ST PETER S CATHOLIC PARISH PRIMARY SCHOOL Thursday 23rd March 2017 Week 8 To the St Peter s community, This Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent and we hear from John s Gospel, the account of Jesus restoring sight to a blind man. Human suffering was a big problem in biblical times, they saw a connection between suffering and sin. Suffering was seen as God s punishment for sin. Every time they saw suffering served as a harsh reminder to them of this side of God. But this belief left people with a very negative image of God. It made God out to be spiteful, cruel and punishing. So, when the apostles saw the blind man they immediately concluded that his blindness was a result of sin. Jesus however explained to them, This is an opportunity for me to show you what the works of God are really like. Then he proceeded to heal the man. Some saw a blind man being cured and walked on amazed. Others saw the same cures and found faith. We can see things everyday things with different eyes. A sick person may be seen with the eye of compassion for illness, hope for a cure, or profit for a profession. The Christian tries to see the suffering in the world with the eye of faith. Faith grows in many ways by opening ourselves to the human desire for God, by considering the good things of life, by experiencing the good within ourselves, by looking over times of faith in the past and by allowing the goodness of others bring us to new and stronger faith. This is the call of the gospel today to open our eyes to the Lord who is at work in many ways. Many people are very reluctant today to even acknowledge the source of our salvation, the bringer of our hope, the cause of our joy. We can even be afraid to name him for fear of what others will think and say. Like the blind man, our limited sight impacts on our capacity to share in the joy that God reveals to us through our relationship with Him. The man s blindness really did reveal something about what God is like; it shows God s compassion in the face of human suffering. The suffering of others is an opportunity for us too an opportunity to show care and to demonstrate through our actions, the good works of God. We pray: May the Lord Jesus touch our eyes, as he did those of the blind. Then we shall begin to see in visible things those which are invisible. May He open our eyes to gaze not on present realities, but on the blessings to come. May he open the eyes of our heart to contemplate God in Spirit, through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Have a wonderful weekend, Kerry Miller Principal DATES TO REMEMBER Friday 24th March - Junior School Assembly 2.45pm Tuesday 28th March - Student Led Learning Conversations Friday 31st March - End of Term 1 3.25pm Tuesday 18th April - Staff First Aid Training Wednesday 19th April - Students return for Term Two Thursday 20th April - Prep 2018 Enrolment Information Evening 6.30pm Current families of St Peter s School with siblings starting Prep in 2018 please contact Deborah in the office
EDUCATION IN FAITH Faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbours in body and spirit: by feeding, visiting, comforting and instructing them Pope Francis Catholic Education Week Our Spirit Leaders with Kerry and myself went to St Patrick s Cathedral in the city to represent St Peter s and celebrate St Patrick s Day and Catholic Education Week with schools from across the Archdiocese of Melbourne. We had amazing seats, right up the front with the special guests and next to the incredibly talented choir and band. After Mass we walked to the treasury gardens with all the other schools danced and sung with the band, played some the games like tug-a-war! Our Spirit Leaders were able to experience the fact that we are active participants in our community as well as the fact that we are part of a community greater than ourselves. Project Compassion With limited support in Vietnam for the education and social inclusion of children with disabilities, young Nguyet lived an isolated life. Then, through a neighbour, her family became involved with a Caritas-Australia supported program offering her education, creative outlets and community interaction, and strengthening her parents skills and support networks. Now Nguyet s mother has great hope for her future. Love Your Neighbour Nguyet lives with a severe disability, and has suffered isolation in her native Vietnam as a result. A Caritas-supported program offered her education, creative outlets and much-needed community interaction. Nguyet s case manager believes, "Whenever they are supported and cared for properly, children with disabilities can [achieve] change." Please click on this link to view Nguyet s story. Today was our Superhero Day! Everyone was invited to dress up as their favorite superhero and in doing so are to bring a gold coin donation to donate to Project Compassion. What s our reason behind Superhero Day!? The senior school watched a video from the Project Compassion website about a lady named Dinias. She had her own garden and shared her crops with her whole community. She saved people from starvation. She was a superhero to the people of her village!!!
To date as a school we have raised $586.75. We are yet to count the money collected from today s superhero day and the contributions from last week! Thank you for your generosity. Middle School News ST PATRICK S DAY Last week, on Friday the 17th of March, the Middle School celebrated St Patrick s Day. We decorated a shamrock. St Patrick used these to teach the Irish people about the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. While we decorated we listened to Irish songs and looked at pictures of the Irish people celebrating. We also watched a video explaining who St Patrick was. We learnt that St Patrick was not Irish but British. He was taken to Ireland as a slave then returned there as a priest to teach the Irish people about God. Middle Peace made green cupcakes for us to enjoy as part of our SAKG program. We sold them to the Middle School students for a gold coin and the donations went towards Project Compassion. So far we as a Middle school have raised $281 during Lent. At the end of the day we discussed the information we had found out about St Patrick while eating our cupcakes. Everyone had an awesome day and we would like to experience this joyful experience again. By Niko and Jianna. Emily de Kort. Director of Faith and Mission ebaker@stprepp.catholic.edu.au LEARNING & TEACHING Student Led Learning Conversations All children in Prep, Junior, Middle and Senior are looking forward to sharing their learning goals, achievements and challenges with their parents at the Student Led Learning Conversations which will take place on Tuesday 28th March between 8:30 am - 7 pm. Students will have a 15 minute appointment time to meet with their parents and contact teacher to share and discuss their personal learning. The students are documenting their learning in a variety of ways in excited anticipation of sharing the learning. Children only need to attend school on this Tuesday for their scheduled appointment time. Click on the link below and use the code: ye676 to book your Student Led Learning Conversation - https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code INVITATION; Please visit the STEAM learning centre before or after your interview time on Tuesday. The STEAM team will look forward to welcoming you into this exciting space. Junior School Social and Emotional Learning One of the most important components of the new Victorian Curriculum are the General Capabilities. There are four areas: 1. Critical and Creative Thinking 2. Personal and Social Capability 3. Ethical Understanding 4. Intercultural Understanding These are joined by Literacy, Numeracy and ICT as the capabilities required of the student of the 21st Century.
We employ these capabilities as learning intentions in Discovery. Social and Emotional learning is about teaching our students to Show Respect, Think Positively, Act Responsibly and Remember to Persist and Bounce Back.We match these with the capabilities to ensure our children are learning to be creative, successful learners who can take responsibility for their choices and act as positive citizens of the future. Senior School News Camp skills checklist has been sent home with all senior students. These skills will prepare students for their camp experience. As they complete each skill at home, please check and sign as required. A reminder that children may need to bring in materials to complete their inquiry innovation project. On Tuesday for Friendship Day senior students showed initiative and leadership towards younger students as shown by the photos. Just a reminder to all parents that the following learning intentions and success criteria will be focused on during their student led conversations. Learning Intention - I can confidently present and discuss my learning from Term One with my parents/guardians. I will be successful if I: - Share evidence from a variety of learning areas - Provide evidence of something I found challenging, proud of, improved on, and supports a goal - Rehearse and present confidently Julie Percy - Director of Learning & Teaching juliep@stprepp.catholic.edu.au
SCHOOL COMMUNITY Earth Hour In 2017, WWF is celebrating 10 years of Earth Hour and 10 years of progress on changing climate change. What started as an Aussie grassroots movement has grown into the world s biggest movement for climate change. Our actions on climate change will shape the future for our children. They know more about climate change than any other generation. And they have extraordinary views on what they want for their planet. On Friday 24th March, St Peter s School will participate in Earth Hour. All staff and students will switch off between 12:30-1:30. On Saturday 25th March we encourage you to switch off at home to support progress for the next generation. We have a number of new old style Girls dresses available to purchase from the office for $30, all sizes are available at the moment. Please contact Deborah if you are interested. The new uniform will have a transition period of 2 years before being compulsory. PREP SPIRIT In Prep Spirit we have been making sure all our snacks and lunches are wrapper free. We have two Wrapper Free Detectives each day to make sure that no wrappers go in our red bins at school. We watched a video to show us what a wrapper free lunchbox looks like and if parents would like to watch they can click on the link below VIDEO: KIDS FOOD TALK Wrapper Detectives In Action : Valentina and Mia Walk to School Day Thank you to all who participated in our first Walk to School Day for the year. It was fantastic to see so many eager students and parents despite the unfortunate weather and traffic conditions.
EDUCATION BOARD MEETING REPORT Date: Tuesday 21st February 2017 Present : Kerry Miller, Julie Percy, Margaret Callaghan, Nancy Buda, Helen Karatiglidis, Sarathy Ranganathan, Roselle Fernandes, Susan Uniacke In Attendance : Sonia Bosco, Frank Fabri Agenda Committee for next month: Julie and Emma The following matters were discussed at the meeting: 1. St Peter s School Improvement Plan 2017-2020 Welcome to new year. Theme for 2017 The Board members discussed what signs were evident in regards to the school theme for 2017. Links were made to contact group names- fruits of the Holy Spirit and Confirmation in Year 6. What do you see around the school as evidence of theme? newsletter references reflected the theme. What does this make you think of? The fruits are reflected in the contact group names Family discussion arising from this- the children have talked about what the fruits mean. The importance of growing in these qualities is like fruit on a tree How are levels unpacking this with students and families? Identifying the relationship between fruits and how do we understand them- an ongoing discussion related to sharing our faith story. 2. Ratification of E- Smart Accreditation Frank Fabri shared discussion on cyber safety Importance of impact of use of digital devices. St Peter s is part of a CEM initiative for becoming an E smart school based on funding from Alannah and Madeleine Foundation. Process began 1 Aug 2013 and is now ready for ratification and final accreditation. All devices relevant and safe for student use. Google as search engine is problematic for children. Therefore we use Google Junior. Google classroom is our learning platform Bullying behaviours are sometimes online and more obvious now than face to face bullying. Digital literacies are a priority for educating students on being cybersafe Targeting our Prep families as a starting point beginning during transition time is an important aspect of E-Smart learning Works in conjunction with PBS and Restorative Practices Documentation of our journey is ongoing and an important aspect is informing the Board and developing understandings with parents and students. Developed Resolution Process for cyber issues Digital Citizenship scope and sequence chart is a part of the documentation with teams of teachers driving improvement. Documents will be made available to Board. Recommendation for Board ratification was made. Chairperson of Board signed off on final document 3. Key messages from Annual Action Plan (AAP). Foci and Projects for 2017 for Board Board members looked at AAP and identified focus areas for 2017 in 5 spheres of schooling.our meetings will address these areas. Board members were asked for their response to draft School Vision. Board members reviewed 5 draft versions and identified preferences- phrases, sentences paragraphs for the final vision statement. Next Board Meeting Tuesday 28th March, 2017 at 7pm Emma Canning - Director of School Community ecanning@stprepp.catholic.edu.au
STUDENT WELLBEING Friendship Day On Tuesday we participated in Friendship Day. There are so many things to celebrate from this day. There was definitely positive energy coming from all the learning spaces. There were discussions about what makes a good friend, there were people demonstrating what a friend looks like and there were older children working with younger children all learning from each other. We then welcomed some of our special adults who joined us for lunch and enjoyed a coffee from our dedicated Hospitality Team. To finish off our day we were lucky enough to celebrate in all the amazing things that were learnt throughout the day at our special assembly. All the groups presented something they had worked on and we were entertained by our Dance Group with a well choreographed dance to finish off our day. A big thank you to all the parents and special adults who assisted in making this day as great as it was. Jackie Fleischmann - Director of Student Wellbeing jfleischmann@stprepp.catholic.edu.au St Peter s Parents & Friends Easter Raffle Ticket booklets for our Annual Easter Raffle were sent home this yesterday. Tickets are $1 each ($10 for the whole booklet) Tickets and payment need to be returned to school by Tuesday 28th March, extra books are available from the office if required. Raffle will be drawn on Friday 31 st March (last day of Term 1) Prizes are on display in the office. 1st Prize 2nd Prize 3rd Prize