News from around the School

NEW - Chatter Matters

To best prepare our children for the language & learning demands of the school environment, they need ample time and opportunity to engage in meaningful interactions with their family.

Research suggests that the types of questions we ask and the quality of discussions we have with our children (at any age) are linked to school success. As children progress through the grades they must learn to use extended discourse in telling stories, giving explanations, reporting, expressing an opinion or writing an essay. Asking children “if, why and how” type questions allows them to deepen their thinking and prepare longer and more complex responses. It makes sense to build their confidence with extended discourse gradually, beginning with simple oral tasks.

Our school’s Speech Pathologist has provided many “family friendly”, fun oral language tasks aimed to enhance learning and literacy skills. You’ll find these in our weekly newsletter so look out for them!

We encourage you to set some time aside each week so that you can get the most out of your interactions with your child. In a busy household, sometimes the car is the best place for these focused activities. The key ingredients for a creative interaction are a time, a place, a willing talking partner or audience and an engaging topic or activity.

If your child is reading a particular book at home or in class, try to incorporate words or ideas from that text into your activity. For example; if you are building your child’s use of describing words, select a character from your child’s reader to describe. Encourage increasingly expensive words such as the beautiful, gorgeous, stunning and breath-taking princess. 

Positive communication experiences at home help children feel accepted and valued. Growth in spoken language skills will build children’s self-confidence and help them learn to negotiate social interactions at school. This often transfers to other aspects of their learning and life.

Ten activities will be provided each term focusing on key areas of oral language supporting literacy, learning and socialising. Feel free to adjust these activities according to your child’s grade level.

The following link is to the most comprehensive website available that provides parents with activities that are free, easily accessible and enjoyable. Each activity has been carefully selected to reflect the highest quality, up-to-date research evidence on early literacy development. There is also advice for parents who are concerned about their child’s reading and language development.

http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/parent-resources/

If you have any questions you can contact Arti Sha, Speech Pathologist through the School’s Special Education Coordinator, Felicity Bryant.

Good luck and most importantly, enjoy this very special time with your child.

NEW - After School Program

After school program is Government funded Program run by St. Mary’s School through Sporting Schools Program.  The program runs for 1 hour after school.   The children are provided with a drink and fruit.  The program will be offered for 7 weeks.  Each session starts at 3.45 and finishes at 4.45 p.m.   The program is supervised by Maree Williams at all times and an outside person runs the program.  Each session can only take 25 children.  

This term we are offering the following:

Thank You

Maree Williams Co-ordinator

Fitness & Fun

Wednesdays - starting 20/2/19 for 7 weeks

Thursday starting 21/2/19 for 7 weeks

both take us to the end of term.

Both nights will be run by Brodie Humphries from Active at school

Both programs will be run with fitness, fun and enjoyment in mind.  Both will be held in the Marian Centre or the school oval, depending on the weather.

Both programs start with Fruit and a drink after school, with program finishing at 4.45 each day.   

Please fill in the expression of interest form attached and return to the school office.

Medication

If your student requires medication whilst they are at school, medication with a pharmaceutical label stating the students name and dosage is required.  A parent or guardian will also need to fill in and sign an authorisation form before staff are able to administer. Medication is to be left at the school office for staff to administer.

This is a requirement for all medications and an Authorisation PDF is attached below.