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Dear Parents and Friends of St Kevin’s,
Welcome back to Term 4. We start where we left off with “Home Learning” but not for much longer. Return to school dates have been brought forward by a few weeks to be in line with 80% NSW vaccinations.
So what do the new guidelines and restrictions look like for Term 4 at St Kevin’s?
- Currently at Level 4 restrictions – only children of essential workers and teachers are working from home delivering online learning.
- October 18 Level 3+ restrictions – Kindergarten and Year 1 return to school. Teachers must wear masks whilst on site, and highly recommended mask wearing for students. No parents on site.
- October 25 Level 3 restrictions – Years 2 to 6 return to school.
- No parents on site till further notice.
- No canteen.
- Uniform shop orders online only – phone/email Kim Ragen Monday to Wednesday to place an order.
- No assemblies.
- No Liturgies.
- No singing or dancing inside.
- Birthday cakes for students – shop bought cupcakes or doughnuts or individually wrapped lollies only please.
- End of Year awards and celebrations are currently being adjusted. We will advise you as soon as we can.
We will keep you posted as to any changes that may result due to the easing of restrictions. Thank you to everyone for their community teamwork in getting to 70- 80% vaccination and for keeping each other safe.
Mary-Anne Jennings
Principal
Preparation for return to school.
Some students will be very excited to return to school, others will be worried and nervous. We as teachers know that and we are ready to work and assist and care for our students during this time – it’s actually our super power!
But we need you help. So in order to make a successful transition for all students back to the classroom here are some tips to follow and implement – onsite students helped with this list!
- Establish regular and early bedtime routines.
- Get back to eating a healthy breakfast at breakfast time.
- Reduce leisure screen time at home – get them outside in the yard playing.
- Eat healthy lunches and snacks.
- Ensure their school uniform still fits and try it on.
- Get used to wearing school shoes again.
- Dig out the school bag – clean it out and repack.
- Library bag – where is it?
- Boomerang bag for Kindergarten
Tell Them From Me Survey
Today all parents will be able to access this survey which assists us as we plan for 2022. This survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete, and Mrs Hogan has something to entice you with the completion of this. In anticipation of your completing this survey may I say thank you in advance as the more data and feedback we get, the better school community we have and this is reflected in better learning outcomes for our students.
Please find below the link to accesss parent surveys
Summer Uniform
Students now wear summer uniform to school. Please don’t forget hats.
School reports and Parent Catchups.
All teachers will over the next 3 weeks be contacting each parent to have a chat about their child and their progress this year. The teachers will ask you to share with them 2 things about your child that you are proud of, and 1 area where you think they can improve. The teachers will also share with you their 2 areas of identified strengths and 1 area for improvement. These conversations will be of great help as we re-engage in full time face to face teaching as in partnership with you the parents, we work as a team to ensure a successful return to school for our students.
School reports this semester will look slightly different due to the impact of COVID. We anticipate school reports will be available for parents to read in Week 10 of this term.
Kindergarten 2022 Transition Days
With the easing of restrictions, we will be able to conduct these mornings as planned, but with COVID safe plans in place. It looks like we will follow last year’s format and have Kindergarten students only on site at each session, with parent information sessions conducted by – you guessed it – ZOOM! More information to follow.
Messages from the Assistant Principal
Welcome back to Term 4 and almost freedom!! As I have explained in previous newsletters, mental maths is critical and a real focus of the new curriculum. In my next couple of newsletters I will be focusing on an addition strategy.
Counting on
Counting on means that you start with the biggest number and then count up from there. For example, to add 5+3, start with the “5” and then count up, “6, 7, 8.” This is to discourage students from counting like this: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…..6, 7, 8.”
It is also important to reinforce the commutative property of addition (commonly referred to as turn arounds) when working with this strategy. For example, even if students are adding “2+6,” they still should start with the bigger number. In this case we would start with “6” and count up “7, 8.”
Check out this video:
The counting on strategy should only be used for adding 1, 2 or 3 to a larger number. Counting on larger numbers is not an effective way to add. Students will realize this once other, more efficient strategies, are discovered. Whilst it seems quite a simplistic strategy it is useful across grades and with larger numbers. For example 349 + 32 is an opportunity to Count On. I count on 2 … 351 and then count on 30 …. 381. Counting on 30 is counting on the tens (361, 371, 381). Students using a written strategy will verbalise that they added 2 and carried the one….. argh!! This frequently ends in errors and is particularly inefficient. As we build automaticity, we don’t necessarily do the actual count but still use the strategy. For example, I know that 3+8 =11 or 8+ 3 =11 so when presented with 43 + 18 I will automatically count 51 and ten more = 61.
I hope this makes sense. It is really important to share with your children how you mentally calculate.
Tell Them From Me Survey
We are really hoping to get a large percentage of our community participating in our TTFM survey, so that we can work towards continuous school improvement. We value feedback from all members of our community. I am not beyond a little bit of bribery. LOL! (note the Guess the Lolly competition last term). In a bid to encourage participation we are offering each parent participant 1 entry into our $150 entertainment voucher competition. When you have anonymously completed your survey, if you could please email me kim.hogan@mn.catholic.edu.au I will write your name on a raffle ticket and drop it into a bowl. We will draw out the winning entry at the end of the month when the survey closes. The winner will choose their family entertainment of choice eg movies, Doughboys, Treetops etc. Each parent can independently complete the survey, thereby giving families a 2:234 chance to win the $150 voucher.
Hoping to get lots and lots of emails.
God Bless
Kim
Yaama,
I hope you all had an enjoyable break. Welcome to Term 4. As the term progresses we find ourselves having to adapt, once again, to changing circumstances. Thank you for supporting your kids’ learning in partnership with us. I’ll include some more fun and educational activities for kids to do at home in their home learning schedules prepared by the teachers, and as kids resume learning at school I’ll be able to work with them in class again.
First Nations people have endured many hardships and challenges over many years, as we all know, and yet we keep emerging strong and resilient. As Professor Marcia Langton once said about this…’We are here. We exist’. All of us, whether we are First Nations people or not, can take heart in our ability to stay strong and navigate our way through difficult times. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.
In difficult times I always remember this little saying that was sent to me some years ago.
Stay safe.
Nginowa….See you later (Awabakal)
Phil Taylor
Aboriginal Education Teacher
Virtual Book Fair
We have decided to hold our annual Book Fair virtually this year.
The children will be given a copy of Issue 7 when they come back to school. It will allow you to purchase some books for the children for Christmas and holiday time.
Issue 7 is a bumper Catalogue with many exciting boxed sets and new release titles in it. There will also be gift options available for families, which is exciting for Christmas gift ideas.
Book Club Issue 8 – A special Home Edition of Book Club with a home delivery option
While we are still schooling from home, Book Club have another special digital catalogue, out now online, so parents can keep their children inspired to read and learn. It has 8 additional pages of fun Home Learning ideas. Delivery is available direct to the home and incurs a $7.50 delivery fee.
Click the link below for the catalogue.
Thank you for your ongoing support of Book Club
You also might be interested in some new books that are coming out soon.
A duck called Brian By AL Murphy
Brian the duck is unique and unlike all his yellow duck friends, he is bright blue. Brian is having one of those days when only a miracle can save his day.
Become a cooking pro with easy and delicious recipes that anyone can make.
Coding
The children will be learning how to code when they return to school. Learning computer science on Code.org and https://www.kodable.com are fun, creative platforms for learning computer science and basic coding. I have put some ideas on Teams for Yr 2-6 if the children would like to try some coding at home. Yr 1 and Kinder will learn how to code when Library lessons commence.
Computer science teaches students critical thinking, problem solving, and digital citizenship, and benefits all students, no matter what opportunities they pursue in the future. Learning to make interactive animations and code encourages creativity and makes learning fun.
Happy Reading and Coding!
Dianne Binkin
Teacher Librarian
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on October 7th. October is, therefore, dedicated each year as the month of the Most Holy Rosary when Christians around the world are encouraged to pray the Rosary in their daily prayer. The Rosary is an incredibly powerful prayer providing some time in our day for peaceful mediation. As a family, you may like to take some time to pray the Rosary this month. Alternatively, you may like to say The Hail Mary as a family before your evening meal or with your children at bedtime. Wherever we are now, even though separate, we can be united in this beautiful, powerful prayer and our intentions for health, peace and unity in our world.
From the Office of Safeguarding
The Children and Young Person’s (Care and Protection) Act 1998
Parents need to be aware that as teachers in the state of NSW we are required by law to report certain information to the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ). Reports to the Child Protection Helpline (Ph. 132 111, 24 hrs/7 days) must be made where we have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child or young person is at risk of significant harm and our concerns are current. Risk of significant harm may occur from a single act or omission or to a series of acts or omissions.
We can get help to determine whether we need to report by using the DCJ online Mandatory Reporters Guide: https://reporter.childstory.nsw.gov.au/s/
We can also contact the Office of Safeguarding (Ph. 4979 1390 Mon-Fri). Information about the roles and functions of the Office of Safeguarding can be found here: https://officeofsafeguarding.org.au/
Dear Parishioners,
Please find below a copy of our Parish Bulletin for this coming Sunday, 10 October and a copy of the letter from Rev Andrew Doohan regarding the reopening of our churches.
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
With prayers for you and your loved ones
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 |