News from JLC

Welcome back to another school year! We hope that you all had a restful and enjoyable break. The Year 1 and 2 students have had a terrific start to the year and have been getting to know each of their teachers and classmates. They are settling in well to their new classroom and routines. JLC students also welcomed three new students, Wayne, Benji and Andrew, who are all in Year 2. 

The first week of school involved some ‘Getting to Know You’ activities which was especially important for our class to get to know our new students and for our new students to get to know their classmates. We discussed our Classroom and School Rules and set up our reward skills on Class Dojo with input from the children. We played some games where we were able to learn each other’s names, likes, dislikes and hobbies. Children made some beautiful craft about themselves which required them to use literacy, numeracy and fine motor skills.

 We invite all parents to come into the classroom and have a look at our students’ creative work.

On Monday the 7th February, we had Tim from Northern Star Chess teach us some basic chess skills. He taught us about the pawns and how they move and capture other pieces. We played against each other with just pawns where the aim of the game was to get one of your pawns to your opponent’s end. The next piece we learnt about was the rook or the castle, followed by the bishop and the queen. We learned that the queen is the most powerful piece because she can move horizontally, vertically, diagonally, forwards and backwards.

On Tuesday the 1st of February, we celebrated the Feast Day of our school’s namesake, St Brigid of Ireland. Brigid was born in 453 AD and was the daughter of the king of County Louth. Brigid was a Christian and she loved God so much that she wanted to follow him by becoming a nun. She did not stay at home, but with seven other women who wanted to be sisters too, she left town and went to start a convent of nuns. The new convent was very poor, and the sisters spent their time praying and fasting. Brigid’s small convent and chapel became famous throughout Europe for their learning and art, as well as for their holiness. Students also listened to the story of St Brigid’s cloak and how a miracle occurred when her cloak spread to cover enough land to build a church.

Kind regards

Signora Gina Michieli and Miss Carly Wills

JLC Classroom Teachers