Term 1, Week 6 - 2nd March, 2023

From the Principal

Dear families,

Welcome to Week 7! It has been exciting to walk around the school to witness the buzz and engagement in classrooms. Not only do our three classrooms allow for more intentional small group and 1:1 support, but there is also opportunity for age appropriate pedagogies and purposeful learning experiences across the school. Learning is happening all day, every day at St Maria Goretti.

Staff professional development - becoming data literate

One of our goals in our 2023 Annual Action Plan (AAP) is "to continue the regular analysis and discussion of data, including academic, social/emotional, behavioural and attendance data."

During our professional learning communities this term, we have been working on upskilling our abilities in data analyses so that teachers are competent and confident in analysing student data to help move learning forward. 

Analysis and interpretation of data and evidence has several components, including teachers and leadership working individually and together to:

• 'read' and understand what has been collected. 
• make sense of it in light of the intended learning and associated curriculum achievement standards. 
• clarify what the evidence clearly indicates students know, understand and can do, what can be inferred from the evidence, and what needs further investigation in order to make a confident judgement based on a mix of data and evidence.

Recently, we have analysed PAT Maths data from Term 4 last year to identify any gaps in student learning and set goals for our classes. Teachers will be working with their class on worded problems, problem solving strategies and deepening conceptual understanding in Number.

Upcoming Term 1 dates

15th, 16th and 20th of March - NAPLAN Online (Year 3 & Year )

15th March - PPF Annual General Meeting

16th March - St Patrick's Day green dress up

- A gold coin donation will go towards Project Compassion

17th March - Inglewood Show holiday

31st March - Last day of Term 1

Cross Country at Yelarbon State School

Sponge the Teacher

- 50c per throw, all funds going towards Project Compassion

Coin Line Challenge

- The class with the longest coin line will win the challenge, all funds going towards Project Compassion

Have a fantastic week!

Yours in education,

Casey Robinson

Principal

"Always try to have success in your work but remember God is often glorified in your failure." (Mary MacKillop 1874)

APRE News - Second Week fo Lent

Watch a short film about Tereesa’s story here.

Please support Project Compassion: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Library News

Reading Hour

This initiative of Reading Australia takes place next Thursday 9th March. I have challenged the students to see if they can reach the goal of one hour of reading, or being read to, across the day. Students will receive a card to record the time they spend reading before, during and after school and by keeping this card in their library bag we can see the following Thursday (16th March) how close they were to the goal. I'm hoping they will be surprised how easy it is to make the hour mark. I'll share the results in the next newsletter!

Year 2/3/4 will also be taking part in a live storytelling event with Australian authors and illustrators to mark Reading Hour. More about this in the next newsletter also.

Art Entries for Queensland School Libraries Week

Art work from Will McPherson and Talen Smith celebrating what we love about libraries has been submitted to the Queensland competition. Students' art can be viewed on the display board in the undercover area. Student responses to what they love about the library are also on display and will be used across the year to remind students what the library offers them.

Week 5 in the Library

We continue to choose and enjoy great books from our collections and displays. Year 2/3/4 are learning to seach in AccessIT for books they wish to borrow and Year 5/6 are using online resources to gather information for HaSS and Science topics. 

Happy Reading at Home!

Anne Anderson

Teacher Librarian

Curriculum News - NAPLAN 2023

NAPLAN 2023 Timetable

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life.

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

St Maria Goretti will be participating in NAPLAN Online between the 15^th and the 21^st of March.

Please see our NAPLAN Online schedule for Year 3 and Year 5 below.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Robinson at the school on 4652 1109.

Students of the Week - Week 5

Students of the Week - Week 6

Sight Word Certificates

GRIP Leadership Conference

Last Thursday our Year 6 leaders attended the GRIP Leadership Conference at Highfields. This morning on assembly Miss Key presented them with their certificates.

Parent Partnership Forum

Notices

Our Lady of the Southern Cross Parish - Mass Times

Sunday 26th February - 9am Mass

Sunday 5th March - 9am Lay Lead Liturgy