Principal's News

Dialogue 

Teaching and Learning at Holy Family are based on educational research to positively impact children's learning.  

As part of our partnership with Challenging Learning, we are focussing on Dialogue in the classroom. Dialogue is the first part of a series of components that the staff will be looking deeply into with Challenging Learning. After Dialogue, we will be looking at how we give feedback to the children. 

Research shows that dialogue is not simply conversation. High-quality dialogue helps children to generate ideas about what they think and know, create meaning, classify and compare, make links, question assumptions, test cause and effect, speculate and hypothesise. Creating dialogue in the classroom is a skill that staff are enhancing at the moment. The teachers have set guidelines for how the dialogue will take place so that the children feel confident to participate.

The dialogue that is happening in the classrooms is not random but is something that is planned before it takes place. At the moment the teachers and students are using numeracy to refine and improve the quality of their dialogue. This will soon be expanded into the literacy area. 

If you would like to encourage dialogue at home when you are talking to your children, try and ask them questions that require more than a yes or no answer and try to ask them for more information when they give their answers. What are they thinking? Why do they think that? If they are cooking, ask about the process. Why do ingredients change when mixed, heated or cooled? Think of some follow-up questions to stretch your children's thinking and knowledge.

Murals  

Our artist, Simon White, has done an outstanding job on the murals completed at school. The children are excited about them! As soon as parents are allowed back into the school, we invite you to come in and have a look. It is amazing how fast he can create them and the finished product is incredible. He is working on the design for another one at the moment and will be back later in the year to complete it.

Enrolments

Enrolments for 2022 are now open. If you or anyone you know would like to enrol please contact the school office on 9791 1853 for an enrolment form. If you have been sent enrolment forms please return them to school as soon as possible. If your child is not returning to Holy Family next year, please let the school know as soon as possible.                                                                                                       

Communication at Holy Family

We highly value two-way communication with our parents. The lockdowns and restrictions as a result of COVID-19 have allowed us to be creative in using technology when face-to-face communication is not possible. Please see the image below that outlines Communication at Holy Family.

Steve Twomey

Principal