Term 3 Week 3 26 July 2017

Principal’s Message

Sharing the Journey God has given us many good things to celebrate. This week, as we celebrate Catholic Education week, we are challenged to consider that we all ‘Share the Journey’ of faith with our students and families. We share in the journey from the moment that we welcome and value every person who steps inside our school each day. We welcome our families from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences to share their lives with us as they add knowledge and richness to our community. We share in the invitation to open our hearts to others who may want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus on the journey. Pope Francis challenges us to recognise that, ‘The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation…to see, to feel, to understand the beauty of what lies ahead, of the homeland towards which we walk.’ Our school, and all Catholic schools, support different stages of this journey, as we walk with Christ as a community of schools. A community where He is ever present in those around us, in our staff, our students, our parents and in our parish. He journeys with us as our role model and constant companion; and is present in our future hopes for our children. As part of CEW activities, this morning I joined our Senior Students, Mrs McLucas and Mrs Clough at Carmel College where we celebrated mass together. While I am always immensely proud of our students and staff, it was wonderful to share in this celebration with them and to sense the spirit of pride amongst them as they represented our school. Catholic Education Week provides an opportunity to celebrate the many people in our community who we are journeying with. In our community, we have much to celebrate, to be thankful for, and to be immensely proud of. This week, let’s continue to journey together in our laughter, our words, our actions and in our sense of wonder and enjoyment of life and I invite you to share in a CEW prayer:

In my journeying with you, may I never lose my sense of direction,

never lose sight of the place towards which I travel.

And should cloud or rain obscure my vision, may I draw closer to you, so that my feet may tread

in your footsteps, your words be my encouragement,

and your love my protection against any storm that encounters me.

(Under Creative Commons License: Attribution source: 2017 CEW Resources)

May Christ light your way

Veronica Tomerini – Smith Acting Principal

COMING UP

Term 3 Week 3 24 July – Uniform Shop open 26 July – Carmel College Mass 27 July – Inter-house Athletics 29 July – Aerobics National Championships Week 4 3-4 Aug – District Track’n’Field Week 5 7 Aug – PCG Meeting 7 Aug – Uniform Shop open 8 Aug – Musical Rehearsal 9 Aug – Whole School Musical 11 Aug – Year 5/6 Gala Sport Day Week 6 14 Aug – Exhibition Show Holiday 18 Aug – Foundation Day Week 7 21 Aug – Uniform Shop open 22 Aug – Book Week Parade 24 Aug – Zone Catholic School Carnival 25 Aug – Year 5/6 Gala Sports Day Week 8 1 Sep – Father’s Day Stall & Movie Night 4 Sep – National Child Protection Week 4 Sep – Uniform Shop Open

From the APRE

Foundation Day We invite you to join us on Friday 18th August at 9.15 for our annual Foundation Day Mass. We always celebrate our founding story on the Friday closest to the Feast of the Assumption – commemorated on 15th August each year.

First Communion Enrolments are still being taken for children to prepare for their First Holy Communion. Eligibility is restricted to those students who made their Confirmation in 2016 or prior. Please contact the Parish Office and fill in your child’s enrolment form by Friday 11 August. Our parent meeting will be held on Thursday 24 August at 7pm in the Parish Hall. The Sacrament of First Holy Communion will be celebrated over the weekend of 7th and 8th October 2017. In respect,

Kylie Williamson

Learning Support News

The library is open each Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at play time for those children who would like to have some quiet time. Children may read, draw or colour in during this time. We encourage children to bring a friend. If your child would like to come along, please send a colouring in book with them on these days – and a pencil case would be great too!

In respect,

Kylie Williamson

From the Guidance Counsellor

Snug Harbour We had a great turn out to the 123 Parent Magic workshop last night, with about 20 parents in attendance to polish their parenting skills! It was great to see so many Star of the Sea parents and also to welcome parents from the wider Redlands community. I am looking forward to the next two sessions together! Next week our Prep to Year 3 students will be attending the “Ditto” Show in anticipation of Child Protection week in September. We take Child Protection here at Star of the Sea very seriously and the Ditto Show is a fabulous way to educate our young students about how to keep themselves safe. Here is some information that I have taken from the Bravehearts website about the Ditto show…..

Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Show This fun and interactive personal safety program has reached hundreds of thousands of Australian children since its inception in 2006. Delivered by experienced facilitators to early learning, child care and lower primary school students, this is 30 – 40 minute live production is tailored for children aged from ages 3 to 8. The show effectively teach personal safety strategies and skills to stay safe in a range of situations from sexual assault to bullying.

The program underpins children’s instinctive understanding of feelings around their personal safety in a way that is non-confronting, safe and highly effective. Themes covered in the show include:

o Yes and No Feelings o Warning Signs o Scared and Yucky Feelings o Private Parts and Privacy o It’s OK to say NO if you don’t feel safe o What to do if you feel unsafe or unsure o To help solidify the messages from the show, our education team also provides an Activity Book for each student to take

home and share with parents and carers. o The Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Activity Book provides a selection of games and activities that aim to teach younger

children personal safety and continue to communicate the core messages presented in the Ditto Show. o Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Show has been aligned to the Australian National Curriculum ‘Health & Physical Education’

objectives. If you have any queries or concerns about the Ditto Show, please don’t hesitate to contact me on the school number. Warm regards Rachael Lovett. Guidance Counsellor.

From the Primary Learning Leader

Team Teaching – How Sots is Ahead of the Game I love attending Professional Development days and hearing about ‘new’ strategies for building collaboration amongst teachers and support staff. This is something that we have been doing, and doing well, at Star of the Sea for almost nine years. It is incredibly affirming to hear facilitators share strategies for collaboration such as the 4 C’s (adapted from Fullan and Sharratt, 2012), CO-PLANNING, CO-TEACHING, CO-DEBRIEFING and CO-REFLECTING, and know that it is something that many schools in the Diocese are striving to establish within their staff, yet has underpinned our vision and philosophy since our school’s opening. There are so many benefits to this collaborative approach, all of which I have had the pleasure of experiencing over my eight years at SOTS and that I see daily in each of our teaching teams. And when I say teaching team I am including teachers, school officers, support teachers, specialist teachers and members of leadership. When I speak with other educators it is clear that we take for granted how naturally we all work together to progress our learners by planning together, teaching together, discussing the effectiveness of our lessons together and identifying our next steps together. The co-planning process encourages a number of people to bounce ideas off each other in order to deliver the strongest, most targeted and most engaging lessons for our students. Having more than one person facilitate a classroom community, allows students to connect with different personalities. Co-teaching allows more opportunities for small group and one-on-one learning and stronger modelling during lessons. In our teaching environments, we can discuss what worked, what didn’t and what we’re going to do differently whenever we want throughout the day! And we are constantly co-reflecting on where we will head next to achieve the best student outcomes. This is all fantastic, and we are so very lucky to have such contemporary strategies embedded in our daily practice, however it is the positive effect that team teaching has on both students and teachers that is the real draw card for me. When students experience their teachers working together, they understand the power of respect amongst peers. Teaching is overwhelming, let’s be honest, and it is nice to have another adult in the room. In my first year at SOTS, I taught with two co-teachers, a student teacher and four school officers and I loved the community that we were able to develop in our learning area. Team teaching provides a support system so that we can do our jobs well and have fun along the way!

I could not be prouder of our collaborative approach to teaching and learning and I think we need to give ourselves some serious credit for leading the way!

The Reading Writing Connection For many years reading and writing were taught separately. However, research in the past ten years has shown that the relationship between reading and writing is much like that of the chicken and the egg. Which came first though is not as important as the fact that without one the other could not exist. Basically put, writing affects reading and reading affects writing. Research has found that when children read extensively they become better writers. Reading a variety of genres helps children learn text structures and language that they can then transfer to their own writing. In addition, reading provides children with prior knowledge that they can use in their writing. Our goal at Star of the Sea this year is to improve writing results and each learning area harnesses the reading-writing relationship in different ways in order to progress their writing. Here are just some of the great things that are happening across the school:

o Genre studies – immersing children in a particular genre from both the reading and writing perspectives o Reading to develop specific writing skills – looking for the Seven Steps to Writing Success when reading o Integrating ‘sound’ instruction in reading and writing – helping children to ‘sound out’ words in their reading and writing o Choice in reading and writing – children learn best when they are motivated and take ownership over their reading and

writing o Talking about it – explain how the two skills reinforce and strengthen each other

You can foster the relationship at home by trying out any of the above strategies. Why not start a Writing Journal about books that you borrow each week, or books that you complete for the Premier’s Reading Challenge?

Kind regards,

Danielle Bennett

Primary Learning Leader

From the ICT Coordinator

Digital Citizenship - What is it? A digital citizen refers to a person who has the knowledge and skills to effectively use digital technologies to communicate with others, participate in society and create and consume digital content. Digital citizenship is about confident and positive engagement with digital technologies. By educating children about digital citizenship, they will have the opportunity to develop an understanding about the following concepts:

o digital and information literacy o internet safety o privacy and security o cyberbullying, relationships, etiquette and communication o creative credit and copyright o digital footprint.

Australian Curriculum definition Digital citizenship An acceptance and upholding of the norms of appropriate, responsible behaviour with regard to the use of digital technologies. This involves using digital technologies effectively and not misusing them to disadvantage others. Digital citizenship includes appropriate online etiquette, literacy in how digital technologies work and how to use them, an understanding of ethics and related law, knowing how to stay safe online, and advice on related health and safety issues such as predators and the permanence of data. Source: Australian Curriculum: Technologies glossary

DQ Institute (www.dqinstitute.org) have an amazing outlook on Digital Citizenship and they call it Digital Intelligence (DQ). They believe that Digital Intelligence is the sum of social, emotional, and cognitive abilities essential to digital life. It is having the necessary knowledge, skills and ability to adapt one’s emotions and adjust one’s behaviour to deal with the challenges and demands of the digital era. They also believe that beyond knowledge, these abilities must be rooted in human values of integrity, respect, empathy and prudence. These values enable the wise and responsible use of technology – an attribute which will mark the leaders of tomorrow. Digital Citizenship does not stop when your child walks out the school gate every afternoon. Making sure all kids have ‘Digital Intelligence’ is everyone’s responsibility. DQ Institute have provided a great resource for parents to use with their child – DQ World. DQWorld.net is designed as a self-learning online program and provides a safe environment for your child to engage in learning activities on their own, without constant close supervision from parents or caregivers. You can sign up for your child and let him/her log in to DQWorld.net at designated times (for example, once a day or once a week). You are encouraged to talk to your child about the lessons he/she learns online. You can also reinforce the principles learned by using the Students’ Workbook, which is a fun-filled activity workbook. Please let me know if you give it a go!!!!

Dave Bermingham ICT Coordinator, Data Coach

Email | dbermingham@bne.catholic.edu.au

From the Sport Coordinator

Sport Aerobics National Championships GOODLUCK to the following girls who are competing in the Sport Aerobics National Championships on Saturday at Chandler. They have been working so hard and we wish them the best in this competition! Junior Primary Large Team Lola Widderick Taleisha De La Cruz Georgia Story Adeline Hardy Taylah Peters Millie Henderson Hip Hop Team Sienna Fens Lola Widderick Adeline Hardy Primary Pre-Choreographed Team Madeline Levey Jayda Long Rachael Bailey Ellie Andrews Isabella Story Shannon Mair Ella Neumann

Primary Fitness Team Haylee Macmillan Isabel Hayes Eve Clarke Caitlin Pareezer Jennifer Viegas Phoebe Smith Primary Pairs Teams Isabella Story -and- Ellie Andrews Eve Clarke -and- Caitlin Pareezer Single Eve Clarke

Inter-house Athletics Carnival

Hi Parents,As you know, we have our Inter-House Athletics this Thursday the 27th July. Please find some more details about the

carnival below. Location The carnival will take place at Carmel College again this year. Please bring your chair and a sunshade if you would like, as there is minimal shade on the oval. We have organised a coffee van to be there from 8:00am. Transport All students are required to dropped down to Carmel College by parents at 8:30am for an 8:45am start. Any Straddie children and OSHC children who are at school in the morning, will be transported by a member of the School Leadership team, down to the carnival. Prep and Year 1 Students will then be ferried back to school by bus with the first bus load leaving Carmel at 12:30pm. Parents may

sign-out and collect their Prep/Year 1 child up from school once they have arrived back at school.We are hoping to have all

students back to school by 1pm. Year 2 – Year 6 students will remain down at the carnival until it concludes. The carnival is scheduled to finish by 2pm. Parents can collect their Year 2 – Year 6 child up from Carmel College after the presentation is finished. Any child who does not get collected from Carmel College will be transported by bus back to school for normal pickup. If you know that your child will definitely require transport back to school, please return the permission slip below. We hope to have all Year 2 – Year 6 students back to school by 2:30pm. What students need to bring Students are required to be wearing their sport uniform with colour house shirt, sunscreen, any coloured runners/joggers, hats. Lunch Students need to bring their drink bottles, munch’n crunch, afternoon tea and their normal lunch. Sausage rolls can be ordered as per the usual process this week and they will be delivered down to the venue for any students who have ordered them. Any students who has ordered an Ice block will receive them for afternoon tea on Friday.

SOTS Touch Football ACADEMY Training for our teams will recommence on tomorrow Thursday the 27th July from 3:30pm – 5:00pm at the Showgrounds. Our teams start playing games on Friday the 28th July from 4:00pm – 7:00pm at the Showgrounds.

Dave Bermingham MPA Teacher, Sport Coordinator

Email | pclvsport@bne.catholic.edu.au

DATA

Writing Analysis Writing is a literacy capability that empowers students to communicate in and out of school for a range of purposes and audiences and in a range of contexts. This capability requires students to develop knowledge and skill with text, grammar, word and visual elements of text. The Writing analysis aims to gather assessment data that identifies if students –

o are progressing in their writing o attend to purpose and audience o use text structures to organise texts effectively o express and develop ideas in detail o use cohesive devices, sentence structures, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling with precision and accuracy.

An analysis of a writing sample using the BCE criteria can support teachers to identify aspects of the curriculum that will be directly supportive of identified student needs in the area of composing texts in writing. We are asked to analyse a sample of writing from a learning area other than English, to support understanding of Literacy as a capability that exists in all learning areas. This writing sample is a part of the curriculum classwork that students are engaging with, not a one-off task for the purposes of the monitoring tool schedule. In Term 1 2016, the year 3-6 teachers undertook a writing analysis of every child in their class. Teachers then used this data to inform their teaching in different ways. They were able to see where individual children needed improvement, what groups or clusters of children needed to focus on in their writing; as well as what areas of writing whole classes or year levels needed to specifically target. In Term 4 2016, the year 3-6 teachers undertook a second writing analysis and we saw some great improvements and results (see data below). In Term 1 2017, the year 3-6 teachers undertook a writing analysis of every child in their class (see data below). In 2017, teachers will undertake a writing analysis again in term 3 and term 4 so that we can closely monitor student and class progress.

IMPORTANT!!! The data is showing percentage of students at the BCE benchmark. When looking at this data, please bear in mind two things: - The BCE Benchmark is an END OF YEAR benchmark, so in term 1 we don’t expect a high percentage of student to have reached the END OF YEAR benchmark. But we do expect growth as the year progresses. - As students enter a new year level the writing analysis criteria becomes more difficult. – hence the lower percentages. - Cohorts of children are compared to each other in this data (term 1 data). Each cohort consists of varying abilities.

I look forward to sharing more writing analysis data towards the end of this term!

Dave Bermingham Data Coach

Email | dbermingham@bne.catholic.edu.au

Notices

2017 Premier’s Reading Challenge The Premier's Reading Challenge is an annual statewide initiative for state and non-state schools for children in Prep to Year Nine. The challenge is not a competition but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to read widely for pleasure and learning. For children to successfully complete the Premier's Reading Challenge they must read or experience the number of books indicated in the table below:

Year level Number of books

Prep - Year 2 Read or experience 20 books

Years 3 - 4 20 books

Years 5 - 9 15 books

Children and students who complete the challenge will have their efforts recognised through the receipt of a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier of Queensland later in the year. Reading Record Sheets will be sent home with your child early in Week Three and need to be returned by August 25.

Book Week Book Week will be held this year from 21st – 25th August (Week Seven). The Book Week Parade will be held on Tuesday 22nd August at 9.15am and the theme is Escape to Everywhere. Start getting your costumes ready – you can dress to the theme, or come as your favourite book character. The Book Fair will be open from Monday 21st August each morning from 8.00am – 8.45am and in the afternoons from 3.00pm. Children will be bringing home a wish list of things they might like to purchase at the end of Week Six.

Book Club Book Club is due this Friday 28th July. All orders are to be processed on-line.

Woolworths Earn & Learn

We have registered again for this partnership between Woolworths and Modern Teaching Aids. The promotion commences today 26 July. When you spend $10 or more at Woolworths, you will receive a sticker to place on a sticker card. Completed sticker cards can be brought to the school office or placed in the collection box with our school name at your local Woolworths store. The program closes on Tuesday, September 19th.

Musical Update

Full Dress rehearsal this Friday 28th July All students will participate in a full-dress rehearsal this Friday 28th July. Reminders will be sent home today if your child has any missing or incorrect costume items. It would be great if all students could have their costumes for Friday.

Musical DVD This year the musical will be professionally videoed and fully edited on a DVD for purchase. Pre-order forms were sent home last week. DVD’s will be able to be ordered at the special pre-order price of $20 up to Monday 7th August. DVDs ordered after the performance will be $25 per DVD. Please return DVD order forms along with payment to the office.

Full Rehearsal Tuesday 8th August o This rehearsal will take place at the Redlands Performing Arts Centre o The children are required to be dropped at the venue by 9am and collected at 3pm. Please note that the children will be

held in the concert hall. This can be accessed around the back of the venue off the carpark. o Please walk the children into the concert hall and take them directly to their classroom teacher who will mark the role. o The children will not be released in the afternoon until a parent/caregiver has come into the concert hall and collected

the children once their name has been marked off. o Any student that requires before or after school care will be transported to and from the venue by staff. o The children will need their school bags with Munch & Crunch, Lunch and Afternoon Tea. o The classroom teachers will prepare activities for the children to keep them busy when they are not required on stage.

Classroom News

Please click on the link below to view Class News from the Parent Portal.

o Prep ○ Year 1 ○ Year 2

o Year 3 ○ Year 4 ○ Year 5/6

o Musical News

DVD Pre-Order Form Star of the Sea Primary School

SNAP: The Musical

Dear Parent / Guardian,

This year SNAP: the musical, presented by the students at Star of the Sea, will be an event not to be missed. If you

would like to capture this wonderful memory forever, we are excited to announce that we have secured the services of

Brisbane digital media company, Ipermedia, to professionally shoot and edit the performance onto a DVD.

We are offering the DVD to purchase at a pre-order price of $20 per DVD. Any orders placed after the performance

will be $25.

If you would like to place an order for a DVD, please return the form below along with payment to the office by Monday

7th August.

Kind regards

Erin Hardy

Music Teacher

Star of the Sea Primary School

FRIDAY, 23 JUNE 2017 | 1-2-3 Magic

Managing Behaviour in Children

Star of the Sea will be running 1-2-3 Magic workshops in term 3, 2017 for parents of children 2 – 10 years of age. It will be facilitated

by Rachael Lovett (Guidance Counsellor) and is FREE. A $10 fee will be charged for workbooks.

1-2-3 Magic is a three-session program teaching effective and well researched ways to better manage behaviour in children.

This program is designed to assist parents and caregivers to:

• Increase their knowledge about what works in managing difficult behaviour and what doesn’t whilst utilising less effort and decreasing stress and frustration levels;

• Support their child’s emotional development through utilising emotion coaching techniques.

WHEN: Tuesday nights 25th July; 1st and 8th August 2017

Parents to arrive at 4.45pm for a 5pm start

Each workshop is approximately 2 hours long

All sessions need to be attended.

WHERE: Star of the Sea Primary School

If you are interested in attending, kindly complete the accompanying registration slip and return it to Star of the Sea school office

or to your child’s Star of the Sea class teacher no later than Friday 23rd June. Alternatively, you can call the school office on 3286

2377 to register. There are limited places available. You will need to make alternative arrangements for child care. It is beneficial

(but not necessary) for both parents to attend.

1-2-3-Magic Parenting Course Registration Form

To be returned to Star of the Sea no later than Friday 23rd June 2017

I/We are interested in attending all three sessions of 1-2-3 Magic:

Parent Name:_________________________ Phone:______________________

Name/s of child/children in your family Age

• ____________________________ _____________

• ____________________________ _____________

Day Care/Kindy/School that your child attends:___________________________

Email Address:_______________________________________________________