Term 2, Week 9 - 17th June, 2021

From the Principal

Dear parents & carers,

We are almost at the end of Term 2 and what a busy term we have had. From the Cross Country, to recording and filming our new school song, participating in NAPLAN Online, celebrating ANZAC Day, National Sorry Day and Mother’s Day through liturgies, opening our lower years classroom to the community at ‘Pathway to Prep’ and so much more! We are looking forward to cheering on our students at the Talwood Athletics Carnival tomorrow, our last big event of the term. Go St Maria Goretti!

Parent Engagement – Zones of Regulation Parent Information Session

At our next PPF meeting, the 14^th of July, our Guidance Counsellor Jennifer Fenn will be presenting a parent information session on the Zones of Regulation, a framework that we use across the whole school. This information session is available for all our parents to attend, as well as any community members that are interested. We strongly encourage you to come along and find out more about ‘The Zones’.

The Zones of Regulation is a framework and easy-to-use curriculum for teaching students strategies for emotional and sensory self-management.

Rooted in cognitive behavioural therapy, 'The Zones approach' uses four colours to help students identify how they are feeling in the moment according to their emotions and level of alertness, as well as guide them to strategies to support regulation.

By understanding how to notice their body’s signals, detect triggers, read social context, and consider how their behaviour can impact those around them, students learn improved emotional control, sensory regulation, self-awareness and problem-solving abilities.

Parent Involvement – Working Bee

This Sunday (20^th June) at 9:00am, we are holding a Working Bee at the school. Working Bees are an invaluable way in which parents, staff, students and friends can contribute towards the maintenance of the school and help make the environment in which our children learn, a safe and attractive one. Our aim for Sunday is to –

1. Do a thorough clean of the sports shed.
2. Tidy the tuckshop shelves.
3. Weed the vegetable garden.

We hope to see you there.

RADII Survey - School Improvement Survey

This year our school will be participating in a School Review and Improvement survey managed by Research Australia Development and Innovation Institute (RADII). As well as school staff and students from Years 5 - 12, all parents are invited to participate in the survey. The survey provides valuable feedback for the future directions of our school.

It would be appreciated if parents could update their contact details prior 25 June 2021. This will ensure delivery to the correct parent email addresses are available.

On Monday the 26 July 2021, RADII will send all parents a personalised invitation to complete the survey online. If both parents' email addresses are on file at the school, the invitation will be sent to both parents. However, the survey will close once the first person has completed it. If you do not wish to complete the survey, simply delete it.

The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. You can complete the survey from anywhere you have access to the internet. The survey will close on Sunday,08 August 2021.

When the surveys are completed, and responses aggregated by RADII, overall data is sent to us so that we can then share the findings with you.

School Uniforms

Winter Uniform

With the recent cooler weather, many students are wearing jumpers and track pants to school in the mornings, and as the day warms up these items of clothing are being discarded. Please ensure that your child’s name is inside their clothes, so that misplaced items can be reclaimed from the lost property. I understand the cold snap may have caught a few families off guard, but as winter sets in, can I please encourage all to ensure students wear school jumpers to school.

Change of School Uniform

In April, we sent a survey home to parents and carers about our current school uniform. Based on the survey results, a decision was made at our Parent Partnership Forum (PPF) to change the school uniform requirements.

Starting in Term 3 this year, students may choose to wear either sports or formal on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday will remain sports uniform day as it is the day we run Physical Education (PE) lessons. Thursday will be our formal uniform day as it is assembly.

Please see an overview of uniform requirements below.

Starting Term 3:

Monday – Sports Uniform (PE lesson)

Tuesday – Sports OR Formal Uniform

Wednesday – Sports OR Formal Uniform

Thursday – Formal Uniform (Assembly) (Year 6 students may wear their Leader’s shirt)

Friday – Sports OR Formal Uniform

Starting in Term 1 2022, students will wear their sports uniform Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Formal uniform will be worn on Thursdays for Assembly and for formal events when required (e.g. ANZAC Day March, school photos). There will be a new girl’s formal shirt available to purchase from the school for 2022. This shirt will be available to purchase from our uniform shop at the end of this year. We made the decision to change the girl’s formal shirt as it is currently too short.

Please see an overview of uniform requirements below.

Starting Term 1, 2022:

Monday – Sports Uniform (PE lesson)

Tuesday – Sports Uniform

Wednesday – Sports Uniform

Thursday – Formal Uniform (Assembly) (Year 6 students may wear their Leader’s shirt)

Friday – Sports Uniform

INSPIRE Math, Math Chat (Source: YouCubed.org)

Fractions are all around us! Walk around the house, yard and neighborhood with your child. Where do you see fractions? What would you call one part of the whole? For example, one rectangular stepping stone of 13 equally sized stepping stones would be 1/13th of the stepping stones. What if the objects are different sizes? Can they still be represented as a fraction?

In this piece of art below, highlight where you see ½.

Thank you once again to all families for your support for our school during the last term.

Yours in Education,

Casey Robinson

“So few give their will entirely to God. Let us be some of the few.” (Mary MacKillop, 1867)

Students of the Week

Class News: Prep - Year 2

In the Prep-2 classroom we have been doing some fun investigations in Maths. We have been looking at measurement and the different ways we can measure. The students investigated how long their classroom is. They experimented using different ways of measuring like using their bodies, blocks and other informal units of measurement. As a class they found out that their classroom was 8 students long when we all laid down to get measured. They also found out that their classroom is 5 Mr. Zahner’s long when the students used him as the measuring stick. The students measured how long their desk are using some blocks. The year 2 students partnered up with the other years to help support them through the investigation.  The Prep-2 classroom has been doing a lot of fun investigations like this in Maths and have been discovering some interesting things about measurement. 

Class News: Years 3-6

Welcome to week 9 of the school term!

For the last couple of weeks, students have been demonstrating their learning across the semester through a range of different assessments. This week the 3/4/5/6 class had finished their writing tasks based on the novel How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell and were given the opportunity to publish their pieces of writing. Students had the choice of typing their stories or turning them into a picture book using the iPad App, Book Creator. This is such a fantastic way for students to show off their work to friends and family and is a positive reward for their hard work.

I hope you all have a wonderful end to Term Two and a restful break!

Warm Regards,

Liv McNamara

Years 3/4/5/6 Teacher

Life and Learning in the Library

This week students have had an opportunity to borrow library books for the holidays. Please share in the joy of reading with them over the term break. Students have also voted in the QLD children's choice book awards, the BILBY Awards. Students chose the notable book they have loved the best during the past 3 weeks, a great chance to think about the range of books and stories they have shared during library time and with their teachers. 

Remember, great Australian stories are available anytime from Storyboxlibrary.com.au using the following log in details; 

SMG (username) stories (password) 

Our Curious Question about Space Information Activity for Library and Information Week 

After viewing the story read by an astronaut on the International Space Station, Year 3 – 6 students wrote a question for a space topic that interested them. They worked through the various steps of locating and evaluating information to find an answer. Parents are welcome to view students’ work in the library, here is a sample;  

Snuggle in for some reading time this break, Mrs Anderson

Happy birthday!

Teaching & Learning - Trusting the Count

The “Big Ideas” in number need to be in place by the end of key levels of schooling to ensure students are ready to learn what is needed to progress confidently in school mathematics. Currently in Prep students are working on “Trusting the Count”. Find out below how you can work with your child at home to “trust the count”.  

Year 6 Fundraising

Thank you to everyone who has supported our lolly jar fundraiser. The lucky winner was Donna De Hamer from the hospital. The lucky number was 255!

Thank you to Mrs Mead who helped us with sorting the bottles and cans and taking them to the Containers for Change collection point last week. We received $110 for our efforts. Please continue to drop your bottles, cans and poppers into our bins under the school.

Parent Partnership Forum

Tuckshop Roster

Notices