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Dear Parents and Carers of St Kevin’s,
We continue to be impacted by COVID, but the learning of your children is still our priority. The entire student body has embraced on-line learning completing both digital and hard copy assignments and tasks.
Many students are displaying amazing diligence and organisational skills completing all set work by 1pm each day, and then having the entire afternoon to themselves to engage in leisure activities of their choice. How do they do this? They get up early and check their schedule and emails for updates from their teachers and then they’re off working. Scheduled TEAMS meetings or ZOOMS provide them with support and any extra work they may need to do. Congratulations to these students!
Currently I am listening in on the Year 3 TEAMS meeting where Mr Vaughan and Mrs Hogan are doing explicit teaching of number, all the while also explicitly teaching Year 3 how to use TEAMS effectively and efficiently. The children have discovered how to “leave” a meeting and then how to come back as a whole class when requested, without actually logging out of their meeting. Year 3 have also discovered how to collaborate within TEAMS to write their plays for the puppets they have created. Well done Year 3 and thank you Mr Vaughan and Mrs Hogan for all your work.
The infants’ students are submitting their work through See-Saw and as a result the teachers can easily track the progress of each student. Daily ZOOM lessons are maintaining the art and skills required in learning to read. Keep up the great work Kinder and Year 1.
Years 2 – 6 are working hard with assignments and collaborative projects being completed within TEAMS. All students in Years 2-6 also must complete set times and tasks in Essential Assessments – My Spelling and Sunset Maths & My Numeracy plus Lexia for Reading. Again, teachers can track engagement and if work is not being completed teachers can follow up with phone calls and emails to both students and parents.
So even though we’re not face to face in the classroom, learning continues to be a priority for us. It is different, it is at times a little crazy, it is at times challenging, but learning is still a priority. So together as parents and teachers we are ensuring that our children continue to learn both through online engagement and at home doing many varied activities. Keep up the great work everyone as we all learn new things during this weird time.
Me as learner? I have leant how to use See-Saw and Teams. I am re-visiting the art of crocheting. I am learning to use diced chicken in different ways for interesting dinners as we can’t go out to a restaurant I am learning how to do my hair in different ways as it gets longer every day!!!
So stay safe and have fun with your learning at home.
Mary-Anne Jennings
Principal
Messages from the Assistant Principal
Mathematics
Over the last month, St Kevin’s staff have been viewing bi-weekly 45 minute professional development on the draft Australian Mathematics syllabus. The NSW syllabus is also in review and must incorporate the Australian outcomes.
There are some significant proposed changes. There is no mention of the traditional vertical written algorithm in the primary years.
Personally, this is something I am very pleased to hear. It is difficult to teach children how to mentally calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication or division if the only thing they can “see” is a written algorithm. Generally, it is the “go to” strategy for the majority of students. Usually only the more gifted students recognise that it is an inefficient way of calculating mentally. Fractions and decimals have a much more prominent focus in the draft curriculum with more content being introduced into the early years. One of the biggest changes, is the introduction of computational thinking from Year 3. This is new! Whilst it will formally enter the curriculum in Year 3, elements have been added to the early years to build competence and transition thinking into working with algorithms ( not of the type shown above). Focus on critical and analytical thinking is important in a world where coding impacts on our lives daily.
We are currently 7 sessions into a twelve part series. We also have 2 x 2 hour Mathematics Professional Development scheduled in the coming 6 weeks ( all after school hours, of course). As I have stated before, the current focus of our School Improvement Plan is Mathematics and ensuring teacher pedagogy is reflective of best practice. I can assure you that staff are very committed to self-improvement and your children.
Community and Fun
Doesn’t lockdown just suck the fun out of everyday life? It certainly makes it difficult to maintain a sense of community. Something we all miss so much. So, for a little fun and to continue to help build those connections with school, we are running a little “Guess how many lollies?” competition. Every child is allowed to enter the competition a maximum of 10 times over the next 2 weeks – 1 entry daily. In order to enter, students must complete the form (see link below) and do a simple chore for their parent(s) or guardian. Twice weekly ( Monday and Wednesdays), I will post a clue on Compass.
Clue 1: There are less than 300 lollies in the jar.
Celebrating Stories and Language
Yaama,
Yesterday we celebrated Indigenous Literacy Day at St Kevin’s. Children who were able to tune in to a live event from home or school, enjoyed this excellent broadcast featuring Jessica Mauboy and Gregg Dreise. They listened to a story, ‘Yakai Beibigel’ written and read by Maureen Hodgson. This is a story about an inquisitive baby girl trying out her first steps and how her family keep her happy and safe at home. Maureen reads her story in English and Kriol. The children also viewed the beautiful landscape of the Tiwi Islands, getting a glimpse of how our First Nations kids live in this part of Australia, enjoying the beach and jumping in waterholes from the trees.
If your kids missed watching the live broadcast yesterday, and if you would like to watch and enjoy it also, here is the link. Any pre-schoolers you have at home will love it too.
Indigenous Children’s Day with Jessica Mauboy and Gregg Dreise
Indigenous Literacy Day is proudly presented by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, a charity with a vision of equity of opportunity for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in remote Australia.
Here is a short video about Indigenous Literacy Day.
I hope you are all keeping well and coping ok in these very challenging times. Like all of the teachers and support staff I am missing the kids and it will be great when school can resume as usual. In the meantime, stay safe and keep looking after yourself and your mob.
Goodbye / I’ll see you later…. (in Awabakal – Nginowa (pronounced ‘ninowa’)
Father’s Day
This Sunday we celebrate all our wonderful dads, stepdads, granddads and all father figures in our lives. Our dads help to show us what God is like through their strength, encouragement and care, in their silliness and in their respect for our mums, in the way they make us feel safe and how they teach us countless things as we grow up. Dads really are superheroes without the cape!
My own father is the most wonderful man. He is quiet and gentle and has the patience of a saint. He is honest, caring and thoughtful and it has been the biggest privilege in the world watching him love and care for my own children just as he did for me and my siblings. My dad is a mechanic and loves working with wood. He is a wonderful teacher, and he loves passing his knowledge and skills for mechanics and woodwork to my children. They adore learning from him.
I am blessed with a beautiful husband who shares this incredible journey of parenthood with me. I couldn’t raise 5 crazy (amazing!) children without him. He brings cheekiness and laughter to our home every day. He gently guides our children to make good decisions and choices in their little worlds. He does the trips to the dentist, so I don’t have to! Above all else, my husband has taught my children what love and respect are through the way he treats me, speaks to me and shows me unconditional love every day. For that, I couldn’t be more grateful.
So, happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful men in the St. Kevin’s community! My prayer for you is that you are surrounded with an abundance of coffee, love and appreciation this Sunday. Thank you for all that you do for your beautiful children.
Since we are unable to be together in person, we have a special online prayer to share with you on Sunday.
The Season of Creation
I hope you have been enjoying the prayers on Facebook this week and that they have given you a moment of peace to pray and reflect during your busy day. From September 1st through to October 4th, Christians all round the world join in unity for the Season of Creation. It is a time to reflect on the beauty of nature and a time to focus our efforts on looking after and revitalising of all aspects of our natural world. What can you do this month during the Season of Creation to make our natural world a better place?
What are we learning in Religion?
Each newsletter, we will showcase a class and give you a little insight as to what they are learning about during Religion lessons. This week we hear from…
Year 2!
Over the past few weeks of Home Learning, Year 2 have been learning all about community and it’s importance, as well as how we can show love and kindness during lockdown. The students have been completing lots of little projects and sharing them in our class Team. We can’t wait until out St Kevin’s community is back together. This time apart has helped us to realise how special our community is.
Written by Year 2
May God’s Spirit be with you all each day,
Mrs Jasmina Boudan
Religious Education Coordinator
Premier’s Reading Challenge
66 students from St. Kevin’s have completed PRC. We are very proud of all the children who are adding books during Home Learning so they complete the 2021 PRC challenge.
Premier’s Reading Challenge closes on Friday 3rd September.
Congratulations to the following students for completing PRC in the last fortnight.
Kinder – Blair, Dante
Year 3 – Isaac, Tessa
Year 5 - Jordy
Year 6 - Thomas
Keep up the fantastic reading.
Virtual Book Week
Thank you for the effort everyone made to help celebrate Book Week
I know the children really enjoyed dressing up in their zoom lessons last week. Here are a few photos that were sent to me. More photos can be viewed on Facebook.
Shortlisted Books A huge thank you to Mrs Albury for her LIVE Storytime each day at 1pm. Approximately 20 children enjoy listening to stories each day. Last week Mrs Albury read many of the Shortlisted Books and below are the WINNERS! |
Storytime @ 1pm each day
Mrs Albury has been reading some books about Dads this week. Thank you for sharing these stories. Mrs Albury reads 2-3 books a day therefore has read over 60 books to the children. A huge effort!
SORA app – free books
You might like to read some books on SORA. This is how you login.
Below are some lovely books I found on SORA. Some books you can borrow straight away, however others you will need to reserve. Enjoy!
Happy Father’s Day, please enjoy reading some special books together.
Please let me know if I can help in anyway.
From the Office of Safeguarding - esafety
These days we are all spending more and more time online. The online environment is extremely useful, but can also be a daunting and unsafe place for children who are unaware of the dangers. Please click on the following link for information regarding Online safety for parents/carers.
Dear Parishioners,
Please find below a copy of our Bulletin for this Sunday, 5 September – Fathers’ Day.
Fr.Joseph Figurado is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting for Sunday Mass at 10.00am
Topic: Fr.Joseph Figurado's Personal Meeting Room
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2634948696?pwd=TUd1R1F3VlZQVC9qQW5STy9ncm56Zz09
Meeting ID: 263 494 8696
Passcode: Mass
The parish also received a message from Nicola Rosenthal, Regional Manager of Catholic Health Care during the week. This is below for your information.
Wishing all our Dads, Grandads, Uncles and Male Role Models the joy and blessings of Fathers’ Day 2021!
Louise
Louise Byron
Parish Secretary
All Saints’ Parish Blackbutt South
230 Main Road (Postal PO Box 233)
Cardiff NSW 2285
P 02 4954 0977
F 02 4956 7168
E Louise.Byron@mn.catholic.org.au
Tuesdays & Wednesdays 9am to 3pm Unavailable 12 noon to 1pm
Visit us at www.allsaintsblackbuttsouth.org.au