Principal's Report

Dear parents and carers,

This week has seen us coming to terms with the many challenges thrown up because of the Coronavirus/covid19. There are a number of changes that we have implemented, and we continue to be in regular contact with Catholic Education to learn about the steps we will be taking moving forward.

Already this week, we have implemented various measures as outlined in the Director’s letter that was sent home to families on Tuesday. An additional FAQ information sheet was sent home on Wednesday.

We will continue to forward information to you via Schoolzine and print material as it comes to hand.

Parent Teacher interviews – please be aware that we will conduct the planned parent teacher interviews via telephone on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

You should have received information containing your allocated times for the interviews. We will contact you via telephone for your child’s interview.

Safe Internet Use – last Thursday evening, our Safer Internet session was held here at school. Karen and Matt from the Police Youth division at Young presented us with a very interesting talk about some of the pitfalls that exist when using the internet. I trust that the information that you received has enabled good conversations at home around the use of the internet.

Over the coming weeks, various fact sheets used on the night will be added to our newsletter – please take the time to read this information; it just might be invaluable to your family.

These factsheets come from the ThinkUKnow website, found at https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

NAPLAN update - NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy – important skills that each child needs to succeed in school and life. The NAPLAN tests are designed to help us make sure students are on track with their literacy and numeracy development. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in NAPLAN tests for reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

Between 23/03 – 27/03, our school will participate in NAPLAN Practice Tests, which are designed to give students, teachers and systems an opportunity to practice administering and participating in the online testing environment. The practice tests consist of a Writing Test for Years 5, and an Omnibus Test (a combination of reading, conventions of language and numeracy) for Years 3 and 5. As this is intended to practice participation, the questions are not equivalent to NAPLAN testing in May, and no results are available from the Practice Tests.

To see the types of interactive features of NAPLAN Online, visit the public demonstration site.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact your child’s teacher.

For more info:

Cross Country – at this stage our school cross country is set down for next Thursday (26/03). The event will be held at school, using our training track without spectators. Please be aware that this event may not go ahead as planned.

Library – thank you to everyone who is making suggestions for new books that can be added to our library, you will see these titles appearing on the shelves in the coming weeks.

Please remember to bring your library bag (and books) on your Library day.

Book Fair – thank you to everyone who has visited our book fair this week – we trust that you enjoy your new books. We also have several new titles from the book fair coming on to our library shelves over the next few days

Easter Raffle – now is the time to start thinking about our Easter raffle.

Each family is asked to donate an Easter egg to the prize pool. Please feel free to start sending your donations to school.

Thank you to those community members who have already added something to the prize pool….it is beginning to look terrific!

Sincerely,