Learning
Learning & Teaching/Wellbeing/Faith & Farm
Seesaw Schedule
Hi families, Over the coming weeks, you will notice that our Seesaw Learning Posts have been created in collaboration with our children. The posts will feature a reflection of a piece of work that they believe shows their current achievement and “next steps” in their learning. As always, each post will be based on our learning progressions, which have been adapted from the Victorian F-10 Curriculum. We believe that this process will strengthen your child’s voice and agency in talking about their learning and progress. This is a trial process that we will evaluate and refine its effectiveness at the end of the year. We look forward to sharing the children’s reflections and goals for their learning! St. John’s team. |
NAPLAN
To our current NAPLAN families and all future NAPLAN families,
Recently, our Grade 3 and 5 families would have received their NAPLAN results. While we are incredibly proud of our children for the Literacy and Numeracy growth indicated in these results, we are incredibly proud of all the things that these results do not measure and that equally deserve celebration.
NAPLAN does not measure how creative and kind our children are. It does not measure how resilient and persistent they are. It does not know all that we as families and educators are lucky enough to know - your child’s interests, their love of sport or their siblings, their kind, brave and gentle nature. It does not know that your child greets their peers and educators in the morning with a “hello” and a smile or that they are showing incredible growth in their guitar lessons. We are lucky enough to know those qualities. At St. John’s we place our kids at the heart, and celebrate and continue to grow these qualities, alongside our academic results.
NAPLAN provides data in key areas of Literacy and Numeracy. This gives parents and educators a snapshot of students’ academic achievements individually, as part of our school community, and nationally.
*National and state comparison data unavailable.
We are proud to share that 92% of our Year Three children performed above the National minimum standard across all the NAPLAN tests. Of these tests, our Year Three children performed the strongest on Reading, with 46% of children attaining results that fell within or above Band 6 on the NAPLAN scale.
Ninety percent of our Year Five children performed above the National minimum standard across all the NAPLAN tests. As a group, our Year Five children performed the strongest on the Numeracy test, with 38% achieving results within Band 7. We acknowledge the outliers within this data set, with some children attaining results within Band 8 for the Grammar and Punctuation test, Spelling test, Writing test and Reading test.
Please note that due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, NAPLAN testing did not occur and therefore our current Year Five children did not receive Year Three results. Due to this, there are no NAPLAN reports available to show the ‘value added’ or growth achieved in NAPLAN results between the two year period of 2020 and 2022.
Community Project - As Our World Turns
We would like to say a big thank you to our children for contributing their representations to our exhibition, ‘100 Years From Now’. We appreciate all the visitors and feedback we received about the exhibition and our children’s visions for the future.
As the exhibition showcased, through our project, we explored the concepts of influence and progress. Our children investigated how designers and innovators acknowledge and respond to the needs of the community. We explored different current issues and forecasted issues that may arise in the future. Each Hub explored the responsibility designers and innovators have to consider different perspectives and to respond to the needs of the community in ethical ways.
Preps - Our Prep children explored our farm and considered what the farm would need to thrive. They responded to these needs by creating inventions that could be used to help it. Some of their suggestions included a shade sail for potatoes, so that just enough light would filter through without burning them. The children in Prep explored the ethical consideration that some inventions help the community and some inventions hurt the community.
One Hub - The children in One Hub explored the ethical considerations involved in reducing pollution. They investigated the understanding that nature creates zero waste. They looked at the impact that inventions and creations have had on the world, and in particular how manufacturing and production waste has impacted the land. They also explored how designers and innovators are responding to these challenges, they applied these learnings as they created their own invention to help work towards a ‘zero waste’ future.
Two Hub - Our children in the Two Hub explored the importance of sustainable products and materials. Their designs were heavily inspired by the film 2040, as they designed proto-types for creations that could work towards a more sustainable future. They particularly focussed on alternative sources of energy, such as machines that could harness the power of lightning.
Three/Four Hub - The children in Three/Four Hub explored what Footscray could look like in the future. Drawing heavily on a guest speaker’s expertise from the council, the children took into consideration what urban planning should involve. Some of the considerations include building social capital, reducing residential land space, alternative sources of energy like solar energy, and improving public transport, such as the construction of a bullet train.
Five/Six Hub- The children in our Five Six Hub explored various ethical issues, and acknowledged the multiple perspectives involved in each consideration. They were invited to create prototypes that would either address ethical problems or minimise harm in the pursuit of advancement. Some of the ethical considerations they acknowledged were water scarcity, privacy breach and artificial intelligence.
If you were unable to view the exhibition, you may like to view the virtual tour on our school website: Community Projects/Discovery | St John's
Literacy
Spelling Bee
Congratulations to all the children that participated in the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee! Children showed the dispositions persistence and courage in taking on this challenge:
3-4: Aiyesha, Alana N, Audrey, Baydah, Bethany, Elijah S, Eva D, Gabriela, Liam G, Maliko, Manvi, Ruby M, Sienna H, Thomas
5-6: Adut, Emma, Erin, Evan, Iffar, Kayla, Noah, Pierre, Vanessa, Xavier H
We are pleased to announce that Erin in 5-6 made it through to the state finals! Congratulations Erin on representing our school and demonstrating the dispositions of persistence and grit in taking on this challenge.
If you have any further questions about how you can support your child’s reading, speaking and listening or writing at home, or any other Literacy-related questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Daniela De Luca
Literacy Coach
ddeluca@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au
Numeracy
Prep-2s
The children in our Prep Hub have been working hard this term in developing their measurement skills through investigating time. They have been exploring the duration of familiar events and identifying days of the week. Children have been learning about the sequence of events and ordering the steps of everyday routines.
Some ways that you can support your child’s learning at home include referencing the time of the day and drawing your child’s attention to the clock. You might like to invite your child to talk about the sequence of events that happened during their school day or on the holidays.
3-6s
Earlier in the term, our 3-6s participated in the 2022 Australia’s Maths Competition - an online competition that prompted our children to think divergently and creatively to solve a variety of different maths problems.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate all children who participated, for showcasing St John’s dispositions of persistence, resilience and self-motivation by giving everything they had towards the competition. It is designed to challenge: and our children showed they’re more than capable of regulating themselves and having a go when faced with challenging scenarios.
Competition results:
Certificate of Distinction
Erin Nguyen
Certificate of Credit
Elijah Su, Bethany Szucs, Freya Morris, Harry O’Leary, Eva De Pasquale, Taylan Mustafa, Liam Mota, Alana Nguyen, Liam Guye, Aaron Joseph Albert, Oliver Ngo, Maliko Mulindwa, Perrie Nguyen, Felicia Bui, Jimmy Bua.
Certificate of Proficiency
Dean Yu, Thjomas Jeffries, Spencer Harland, Miriam Foster, Winson Dang, Baydah Tankey, Pearl Stephenson, Vanessa Yu, Leo Paton, Aaron Bhardwaj, Kasey Doan, Oliver Ryan, Noah Tankey, Vivian Huynh, Evan Conde, Hien Lam.
Certificate of Participation
Ruby Perri, Isaac De Silva, Gabriela Argibay, Wren Jaworski, Harriet Cassar, Amelie Harinos,Iffar Rahman, Manoj Atmakuri.
Congratulations to all our children on a remarkable result!
Wellbeing
On the 1st of July, 2022, new Child Safety Standards were enacted in Victorian Schools and in organisations that work with and for children. The following policies and guidelines; in line with the new standards, are intended to ensure that the processes and practices in place to safeguard all children in our care at St. John’s Catholic Primary School are made publicly available on our school website. These policies are:
Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
Child Safety Code of Conduct
Protect: Identifying and Responding to Abuse - Reporting Guidelines
MACS Duty of Care Guidelines
Complaints Handling Policy
Anti-bullying Policy (including Cyberbullying)
These policies and guidelines can be found at https://www.sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au/policies
Karen Dodemaide
Co-Deputy Principal and Wellbeing Leader
kdodemaide@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au
Learning Diversity
Last week we celebrated and expressed our gratitude for our wonderful St. John’s Co-Educators and Admin team! Mel, Leonie, Shona, Raquel, Lauren, Nidhi, Thushari and Eileen - THANK YOU! We couldn’t do what we do at St. John’s without you and the passion, care, knowledge and love that you bring to your roles. Some of our children prepared short video messages of thanks and these were shared with our co-educators over a special morning tea in their honour. Our children, our families and our staff say thank you on this day and EVERY day!
Ashlee Owen
Learning Diversity Leader
aowen@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au
Faith
With the news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, St John’s would like to extend this prayer, and invite you to join as we pray…
Almighty Creator,
You are the author and sustainer of all life on Earth:
Grant Elizabeth, our Queen,
Whom you granted a long and happy reign as Monarch,
Through her devotion to faith, and unyielding commitment to others,
Eternal life promised to all those born again, in the water of baptism and power of your Spirit.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit God, forever and ever.
Amen.
Wednesday the 14th of September, known liturgically as the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, is a day we reflect on the significance of the cross in our own lives. Unlike Good Friday where we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, this day is a day to contemplate the cross itself.
What does the cross mean to you and your family?
Where is the cross visible in your life?
What feelings and thoughts emerge when you see a cross?
Prayer Gatherings:
Our prayer gatherings this term will centre the faith history of St John’s, through the life of Mary Mackillop, and those who have been inspired by her leadership and commitment to faith and education.
Our prayer gatherings will run as follows:
Term 4 prayer gatherings:
Friday, Week 2 (14.10.2022) Mission and Vocation
Friday, Week 4 (28.10.2022) Mary and Women in Faith
Friday, Week 6 (11.11.2022) Remembrance and Solidarity
Friday, Week 8 (25.11.2022) Advent Week 1: HOPE
Friday, Week 9 (02.12.2022) Advent Week 2: LOVE
Friday, Week 10 (09.12.2022) Advent Week 3: JOY
Friday, Week 11 (16.12.2022) Advent Week 4: PEACE
Mitch Hayes
(Faith/REL Leader)