St Francis de Sales Catholic Primary School Lynbrook Newsletter

From the Principal

EMPOWERMENT - This is ME!

"Is there anyone else like me who just keeps watching this over and over again?????

I can't get enough of it...... watching all the little superstars at SFS being empowered and in return, empowering others to be themselves and believe in themselves." Ursula

 

In just one night the premiere of our SFS Virtual choir had over 900 views!!! Thanks so much to Kristy for bringing our children together despite stage 4 restrictions and providing our children with this great opportunity. This event certainly brought our community together and certainly brightened our night. From little things BIG things grow... maybe we are watching the blossoming of future mega stars! Congratulations to all our children who participated. 

 

From Kristy to the SFS Virtual Choir...."You are all absolute champs, proud of each and everyone on you!! 

This term empowerment is our focus for our RE/Inquiry. This is a vital concept for our children to explore as discussed in our last newsletter. RE/Inquiry is also an opportunity for our children to apply key Literacy and Numeracy skills in a real life learning. 

 

When we read material for example, about the human body or about how Jesus teaches us to treat one another or a video from the Daniel Morcombe foundation on identifying body clues,  we are applying our comprehension skills. Children can do this at a basic level and just retell or explain a story read or an event watched. However in RE/Inquiry we are encouraging children to go deeper with their thinking and with their comprehension. We want them to look at facts and make interpretations. We want them to look at different perspectives and reflect. At the deepest level of comprehension we want them to analyse and synthesis ideas. We encourage them to evaluate and consider what they have learnt as a result. If we have just learnt isolated facts they will soon be forgotten. However if we can delve deeply and are challenged in our thinking we can put ideas together to develop concepts and generalisations about the world we live in. We can combine these concepts to create new insights, design and innovate. We can go further to new connections.

 

 

So the current remote learning posts exploring RE/inquiry is vitally important as it helps your child develop those all important comprehension skills to improve their Literacy and when they for example, conduct surveys and analyse figures they also get to apply mathematics. This is what we see on our TV's at the moment when Epidemiologists are teaming up with politicians to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. We look at the health needs from different perspectives. Their analysis provides real-time forecasts and other critical information to front-line health-care workers and public policy makers as the we navigate the current outbreak. Developing these critical and creative thinking skills starts now in Primary school. Your children will one day be the ones we turn to in order to solve problems that may confront us in the future. We want to encourage this higher order thinking now. The adults to flourish now and in the years ahead are the ones who are not passive but active thinkers and quick adaptive learners, creative thinkers. The ones who can analyse, comprehend and find a solution. I encourage parents to support this key learning. This Term it is all about health and safety and empowerment.

Health, Safety and Human Development.

In this unit our children from P-6 according to the curriculum will be learning about their body and the way it changes and grows. In early years P-2 the children will be looking at themselves from birth to now. While Yr 3-6 students will be looking at the changes from now into their teenage years. Children will also be exploring ways to keep themselves safe and we will be talking about protective behaviors. They will learn about identifying signs when we feel unsafe - Early warning signs and will also explore their networks and people who can keep them safe. 

 

A brief overview of the junior program has been provided with links to the videos and resources that will be used. Parents might like to look at these before the children see them in learning posts in the coming weeks. It will be great that the children can talk  with their parents and develop their own network and practice safety strategies.

 

 In the upcoming weeks the senior Inquiry curriculum will focus on introducing physical, social and emotional changes that occur as our body grows and develops from birth to an adult stage. 

Seniors will be covering topics such as:

  • Emotional change.
  • Body growth.
  • Physical development
  • Strategies to deal with changes that occur with a positive mindset.
  • Hormones e.g. oily skin, change in mood, misconceptions or uncertainties.
  • How to deal with these body changes.
  • Body clues and who can I trust and speak too when I need help.

Alongside this, we will be covering some of the strategies, skills and resources available that empower us to stay safe. The following videos are examples of the topics that will be covered. 

 

https://safeYouTube.net/w/wB0R

https://safeYouTube.net/w/BB0R

https://safeYouTube.net/w/OB0R

 

 

This year we are considering inviting Amanda from Bodyworks Personal Growth and Development Program to run a parent information session before the end of this term. It will be via Zoom for parents of Year 5 and Year 6 students. This workshop will provide further information for parents about proposed student sessions and help answer possible questions from children about the changes associated with puberty.  We are also proposing to run a program for our Year 5 and a program for Year 6 students in early Term 4 when we return to face to face teaching.

 

Further details in regards to the date of this presentation for Yr 5 and 6 will be provided in coming weeks. If you have any questions about the program for students please contact your child's Home Group teacher, Rachel, Ange or Christine.