SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL UPDATE

Dear Parents, 

The School Advisory Council (SAC) had its second meeting for the year on Wednesday 7 th June. The purpose of the SAC is to offer guidance and support to the school leadership team in the decisions they are making to enhance our school. 

To keep the parent community up to date with improvements and changes that are happening, please find below the pertinent items that were discussed. 

Update On Items from Previous Meeting

Administration – Staffing in School Administration has been finalised with Tracey Ryan (Mon, Wed, Fri) and Rana Ghopur (Tues, Thurs, Fri) being jointly employed in this role. They have been in this role for several months now and are available to assist parents with any queries or questions. 

AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language) – AUSLAN has been a very positive addition to the students, staff and parents of Holy Family. Mrs Herrmann has been very warmly welcomed and the students are embracing this new program with great enthusiasm and excitement. For more information on AUSLAN, regular updates can be found in the School Newsletter. 

Therapy Dog – Lola has quickly become a much-loved member of the Holy Family community. The students are excited to have her around the school, especially at lunchtime and she continues provide reassurance and support to those who may need a little extra care. Mrs David is currently undertaking an online course with Lead the Way Institute. Once she successfully completes this she will then move to face-to-face sessions which will include Lola. Mrs David and Lola passing this assessment will then have Lola officially registered as a Therapy Dog. 

Successful Grant Application 

Holy Family has been successful in receiving a grant for $25,000 to develop an outdoor learning area for students. The space needs to foster the learning of our students and can take on any form/shape that we feel is most important/relevant to our school. All families are welcome and encouraged to make suggestions on how this grant can be used for the betterment of our learning environment. Please send any ideas to Mrs David for consideration. 

UFLI Foundations Program 

UFLI Foundations is an explicit and systematic program that teaches students the foundational skills necessary for proficient reading and has been introduced into the Junior classes this term. It was chosen as the current synthetic, systematic phonics scope and sequence for HFMW for a number of reasons and it addresses the Word Recognition strand of the Reading Rope (see Hollie Scarborough's Reading Rope). 

The Synthetic phonics approach starts with the sounds/phonemes (the building blocks of speech) and synthesises the sounds to build the word. Hence the word synthetic. It does not denote an artificial type of phonics, rather the process in which we build sounds to make words. This is aligned with how human brains learn to read (see Dr Stanislas Dehaene for more information on the reading brain). 

The UFLI Foundation program is systematic and builds upon previously taught concepts, leaving no room for gaps and ensuring students receive multiple exposures to taught concepts. It interleaves reviews and has a progress monitoring component, which staff will be further exploring next term. 

UFLI is an educational curriculum, meaning it also educates the teachers as they utilise the program, deepening their understanding through the explicit notes provided within the manual. UFLI stands for the University of Florida Literacy Institute. UFLI Foundations is one of the programs developed by the university. 

For more information on this program please visit: https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations/ 

The teachers in the Junior classes have seen remarkable growth made by students this term using this Scope and Sequence. UFLI also works well with our Tier 2 Reading Intervention program (MultiLit). 

Mathematics Intervention 

Our Learning and Teaching/Mathematics/Digital Technologies Leader (Mrs Young) has been attending Monash University to learn how to teach the Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU) Intervention Program. We are finding that the students attending this program 3 to 4 times a week are always leaving their session with a smile and a positive attitude. 

Extracurricular Activities Survey 

The Term 2 Survey is currently being finalised and will be based on extracurricular activities. We invite and encourage all parents/carers to complete this survey so we can gain information on the activities that are currently offered, what are family’s needs/priorities and where we can improve the program. The survey will be open by the end of Term 2 and close early next term with results discussed at the next SAC meeting.

Parish/School Community 

Fr Justel warmly thanked the school community for their involvement in the Pentecost Multicultural mass and luncheon that was held at the end of May. It was a great success in bringing the school and parish together and he looks forward to holding it again next year. 

The Mini Vinnies Program is being led by the Year 4 students and they are showing great enthusiasm for the Bake Sale they are organising to raise money for St Vincent de Paul. They are also looking at ways to further involve the parish community in this initiative. 

The next SAC meeting is scheduled to be held in July. If you have further questions or concerns regarding the above information, or other thoughts to improve our school, please feel free to contact a SAC member at any stage throughout the year. 

Kind Regards, 

Holy Family School Advisory Council 

Julie David (Principal), Eithne King (Deputy Principal), Fr Justel Callos (Parish Priest), Julia Paszkowski (Parish Representative), Nicole Mardell (Parent Representative), Daniel Trettel (Parent Representative), Stephanie Wood (Parent Representative) and Amelia Younane (Parent Representative)