Newsletter Term 2 Week 8 (Wednesday 15 June)

Year 4

What an amazing experience the Year 4’s had last week going back into history with Mrs Condon. Once arriving at the Kyogle railway station the students were transported back in time. There were satchels waiting that had all the items needed for the children to identify the soldier, their personality, their hobbies and the supplies they may have needed while they were away at war. The children truly took a step back in time and learnt so much. Thank you Mrs Condon.

Wentworth - I loved matching the dog tags to the items in the bag.

Indigo - I loved how we got to find out some things about the soldiers.

Lorelei - I liked how we saw what soldiers took to the war. I learned that the family at home would send Anzac biscuits to the soldiers at war.

Yari - I love history and I love mysteries. I felt like I was a real historian looking through the soldier's bag.

Carter - I love how we had to be detectives and use the clues to find out about the soldier’s personality.

Hannah - It was fun to get out of school and take a step back in time.

Parker - I like that we had the opportunity to look through the soldier’s things. 

Normy - It was a great start when we were given dog tags to find our soldier.

Jessica - I loved going through all the things in the soldier’s bag.

Noah - I loved being able to put on their clothes and imagine I was a soldier.

Eloise - I like that the maps gave us clues to figure out where the soldier was from and where they travelled to. It was extraordinary that the papers we looked at were the original documents.

Brooklyn - It was fun how Mrs Condon had us imagine we were watching the train coming and leaving. It was a big twist when we found out the soldiers were Mrs Condon’s great uncles.

Tahnesha - I loved looking at the things in the soldier’s bag.

Emmelyn - I loved how we got to wave the soldiers goodbye from the train station.

Stage 2 History Excursion

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Our Gospel Reflection

In our age of fast food and eating on the go, families often find that they are not eating meals together at a dinner table. As a family, look back over the past week and recall how many meals were eaten together and how many meals were eaten alone or on the run.

In the Bible, meals are seen as much more than a means to satisfy a physical need. The Hebrew people viewed eating a meal as a way of expressing and strengthening their relationship to one another under God's covenant. It is no coincidence that meals are often the setting of Jesus' teaching and miracles in the Gospels. In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000 people.

Read this Sunday's Gospel, Luke 9:11b-17. Talk about the kinds of hungers that people have in addition to physical hunger. Describe the hungers that a family nourishes (love, compassion, forgiveness, laughter, and so on). Together give thanks for the food that Jesus gives us that we celebrate on this Sunday's feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Make a commitment to share in this Eucharistic meal together as a family.

From Our Principal

Far too many students say they don’t like Maths! It is a universal problem. As a result they grow into adults who don’t like Maths and the cycle perpetuates when we then tell our children, “I was no good at Maths at school and I don’t use it anyway”. Growing up I always remember my mum saying that “Dad does Maths, I do the reading.”

We need to stop this cycle and view maths differently.

Jo Boaler is a world renowned Leader in Mathematical Thinking. She wrote a great book called ‘The Elephant in the Classroom’. The elephant in the classroom is the idea that many children feel they are no good at Maths. When we teach Maths we don’t want children to ever have this idea. We need them to approach Maths with a growth mindset. The subject actually involves problem solving, creating ideas, representing items and thinking, exploring puzzles, discussion about methods used and the many ways a problem can be solved. Unfortunately too many people think Maths is solving algorithms, remembering formulas or names for angles, shapes and procedures. The way to kick the elephant out of the room is to teach Maths as a challenge, throw the students into a Learning Pit and let them struggle, discuss, try, fail and try again to come up with a solution. All supported by good teaching.

It isn’t a problem like 6 x9 we should be doing but how many ways could 6 children evenly sort their lollies/ pencils/ books if they had 18, 54 or 228?
It isn’t a problem like how far did I walk if I walked 6, 8 then 9 kilometres. It is a problem like, I covered 28 kilometres today in 3 sessions. What length could I have walked each session?
We need to bring real Maths into classrooms and our homes.

This takes a few changes: No more saying ‘I am no good at Maths’ / ‘I don’t like Maths’ No more trying to teach an algorithm to solve a problem. See Maths as an everyday experience - using money, measuring for cooking, estimating time and distances, counting by 2’s, 3’3 instead of by 1’s. There are many ways to teach the Maths in the everyday.

Dance Spectacular

With the wonderful break in the weather, the students of St Brigid’s invite all to a night of dancing where we will be taken on a trip of "Music Through the Ages". The dances will be the result of having Aleeta Northey working with all classes earlier this term. Our “Dance Spectacular” will commence at 6pm sharp on Wednesday 22nd June and so we ask that all students are here at school by 5:40pm in readiness. Classes have issued notes with what is needed and we thank all for your support and assistance with this. Looking forward to a wonderful evening of dancing by our wonderful students next week!!

Student Reporting

At St Brigid’s we are committed to creating a learning environment that allows all students the best opportunity to achieve in their learning. We are extremely proud of the emphasis that is placed on learning and the supportive structures we have in place to ensure we are able to maintain our focus on learning. Semester One Reports will be sent home on Monday 27th June.

At St Brigid’s, we respect the dignity of every child. Our aim is to nurture all learners, whilst providing parents and guardians with honest information about their child’s learning and achievements during Semester One. Stage 1, 2 and 3 reports use an A-E grading scale. Kindergarten parents are provided with a report on their child’s progress in Semester One but not using the A-E grading scale.

Your child’s teacher(s) will make a professional on-balance judgement to determine which grade best matches the standards your child has achieved. This is based on all assessment information that has been collected during Semester One. This information is then used to allocate an A-E grade. There are no set numbers of grades allocated in a class or school. Each student receives the grade for which he or she has demonstrated achievement. The Common Grade Scale shown below is used to report student achievement in all NSW schools.

If you have any questions or concerns relating to the A-E Common Grade Scale, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Hunter, Mrs Condon, Mrs Walters or see your child’s class teacher, as they are more than willing to assist you in this area.

School Photo Day

Please do not forget that our revised School Photo Day is Thursday the 30th of June. Please ensure that your child/ren are at school on this day dressed in full school uniform. Should you require a family photo envelope please do not hesitate to pick one up from our School Office. 

Online Sibling Photo orders must be made prior to Photo day. Cash sibling orders can be made on the morning of Photo Day.

Calling For Class Parents

This is an area that we would like to reinvigorate in our school as we all work together for the benefit of our students. We are calling for 2 parents from each class to be the Class Parent Reps so as to share the role. Many thanks to the parents who have indicated that they would like to take on this role. These parents volunteer to support the class, teacher and parents in developing a positive working relationship. It is designed to help welcome parents into the class and school and develop friendships and a social network for families. Some of the ways in which the Class Parents can support teachers is to welcome and assist new families into the class or to help farewell a student who is leaving. There are a number of things that our Class Parents can do to involve all of our families. Once we have our Class Parents nominated we will have a meeting to ensure that all Class Parents are clear with this important role. Activities could include organising social gatherings for class parents and families like cake, coffee, and play dates at the park, or nights out for the Mum’s or Dad’s. They could also organise a card or gift for a specific family event. Class parent nominations so far are as follows:-

Kindergarten - ____________ , ____________

Year 1 - ____________ , ____________

Year 2 - ____________ , ____________

Year 3- Jessica Rixon, ____________

Year 4 - Danielle Howes, ____________

Year 5 - Krystal-Lee Hyde, Ashling Aherne

Year 6- Gemma Habchi, Natalie Marychurch.

Please let your child’s class teacher know if you would like to take on this role in 2022 for your respective class. Mr Hunter will then be in touch to meet with all Class Parents to give further support and guidance.

Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC)

Once again we will offer the students of St Brigid's the opportunity to sit the AMC. 

The AMC is an engaging 30-problem competition that demonstrates the importance and relevance of Mathematics in students’ everyday lives. It is open to students in Years 3 to 12.

When: Thursday 4th August 2022

Cost per student: A$7.50 (Australia and New Zealand)

Entry closing dates: (Paper) Wednesday 29th June

The students sit either the Middle Primary (Years 3–4) or Upper Primary (Years 5–6) paper.

Please complete the Privacy/Consent Policy and the Registration Form contained at this link:

https://www.amt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/AMT-Online-Consent-Form-2022-AMC-ACFG.pdf

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Condon.

Preparation for the Competition:

• Problemo Student is a free problem-solving platform that allows students to test their skill in Mathematics and informatics. It’s packed with problems covering a range of topics and year levels. They can jump in anytime and try one question or work their way through a series based on a topic.
• AMT competition student practice portal. This is the same place students go on the day of the competition. We’ve added practice questions here so students can familiarise themselves with the online platform before the AMC.
• AMT’s online shop holds a range of AMC resources that are great for student practice. Download individual past papers for free, or buy AMC compilation books sorted by topic and full solutions for past competitions.   

ICAS

Each year over a million students sit the ICAS assessments. The questions in the ICAS competitions help students to connect information from content strands of the curriculum to their existing knowledge and to real-life situations.  These assessments are optional. Payments are online only and you will need to enter the code below, which links to our School.  If you have any questions please contact Mrs Jan Condon.

Subjects Offered: - Year 2 to Year 6  (Digital Technologies, Spelling Bee, Science, English, Mathematics)    Cost = $19.25 each

Year 3 to Year 6  (Writing)    Cost = $23.65 each

Parent Payment Code:  EYG369

Payments Due: 31st July 

Assessments begin:  Early August (dates to be finalised and placed on our calendar) 

School Fee Support For Families Affected By Floods

We know that some flood-affected families and communities will continue to work through their response and recovery for some time. We are here to support you in whatever way we can. We understand that the financial impact of the flood event has been extensive for many families in the affected regions.

In recognition of this burden, the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools Ltd (DLCSL) Board has approved support to schools and parishes to provide full (100%) or partial fee relief (50%). This fee relief will include levies and elective fees. Full-year fee relief will be provided to families that received any Australian Government financial assistance payment relating to the 2022 floods, including either the:

• Disaster Recovery Payment (property damage)
• Disaster Recovery Allowance (income).

Partial fee relief (up to 50%) may be provided to other flood-affected families at the discretion of our Principal. Although individual circumstances will vary widely, the following factors will be considered in approving partial fee relief:

• Extent of property damage
• Duration of loss of income
• Other factors as appropriate.

If you would like to request the fee relief outlined above, please contact St Brigid's School, Kyogle either via kyogp@lism.catholic.edu.au or phoning 6632 1988 and ask to speak with Mr Hunter. We ask that you present documentation indicating you are receiving the relevant Disaster Recovery
payments when making your application. Fees that have already been paid can be refunded or carried forward as a credit for 2023. Please indicate in your application which of these options you prefer.

I thank you again for your ongoing support of our school. Our families and communities remain in our prayers. Please don’t hesitate to contact the school on kyogp@lism.catholic.edu.au or by phone on 6632 1988 should you have any questions. All enquiries will be treated with the utmost respect for the privacy of each family.

Do We Have The Correct Information?

It is important that our school has your correct contact details. If you have moved house, changed jobs or are in any doubt about what contact numbers (including Emergency Contacts), and emails we have on record, please contact Lani in the school office to check and if necessary, update your information.

Happy Birthday to You ...

Wishing the following children all the very best for their special day this week:-

16 June - Kobe Dever and Gloria Rogin

17 June - Lola Lindsay

Upcoming Dates

JUNE

Friday 17th - Year 2 Showcase (2:15pm)

Wednesday 22nd - Dance Night Spectacular

Monday 27th - Semester 1 Reports sent home

Wednesday 29th - Rewards Day

Thursday 30th - School Photos / Last day of Term 2 for students

JULY

Friday 1st - Pupil Free Day

Monday 18th - Term 3 commences

Trinity Catholic College Open Day