St Maria Goretti School, Inglewood eNewsletter

From the Principal

Dear families,

Welcome to Week 5! It's hard to believe that we are already half of the way through Term 3.

The Berry Street Model

Next week, we are sending key staff to attend the Berry Street Model training in Toowoomba.

The Berry Street Education Model provides schools with the training, curriculum and strategies to engage all students. This education initiative is based on proven positive education, trauma-informed and wellbeing practices that enable students’ academic and personal growth.

The model incorporates 5 Key Focus Areas:

Body: Building students’ capacity by increasing physical regulation of the stress response, de-escalation and focus.
Relationship: Nurturing on-task learning through relational classroom management strategies.
Stamina: Creating a culture of academic persistence by nurturing resilience, emotional intelligence and a growth mindset.
Engagement: Motivating students with strategies that increase their willingness to learn.
Character: Harnessing values and character strengths approach to instil students’ self-knowledge for future pathways.

We are looking forward to implementing this model of support across our whole school.

Importance of Quality Sleep

Getting enough sleep can be difficult when our routines have changed. Sleep is important for healthy bodies and brains. Children aged 5 to 13 years need to get 9 to 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

Poor sleep can:

Make it difficult to focus or make decisions
Decrease memory
Increase mood changes, irritability and behaviour
Increase desire for foods that are likely to make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight
Decrease ability or desire to be active and exercise

Tips for a good sleep:

Have a consistent bedtime routine
Avoid screen time 1 hour before bed time
Avoid playing or doing school work on bed
Play calm music or nature sounds to help settle into bed
Monitor for increased anxiety or distress that may be impacting sleep. Contact your GP if you have any concerns.
Ensure you child remains physically active throughout the day
Create a calm environment for sleep: minimise loud unpredictable noise and movement within the room and consider your child’s preference for light (consider dim lighting if required)

Do not be afraid to ask for help. Your local GP will be able to offer support and guidance

SRIP

Our school is scheduled for a School Renewal and Improvement quadrennial school review from the 30th of August to the 1st of September.

The Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office has a School renewal and improvement framework in place which has as a key element a quadrennial school review. In this review a panel consisting of senior staff from the Toowoomba Catholic Schools (TCS) Teaching and Learning Directorate and a peer principal from another school in the Diocese visit the school for three days.

Through a process of appreciative inquiry, panel members interview staff, parents/carers, students and community members. The questions asked are “In your opinion, what is going well at the school?” and “What could be done better?” The purpose is for the panel to report to the school community its findings and suggested improvement strategies. These inform the process of strategic plan development and the annual action plans which are also linked to the TCS Strategic Plan.

The aim is to assist schools to strategically plan to improve teaching and learning and these reviews occur in all TCS schools.

The review team would like to hear from the school community and I encourage anyone who is interested to have their say. Your feedback is important and will help us to continue to achieve the two pillars of TCS: that all students will come to personally know Jesus and that all students will achieve academic success.

Feedback can be provided to the review panel in person or by telephone. All feedback remains confidential.

Please contact the school office if you are interested in speaking to a reviewer. You may also register your interest by emailing inglewood@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Congratulations to our choir!

In Week 4 we competed in the Small Schools Choir section at the Goondiwindi Apex Eisteddfod. Singing our heart out to "Good to be Alive", we took away second place! The students did an amazing job and we are very proud of their commitment to learning the song and delivering it with such pride on the day of performance.

Congratulations, Connor!

Well done to Year 4 student Connor McPherson for receiving Runner Up Age Champion at the Macintyre Zone Athletics Carnival in Texas. Connor has qualified for Darling Downs in High Jump. We wish him the best of luck! Go you good thing!

Parent Info Session

Mrs Robinson and Mr Zahner are running a Home Reading info session for the P-2 parents. In this session, we will take you through the new Decodable Readers home reading system and answer any questions you may have. We hope to see as many parents there as possible to help support you support your child's learning at home.

Mary MacKillop's Feast Day

On Monday, we recognised Saint Mary ‘Of the Cross’ Mackillop. Mary Mackillop, who as we are aware, is Australia’s first Saint who was cannonised (made a Saint) by Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI on 17th October, 2010 in Vatican City.

Mary Mackillop was a trail-blazer in the way she led her life, and the order of the Sisters of Saint Joseph and more commonly known as the Brown Joeys due to the brown Habits her and the Sisters wore. Mary paved the way for education of poor children and a variety of ministries which addressed the needs of her time in the nineteenth century in the Australian context.

Her Legacy continues today in countless ways. Mary inspires us to be courageous and hopeful and to have a deep faith in God who provides for us all. Mary Mackillop has shown us how to forgive and to be compassionate; she is a saint for us all today.

Prayer for Saint Mary Mackillop

Ever generous God,

You inspired Saint Mary MacKillop

To live her life faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and constant in bringing hope and encouragement to those who were disheartened, lonely or needy.

With confidence in your generous providence and through the intercession of Saint Mary MacKillop

We ask that you grant our request.

We ask that our faith and hope be fired afresh by the Holy Spirit so that we too, like Mary MacKillop, may live with courage, trust and openness.

Ever generous God hear our prayer.

We ask this through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Whole School Updates

COVID update - We currently have no staff members or students in COVID isolation.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Yours in education,

Casey Robinson

Principal

“God is so good.” (Mary MacKillop, 1894).

Life and Learning in the Library

Step into Stories 2022

The Year 3-6 class enjoyed an online session with Sue De Gennaro, a creator of amazing picture books as part of the Step into Stories event. Students spent class time becoming familiar with Sue's work and during the session they heard first-hand how Sue goes about her writing and illustrating. Students enjoyed a half hour of directed drawing to produce their own works of art! The best piece from each student will be on display in the library next week.

The session resulted in a broadening of student knowledge around book creation and inspiration for enthusiastic students to be writers and illustrators.

Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office and Queensland School Libraries Association contributed to the cost of this event and many schools across the Diocese took advantage of the online as well as face to face sessions.

Book Week will be celebrated in Week 10!

Our dress-up parade will be held after assembly on Thursday 15th September. Students are encouraged to dream of their future self OR dream themselves into a story as inspiration for their costume. A physical book is not required for the parade and parents are welcome to attend.

We will continue to enjoy the short-listed books and library-based activities and competitions to mark this memorable event which highlights the quality of children’s literature available in Australia.

Today, students have been invited to enter a colouring competition. The pages are available in classrooms and judging will take place in Week 7.

Term 3 Library Learning:

Working with the Book Week Theme and Short-listed Books

Today, Prep–2 students explored the meaning of "the outback" and what drought means for animals and people. These are themes found in the short-listed picture book “When the Waterhole Dries Up”, a rollicking tale with Australian animals in a bubbly bath!

Students in Year 3 – 6 have thought about the vision they have for their future self or the world and shared it in a display. They are working on a letter to their future self and committing to reading a book to present a book talk to the class. This will need to be ready in Week 8, so please encourage your students to be reading their book choice, thank you.

Anne Anderson

Teacher Librarian

Students of the Week - Term 3, Week 2

Congratulations to Coooper (YPrep) and Collette (Year 5)!

Students of the Week - Term 3, Week 3

Congratulations to Brooklyn (Year 3), Jaxon (Year 6) and Maddie (Year 4)!

Students of the Week - Term 3, Week 4

Congratulations to Celeste (Year 2) and Jaxon (Year 6)!

Students of the Week - Term 3, Week 5

Sight Word Certificates

Happy Birthday!

MacIntyre Zone Athletics

Congratulations to the students who qualified for MacIntyre Zone Athletics trials in Texas on Tuesday 9th August. Connor McPherson was selected to attend Darling Downs Athletics at Harristown High School on 24th August.