Principal's Report

SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

Dear Parents,

Each year Infant Jesus School selects priorities in different learning areas to enhance the learning and development of all students and staff. It is envisioned that the learning will be of benefit to the whole school community. At the end of last year priorities for 2017 at Infant Jesus School were presented to the community.

One of these areas chosen to enhance development is the area of Mathematics.  Mathematics knowledge and skills are needed and used everyday – not only during school but also in life. Mathematics is used across curriculum areas and is an essential element of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts and Mathematics) approach. It is envisioned that though guidance and planned activities, and with much practice (and sometime patience) children will develop into proficient mathematicians.

At Infant Jesus School we follow the Western Australian Curriculum in all learning areas. The Mathematics learning area aims to ensure that students:

• are confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics, able to investigate, represent and interpret situations in their personal and work lives and as active citizens
• develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of mathematical concepts and fluency with processes, and are able to pose and solve problems and reason in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability
• recognise connections between the areas of mathematics and other learning areas and appreciate mathematics as a useful and enjoyable.

In Mathematics, in each year level, students are provided with the opportunity to engage fully with the concepts they are expected to develop; they observe other people engaged in the processes which they are to learn; and are shown examples of high-quality experiences of those processes, so they can see what it is they are aiming to achieve.

We recognise that students are more likely to understand and make sense of mathematical knowledge, concepts, skills and ideas if the information and experiences they engage with are purposeful, meaningful and interesting. 

Across the year level children participate in a variety of experiences to further enhance their mathematical skills and understanding. Experiences are planned across the year level to introduce new concepts, revisit concepts already taught, and to apply concepts, skills and knowledge to solve purposeful mathematical problems. Students may also be expected to work independently, in small groups or in a larger group. Technology has also been incorporated into many of the mathematical tasks and is used as a tool to enhance the learning. 

Children document and share their learning using various resources and parents may have seen mathematical work in an exercise book, stored in their iPad or displayed on see-saw.

Over the remainder of the term the newsletter will include some of the concepts that are used in the classroom.

What is a Number Talk?

Number Talks are short, daily exercises aimed at building number sense. Number sense is the ability to play with numbers meaning students can visualize problem solving, perform calculations quickly, and are flexible in their mathematical strategy. During a number talk, students are thinking, asking their peers questions, and explaining their own thinking all while the teacher records the thinking. Students who have strong number sense solve problems in more than one way and check that their answers make sense. 

Number talks engage students in “mental math” through grappling with interesting mathematics problems. Educators can use number talks regularly as introductions to the day’s mathematical practice, as “warm ups” for other lessons, or as stand-alone extended engagements with mathematical concepts.

Students can see that there are MANY ways of seeing the problem and finding the answer. It also helps students to communicate about mathematics — which is a very important skill — and to become more confident in class. In fact, number talks are a great way to help students to overcome a fear of presenting their solutions to others, because the tasks are short and open-ended ensuring success for all students.

CURRICULUM ORGANISATION

Over the next few weeks, I will be reading every student Semester One report. I look forward to seeing the improvement by individual students and reading the comments that teachers make about their performance and the achievement of the various outcomes.  This week, I would like to share with you some information on the curriculum within Catholic schools, and ways parents can support their children through school.

As has been highlighted many times before, collaboration between home and school is vital in providing our students at Infant Jesus School with the best possible educational advantages and it is an area that we are always endeavouring to improve.

The curriculum is the program of teaching and learning that leads to desired educational outcomes. Catholic schools follow the same curriculum as government schools; however, there is a religious dimension in everything that is taught in a Catholic school.  This creates the additional and most important learning area of Religious Education.

How is the Curriculum Organised?

Infant Jesus School implements the Kindergarten to Year 10 Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (the Outline) at www.scsa.wa.edu.au to meet the learning needs of all students. Subjects are grouped in key learning areas and teachers within our Catholic schools refer to the Western Australian Curriculum (English, mathematics, science and history) and other documents to develop their teaching programs.

Outcomes

Subjects and courses taught in schools today are outcomes based; that is, they are given direction by clear descriptions of what students should know, understand and value and be able to do as a result of the learning experience provided by the teachers at the school.

Outcomes are explicit statements of what students must demonstrate to show they have achieved the required knowledge and skills. Each learning area lists specific outcomes that students must cover over the years of K - 12. Teachers then use a range of fair, valid, explicit and comprehensive assessment processes to inform and evaluate the progress of student learning against the outcome prescribed for the particular learning area. This is how the students achievement levels are determined  for each learning area. Teachers also make comment on the effort a child has applied to their learning for a particular learning area.

The Student Report will look a little different this year so it is important for parents to read the explanatory information  included with the reports.

Infant Jesus School

A LEADing Learning School

Living, Leading and Learning in a 21st Century school places technology at the forefront. At Infant Jesus School, we have a fundamental belief in the value of innovation and technology and the positive impact it has on student learning. We believe that technology is used as a tool to enhance learning and the use of Apple technology assists in this process. Download our book today!

This book is available for download with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device. Multi-touch books can be read with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device. Books with interactive features may work best on an iOS device. iBooks on your Mac requires OS X 10.9 or later.

WA Week

Western Australia (WA) Day is held on the first Monday in June each year and is a State holiday only. It commemorates the foundation of the Swan River Colony near Perth by British settlers in 1829, although sightings and landings occurred as far back as 1616.

Originally Albany, on the south coast, was to be the capital of WA, but better resources for shipping and farming were found on the Swan River so Perth became the capital.

WA Day was previously known as Foundation Day, but to recognise the Aboriginal people as the original owners of the land, the name was changed in April 2012.

WA was settled as a free colony, unlike some other parts of Australia like New South Wales and Port Arthur. It was the only British colony in Australia established with land grants to settlers. The settlers were given land in proportion to the quantity of people and goods they brought to the colony and were only given the full title to their land when it had been improved enough to be considered established and sustaining.

A reminder that this Monday 5 June is a Public Holiday.

Life Link Day

As previously mentioned to parents, our school has decided to celebrate Lifelink Day on Tuesday 6 June. This year for LifeLink Day, we will be holding a free dress day with a gold coin donation. The children from Pre-Primary to Year Six will be allowed to wear free dresswith the few restrictions of: tied up hair, closed shoes or sandals and appropriate length shorts. Money raised on this day will go towards the many charitable works of the many Lifelink Organisaitons of the Catholic Church – supporting over 34 000 Western Australians annually.

Following our school based LifeLink Day on Tuesday 6 June, Archbishop Costelloe has invited representative’s from every primary school to join him at Newman College Auditorium for the launch of LifeLink 2017. All schools have been asked to bring their hearts and display them to present a powerful and visual demonstration of our young people joining together to help people in need.

Best Wishes

As many parents would be aware, tomorrow is Mrs Tara Johsnton's last day at Infant Jesus School as she takes parental leave commencing next week. Mrs Johsnton and her husband Damain are expecting their first child in June this year.

Tara has been working at Infant Jesus School since 2014, where she worked across the school in a relief capacity before taking the temporary Year One position. Tara has been very flexible in her work in all the year levels and always puts her heart and soul into her teaching. We are sure that she will make a wonderful Mum. 

We wish her and Damian all the very best for the as they embark on this new chapter in their life.

Prayer

Jesus

On the night of the Last Supper

you gave us yourself in the Eucharist

to unite us with you and with one another.

You teach us with your Word,

you nourish us with Holy Communion,

you strengthen our faith in you, Lord.

You help us to serve others as you did,

you listen to our prayers and petitions,

you bless us with grace in abundance,

you forgive us our faults and our wrongdoings,

you bring us your life and your love.

Through our celebration of this sacrament,

may we come to you in thankfulness.

May we never forget your great love.

Draw us closer to you, fill us with your love

and help us to serve you in those we meet.

Amen

Infant Jesus Family

Our prayers are with the Gibson Family (Sebastian 3W and Maria Fe 2B) and the McDonnell Family (Emma 4B and Kaelen 1B) in the loss of their beloved Great Grandmother recently.  Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and may perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Did you know?

• A hardboiled egg will spin. An uncooked or soft boiled egg will not.
• Your skin is the largest organ making up the the human body.
• It takes a plastic container over 50,000 years to start decomposing.
• The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.

Thought for the Week

A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles

God Bless,

Paul Hille

Principal

#ExpectGreatThings