St Maria Goretti School, Inglewood eNewsletter

From the Principal

Dear families,

Welcome to a wonderful week 7!

At St Maria Goretti, quality teaching and learning is our core business, and each student is supported to achieve their personal best in all aspects of school life.

Our 2021 Tier 1 project and whole school teaching and learning focus is the INSPIRE Mathematics Strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to:

build curiosity into learning
support mathematical mindsets
inspire inquiry learning
develop mathematical proficiencies

St Maria Goretti’s strategic intent, as outlined in our 2021 Annual Action Plan is -

To engage in the expected and effective actions of the Inspire Mathematics strategy so that our learners are engaged and curious because it is our role to build capacity in our learners and teachers

and

To improve our mathematics results using evidence based high impact pedagogical practices

Throughout the year our staff have been building their capacity through collaborative partnerships (teaching and leadership) and coaching cycles, improving their pedagogical practices through quality professional development and data analysis, deepening their clarity of the curriculum through the hexagonal planning process and exploring the importance of a positive mathematical mindset.

Why Math? It is much more than numbers. It helps us to:

understand and use numbers and other mathematical ideas in everyday life
recognise and use shape
work out the chance of something happening
understand the data we see in the media
and SO MUCH MORE!

Math is necessary for everyday living. From daily activities like telling the time, cooking and setting the table to more difficult tasks such as understanding mobile phone plans, planning a trip, reading a map and understanding timetables.

INSPIRE Maths - Number Talks

As a part of the expected and effective practices of the Inspire Mathematics Strategy, our teachers have embedded ‘Number Talks’ in their classrooms.

Number Talks are a pedagogical strategy that helps students develop number sense by requiring them to work out a math problem mentally and then express their thinking symbolically and in words. Number Talks strengthen their ability to problem solve and develop their flexibility in how they think about math. An example of a Number Talk activity would be asking students to come up with as many creative strategies as possible to represent the number 400 (see below).

Number Talks work best when students learn to use subtle and specific hand gestures to indicate if they have solved the problem or if they are still thinking. This strategy prevents students from raising their hands in the air when they have found a solution, which can be intimidating and anxiety-inducing for nearby students. Please see the hand signals we use during Number Talks below.

CTJ Day (Pupil Free Day)

Next Friday (3^rd September) is a Pupil Free Day. Our teachers will be travelling to St Joseph’s School in Tara to complete assessment moderation in math. Moderation is an essential part of ensuring integrity in assessment tasks. Participating in moderation with other teachers ensures fair and consistent assessment marking and feedback practices for all students. Our school officers will also complete professional development relevant to their role on this day.

Child Protection Week

National Child Protection Week (5-11 September) is an annual event starting on the first Sunday of September. This year’s theme ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’ aims to spread the message that to treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy.

Visit https://www.napcan.org.au/get-involved-2021/ to find out more about the campaign, including activities for families.

In particular, check out the Children’s Art Activity which asks children what they think is most important in a child-friendly community https://www.napcan.org.au/art-activity/.

Thank you for supporting National Child Protection Week!

Parent-teacher Interviews

Parent-teacher interviews will be held this term in Week 10. At parent-teacher interviews you can find out more about your child’s academic, emotional and social development at school. You can also share information about your child. You can prepare for interviews by thinking about what you want to discuss with the teacher, as well as any questions about your child’s progress. A note will be sent home from your child’s teacher to organise a suitable date and time.

School Photos

School photos are being held on Thursday the 16^th of September. Students are to wear their full summer formal uniform, including their black school shoes and navy socks. Year 6 leaders are to bring their leaders shirt to put on for the leaders’ photo. Please return your order forms to the school as soon as possible.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Yours in education,

Casey Robinson

Principal

“Live in charity and peace.” (MacKillop, 1886)

Life and Learning in the Library

Australia celebrates Children's books this week! This official poster created by award winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan is a rich, thoughtful reflection of the theme. What can you see that belongs to old, new and other worlds? The CBCA Book of the Year and Honour books have been announced. View the video from the South Australian branch on You Tube or ask your children about the winning books as we have been sharing them during library sessions.

Our Book Week parade was fantastic! Thanks for your efforts with costumes and for your attendance this morning. Enjoy the photos!

The Year 3 - 6 class shared the results of their inquiry work today. They were challenged to answer the following question drawn from the Book Week theme;

What have new worlds learnt from the old worlds of ancient nations?

It was a valuable learning task to practice reading and locating facts that were relevant to the question and then applying them to answer the question. We will continue to improve on these skills.

Happy Book Week Everyone!

Anne Anderson

Teacher Librarian

Classroom News - Years 3 - 6

This term, the 3-6 students have been focusing on applying their learning in Mathematics to real-world situations! To finish off their Measurement cycle of learning, the students had to take a simple Jam Drop Biscuit recipe and multiply the values to see how much of each ingredient they would need for their entire group. It was fantastic to see the students apply their learning in an unfamiliar situation and the best part was they got to enjoy the delicious biscuits at the end of the day!