Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome to the end of Week 9.  As a perpetual optimist I have placed this prayer below.

Father, Creator of all, thank You for spring!
Thank you for the warmth of the sun
and the increased daylight.
Thank You for the beauty I see all around me
and for the opportunity to be outside and enjoy Your creation.
Thank You for the increased time I have to be with my friends and family,
and for the more casual pace of the spring season.
Draw me closer to You this spring.
Teach me how I can pray
no matter where I am or what I am doing.
Warm my soul with the awareness of Your presence
and light my path with Your Word and Counsel.
As I enjoy Your creation, create in me
a pure heart and a hunger and a thirst for You.

No Report Comments - Semester Two

Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG) has communicated to schools informing them that general comments will not be required on the Semester 2, 2022 reports. This is in line with other educational jurisdictions and systems. Given teacher workload at present, including staffing pressures across the profession, CECG’s position is to prioritise parent/teacher conferences occurring during Term 4. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, their strengths, challenges, and future areas of focus. A Semester Report will be sent home as in previous semesters providing A-E grading and attendance information.

Long Service Leave

A reminder to parents that I will be taking LSL for Term 4 and that Mr Matthew-Egan Richards will be the Principal of the school.  As part of my handover, I have visited every classroom to remind children about our Positive Behaviour Matrix and our three school rules:

• We all have the right to feel safe here
• We all have the right to learn
• We all have the right to respect and fair treatment

I also discussed behaviour that was not positive and the consequences the school has in place to remind students of the correct course of action.  

School Disco Friday 16^th September 5:30pm-7:45pm

Could all families please remember that students need parental supervision to attend the Disco this Friday.  If parents agree, then they can supervise students from other families to help out.  As this is a fundraising event, parents onsite are allowed under our Covid 19 guidelines.

Public Holiday Thursday 22^nd September

As per the announcement made by Prime Minister Albanese, Thursday 22 September has been gazetted as a one-off public holiday a National Day of Mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  All CECG schools and the Catholic Education Office will be closed on this day.  Business will return to normal for all CECG schools and the Catholic Education office Friday 23 September. 

Afternoon Dismissal

Recently all teachers have revisited the procedure for Afternoon Dismissal.  Could you please note the following –

1. Children are brought to the large, tiered seating area
2. They will be left in the care of the afternoon duty teacher
3. Children should ask permission to leave the large steps when they see a parent or carer at the gate. They SHOULD NOT just leave before asking. 
4. Children walk to the gate to meet their parents

This is to ensure the safety of all children and support the teacher who is on duty who has to care for over 120 students. 

School Arrival - Attendance

A reminder that the first bell for school sounds at 8:58am.  This is when we would like all students on our grounds.  We know that sometimes delays cannot be helped, but sometimes we see the same student’s coming through the Front Office at 9:15am,9:20am or even 9:30am.  This is detrimental to their education and has a significant impact on their Literacy or Numeracy learning in the morning.  This means that students can miss significant concepts which are difficult to re-teach whilst working with a whole class group.  

Covid 19 Update

Please note - In line with ACT guidelines isolation periods for students or staff diagnosed with Covid has moved from 7days to 5 days.  

Monthly Muse – Direct Instruction

I am hoping to communicate with parents once per month on a topical education piece that affects our students.

At SJV we have, as all schools in the CE system have been developing our Direct Instruction models of teaching to support our High Impact Teaching Practices.  The research that CE have undertaken supports a teaching and learning model that empowers children with knowledge.  JD Hirsch states that ‘early education should be communal and focussed on gaining proficiency in the language and conventions of the public sphere.’ (Hirsch, ED – Why Knowledge Matters pg 7).  To that end K-2 have been implementing our InitiaLit Program which aims to give that stated communal education.  InitiaLit is our infant’s literacy program which is based around giving the same knowledge to all children to give them the skills they need to leap forward to the next stage of learning.  This is not an inquiry-based approach, this is the teacher standing in front of their class and giving them the knowledge, they need.

The research would suggest that teachers who model and read to children have more success when trying to transfer knowledge.  ‘Parent’s who read to students enable the students to frequently become familiar with sophisticated vocabulary and syntax that appears in written language.  (Wexler, N – The Knowledge Gap, pg 34).  The message for our staff then is to ensure that students have a good knowledge base.  How can this help parents at home?  Make sure that you are trying to also expose them to direct instruction techniques – practising times tables and basic number facts, practising spelling and reading to your child.  These techniques all help to support our students.

 God Bless 

Peter Rodda

Principal