have found that kindness, compassion and giving are associated with improved happiness, improved relationships, and reduction of stress and anxiety, just to name a few. Research also shows that the happiness people get from giving to others creates a ‘positive feedback loop.’ The more you give, the more positive you feel. This in turn fuels greater happiness. You can be kind and compassionate to someone you know or to a stranger. There are many things you can do to show this to others: send someone a note, smile, help someone, pay it forward or even just give someone a compliment. What can you do to show kindness and compassion to someone this week? 

We encourage all of our students to take part in the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge. Last week we sent home a reading log to record the great books they read in the challenge. We will collate the reading log data in the classes and across the school. Reading is good fun and very important for student development. Studies have shown the link between regular reading and improving student achievement. Daily reading aloud strengthens oral language, phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Every student from Foundation to Year 6 is challenged to read 12 books in 24 weeks. We encourage daily reading at home. 

We had Harmony Day this week. Harmony Day is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism. It is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic backgrounds. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. We had splashes of orange and traditional dress on Wednesday. We had Harmony Day activities where students were in multi age groups, completing different activities. It was wonderful to see the students working together and helping each other. We even had some students from Yirara come and teach us head, shoulders, knees and toes. A big thank you to Ms Moloney for organising the activities for us. 

A reminder of our Parent Teacher interviews in week 10 on Tuesday and Thursday. If your child is in Year 1 the interviews are in Week 9 on Monday and Tuesday. To book an interview go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the code 4jfff.  This is a great opportunity for you to learn about your child’s learning goals and successes for the start of the 2023 school year. 

Last week our Year 3 and 5 students completed the NAPLAN tests. I commend them for their efforts. They have been calm, positive and given their best effort. I am sure the Milo helped. 

Miss Megan Nertney