Issue 14 - 3 September 2019

Newsletter Articles

VISION STATEMENT

St Rita’s School will be a compassionate and supportive community built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, specifically incorporating the Mercy Values which are lived out. We will be a values-based community reaching out to and welcoming the wider community. Our strong school spirit will shine. St Rita’s will be a school in which every member is respectful of self and others.

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Parents,

I hope you have enjoyed being part of one of the whole school events that we have had in the past few weeks. I am certain that we have had one hundred percent of parents visiting us at St Rita’s to participate in either the Science Fun Day, Children’s Book Week or the Father’s Day Social school community events. Term 3 is always a busy one with such national events, and whole school celebrations such as these provide the ideal opportunity for parents to be fully engaged in our school community.

Thank you for being involved!

Last Friday evening, the P & F group surprised us with the best fun social evening of the year! Fun and games were organised for the children and their dads to play together, with shaving cream and jelly feeding competitions being the most hilarious. A BBQ dinner, cooked by Joe Kurucz and served by the staff, allowed families to relax and enjoy each other’s company at the end of the evening. It was such a happy occasion, with St Rita’s children, and their younger and older siblings, mixing and playing so very well together. They didn’t want to go home!

Last week we also welcomed children, siblings and parents from the Babinda Community Kindergarten to St Rita’s. The kindy visit us every year to participate in our school’s celebration of Children’s Book Week, and we especially look forward to sharing our love of literature with other younger learners. Short-listed picture books were read by our teachers, followed by the children’s enthusiastic participation in simple craft activities with our Prep and Year One students. A celebratory Book Week cake, baked by our very own Babinda Bakery, was shared by everyone. Thank you for celebrating with us kindy families!

After the first day, I purposefully avoided continuing to read all the ‘media hype’ surrounding the release of NAPLAN results in the local newspapers last week. Articles comparing schools’ results, system results, the difference between the results for regional and rural schools, may have the negative effect of misinforming parents on what NAPLAN really is about, and more so, contribute to the increase in the number of parents withdrawing their children from the annual testing schedule in primary schools for Year 3 and Year 5 students.

Fortunately for a small regional school like St Rita’s, we were once again excluded from this barrage of comparison, between the ‘big’ state, Catholic and private schools in Cairns. Our focus, on the other hand, is to view and analyse our students’ NAPLAN results, and use this information for its intended purpose; to determine how a student is progressing at these two ‘points in time’, early in Years 3 and 5, in comparison to other students in Australia at the same point in time of their educational journey.

For your interest, the purpose of NAPLAN testing is clearly explained by the NAP (National Assessment Program) of ACARA (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority):

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessment made by teachers about student performance.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are meeting important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

I would like to highlight the most important elements of this summary of the purpose of NAPLAN. Firstly, NAPLAN results must be viewed as a snapshot of student achievement at a particular point in time. As a teacher, my experience was that there were very few ‘surprises’ in the results, and for the most part students achieved at the expected level. Parents also have found little disparity with their expectations of their child’s NAPLAN results and information their teachers have shared with them during interviews and meetings.

This single ‘snapshot in time’ of NAPLAN contributes to the bigger picture of the school’s assessment and reporting process. At St Rita’s, other sources of data collected include summative assessments in learning units, end of year PAT (Progressive Achievement Testing) in Reading and Maths, classroom observations and ongoing formative assessments undertaking regularly in class. During parent-teacher meetings, your child’s teacher is in the best position to inform you on your child’s progress and to provide regular feedback.

As an additional purpose for NAPLAN described by ACARA, our school also uses NAPLAN data to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching programs in realising educational targets in literacy and numeracy. This data is extremely useful in affirming what we are teaching well at St Rita’s and identifying possible areas for further improvement and future growth. As you are aware, one of our curriculum school improvement goals this year is in the English strand of Writing. The analysis of our NAPLAN Writing results will provide valuable data for the evaluation of this goal during fourth term.

Last Friday marked the conclusion of the Queensland Premier’s Reading Challenge. During the past six weeks, children were required to record their reading of either ten or fifteen books to be eligible to receive a Reading Certificate. By participating in the Challenge each year, St Rita’s aims to promote literacy and encourage our young students to read for pleasure and learning at home. I will continue to emphasise the importance of reading for young children, and I will take this opportunity to highlight its impact on early learning.

The research study, ‘Reading to Young Children: A Head-Start in Life’, undertaken by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development shows that there is an important role for parents in the development and educational performance of their children. Parental reading to children increases the child’s reading and other cognitive skills at least up to the age of 10–11. This is an early-life intervention that seems to be beneficial for the rest of their lives.

The results indicate a direct causal effect from reading to children at a young age and their future schooling outcomes regardless of parental income, education level or cultural background. Although many studies have shown an association between reading and schooling outcomes, actual causality has been much more difficult to prove.

Each week at St Rita’s, your child visits our well-resourced school library to access leisure reading texts, both fiction and non-fiction, and a set of levelled readers to read with parents through the Home Reading program. Reading for pleasure and interest will help your child to develop a love of reading, and is an opportunity to practise reading skills in a meaningful way. The additional support parents can provide by ensuring your child’s ‘home readers’ are read each evening will also contribute to the further development of reading skills at home.

This Thursday and Friday, I will be attending the Term 3 Primary & Secondary Principals’ Conference in Cairns. The two days of professional development that Cairns Catholic Education school leaders undertake each term effectively contributes to the development of strong leaders in our diocesan schools. Two of the presenters, Dr Liam Smith (Regional Director of North Coast Region, Department of Education) and Dr Judy Neilson (Senior Manager of Professional Standards, Queensland College of Teachers) will engage principals in workshops focused on ‘Developing an Explicit Improvement Agenda’ and ‘Developing a Whole School Approach to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers’.

In the concluding weeks of this term, St Rita’s will be finalising plans for our annual ‘Get Set for Prep’ program. In this program, prep children who are enrolled in school for next year attend St Rita’s each Monday during Term 4. Parents also participate in this school readiness program, with information workshops presented by parent educators, Catholic Education Services specialist and support staff, such as speech therapist and guidance counsellor, and Education Officers in Learning & Teaching. All pre-Prep children eligible to begin school next year are encouraged to participate in this valuable school readiness program.

As parents, the education of our children is one of our most important responsibilities, and for this reason our choice of school has to be given considerable priority. At time of enrolment, Prep parents explain that it is for the value-added education that they wish to enrol at a Catholic school. Catholic Education Schools offer “a quality education that is more than academic, but also nurtures the spiritual, social, emotional and physical development of individuals. Our schools offer a caring, safe and respectful environment that is faith based”.

Have a good week and I hope to see you around the classrooms.

Regards and blessings

Judy Billiau

APRE THOUGHTS

Catholic Identity

The process of learning is quite exquisite! It brings with it such a raft of emotions – curiosity, delight, frustration, tiredness and annoyance – and, if you are ‘lucky’ (that is, if you put in enough effort), it brings a feeling of exhilaration and success. I have been most fortunate this last week, to spend it in learning. Along with five other APREs from Cairns schools, and approximately 20 other staff from the Townsville, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Brisbane Dioceses, I learnt about Catholic Identity.

Part of this learning was concerned with what makes an authentic Catholic school in a pluralist society. Of course, we must have a focus on education, and this takes place within an inclusive learning community. ‘Inclusive’ means that we are welcoming to all; we really are not exclusive! As a Catholic school, we share the stories, symbols, rituals and Gospel values that are a part of our Christian story. We invite all to share in our faith tradition and come to know the love of God.

Our role too, is to listen and be open to other worldviews, in order to fully form our Catholic perspective. That is to say, we are distinctively Catholic, but also open to dialogue with other beliefs, to deepen our faith. We encourage our whole school community – children, parents and staff - to develop their ‘whole person’ fully, and grow in their own personal search for meaning. Our hope is that we can share the meaning of our faith with new people in new times. My sincere thanks to all staff members who helped in the many ways to fulfil my duties during my absence.

International Literacy Day

This week in Australia is National Literacy and Numeracy Week. It is a celebration of the collective efforts of Australian school communities in raising the standards of literacy and numeracy of our students. Not only a focus in Australia, but on 8th September, it is also International Literacy Day.

Since 1967, International Literacy Day has been an annual event to highlight the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights. Across countries and populations there remains unequal and persistent literacy challenges, which have serious implications for the future within an increasingly global and digitised world. This year, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will focus on ‘Literacy and Multilingualism’, linking to the 2019 theme of ‘International Year of Indigenous Languages’.

At St Rita’s we take the challenge to improve literacy and numeracy levels very seriously! Not only as a matter of ‘due course,’ since we are an educational institution, but equally as a matter of ‘Dignity of the Human Person’. This is a principle of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Caritas describes this as: “The dignity of every person, independent of ethnicity, creed, gender, sexuality, age or ability, is the foundation of CST. No human being should have their dignity or freedom compromised. Poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice make it impossible to live a life commensurate with this dignity.” When we support students’ education, we are working towards creating a future of opportunity and empowerment, and offering them a chance of a life lived to the fullest of their potential.

Whole School Mass

Father Mathew will celebrate a Whole School Mass with staff and students on Wednesday 11th September, beginning at 12:00pm. Parents and family members are warmly invited to join us for this Eucharistic celebration.

Blessings,
Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

CASTING THE NET

Our Choice: ‘out of control’ or ‘not in control’.

It is going to be one of those weeks. I’ve written the list. That’s just the things I know will happen, not the possibilities. Then as I finished, a friend rang to cancel an event I had forgotten. Phew! But what else might have I forgotten? So facing me this week are certainties, possibilities and forgottens! So what did I do? I stopped to pray – even a little longer than usual. Why? Because this week, I will need to keep calm and focussed. By praying, I am reminding myself that I am not in control of my life. Oh, we know that most of the time if we have any sense but being out of control and not in control can be two very different outlooks.

With life ‘out of control’ we can panic, make foolish decisions which compound our stress. Being ‘not in control’ because we have recognised the presence of God in our lives strengthens and focusses us. We can do what we have to do at each moment and then leave the rest to God, knowing that in some strange way God can bring good out of even the worst situations. With such an attitude, I don’t have to succeed, I just have to try to do good – and not even my best – God doesn’t want to put such pressure on us. It is we who try to be perfectionists and expect too much of ourselves.

So I take up the list, work my way through it, with a short prayer before I begin each item. I remain calm when my plans are hijacked by life and recognise my forgetfulness when the forgottens loom out of the blue. God is in control.

Sr Kym Harris osb

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Suggestions for parents and carers

Learning to make good decisions helps children become more independent and responsible.

A good decision is one that, on balance, is most likely to lead to a positive outcome for everyone concerned. Learning to consider the situation carefully and weigh up the options before coming to a decision helps children make better decisions. It also helps them to understand and take into account others’ views when making decisions that affect them.

How you can help:

• Allow children to practise making choices. Giving children opportunities to make choices helps to build their sense of responsibility as well as their decision making skills. It is important that the choice really is theirs, so provide options that you will be happy with no matter which they choose. Showing interest in their choice helps to reinforce that you see their decisions as important.

• Talk about everyday decisions. Involve children in your own decision making. For example, you might say, “I’m trying to decide whether to take up a sport to get fit or go to a dance class. Which do you think I should do?” Talk through the advantages and disadvantages of each suggestion so your child can learn how to thoughtfully evaluate different options.
• Support children to use decision making steps. As children develop their skills for thinking through decisions, teach them the steps of decision making and show them how to use them effectively. Decision making steps:1) Identify the decision to be made, 2) Think of options, 3) Evaluate the options and choose the best one, and 4) Put your choice into action and check how it works.
• Ask questions that promote thoughtful decisions. “What do you like about that?” “What makes this the best option?” “How would this work?” “Can you think of any reasons why…?” Asking questions that prompt children to think through their reasons for choosing a particular option helps them learn how to evaluate options and think through consequences.
• Encourage children to set achievable goals. Setting their own goals to work towards encourages children to plan and think ahead. It helps them understand the link between making decisions and taking action. Appropriate goals for children to choose include developing a new skill (e.g., learning to play chess, learning to swim), improving performance in school work or in an area of particular interest (e.g., learning to play a particular piece of music or to master a difficult skill in sport), or earning pocket money to save for something special. It is important that the goals set are achievable and motivating for the child. In addition, the steps needed to reach goals need to be definite, clear and small enough for the child to manage. Providing praise and acknowledgment for small steps of progress supports children to meet their goals.
• When children make poor decisions…

Check your expectations. Are the decisions you want them to make appropriate for their age and ability? Do children understand what they need to think about to make an effective decision? Are the options clear? If not, then you may be expecting too much and need to make the task simpler or take charge of the decision yourself.

Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Allowing children to experience the consequences of their decisions can provide useful lessons in responsibility. It is easier for children to accept difficult or disappointing consequences when they feel supported and cared for as they learn to correct their mistakes.

Talk through good and poor decisions. Children learn best when they are calmly helped to think through the outcomes of their decisions and supported in making a better choice next time. Helping them to accept responsibility for mistakes and plan how to improve the situation teaches skills for more effective decision making.

CURRICULUM CORNER

Engagement in reading and talking about books

International assessments and experimental studies have established the strong relationship between comprehension and home literacy. Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), for example, show that, in almost all countries, students whose parents read books to them as they enter primary school are more likely to have higher PISA reading scores at age 15.

Research also shows that reading to children is most effective when they are also engaged in high-quality discussion that is adjusted to their needs and interests. Initially children need to be engaged in conversations that help to build their vocabulary. They cannot talk about or understand a book that has too many words they do not know.

Once they know the meaning of most words, children benefit most from discussions about the meaning of the story, particularly discussions that focus on more abstract ideas such as describing what kind of a person a character is, predicting what might happen next, or comparing a character or situation with their own life. High-quality conversations need to go beyond literal recall of events. Children’s ability to infer information from an early age is also critical, with those who are able to make inferences at four to five years of age having improved listening comprehension skills at six years of age. Listening comprehension is important because it predicts concurrent reading comprehension in seven- to 12-year-old children.

Children also need to be an active participant in posing questions and speculating on answers and possibilities. Sensitivity to the level of skill and the interests of the child determines the effectiveness of shared book conversations. In essence, parents who can calibrate their interactions to children’s interests and follow their lead through responsive interactions have the most significant effect on the development of their children’s language skills.

Much research demonstrates that reading aloud and sharing conversations with young children about books promotes the development of language and other emergent literacy skills like understanding how to navigate texts, familiarity with the written language register and story structures, which in turn helps prepare them for school.

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

Book Week Fancy Dress

Mary Poppins came to visit us at St Rita’s! And it was me dressed up for the St Rita’s celebration of Children’s Book Week. The theme this year was ‘Reading is my Super Power’, and on Wednesday we had a book character fancy dress parade.

Every year, the Babinda Kindergarten join us for Book Week and this year we started the character parade soon after they arrived. We danced around in a circle for the parade while the super hero music was playing. Then we took turns telling the audience who we were dressed as.

My mum sewed up my beautiful dress, decorated my hat and borrowed my pink flamingo umbrella from a friend. My brother Cooder was dressed as Indiana Jones. He brought a whip and a knife made out of cardboard as accessories.

Some of the characters we dressed up as were Minnie Mouse, Mad Hatter, Harry Potter and Thing 1, 2, 3 from Dr Suess. Our teachers dressed up as super heroes too. Super ‘Read it’ was Mrs Jago, she had made a jet pack to wear on her back, and all the teachers wore capes and masks as super heroes too.

Everyone as St Rita’s Babinda is already looking forward to celebrating Book Week again next year. We wonder what the theme will be!

By Havana Postic (Year 3)

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on 2nd September 2019.

THE CAIRNS POST ‘INSPIRE’ AWARDS

St Rita’s congratulates Teelah Geary (Year 3) on her published article in the Cairns Post ‘Inspire’ section on Tuesday 6th August 2019. Teelah wrote about our NAIDOC Day celebrations and the whole school liturgy. Congratulations Teelah!

We were proud to read Isabella Millar’s (Year 6) published recount of Science Fun Day, and what amazing experiments her senior class conducted in the ’60 Second Science Show’. Well done Isabella!

BIRTHDAY CONGRATULATIONS

St Rita’s wishes Hunter Bell and Joseph Geary all the very best for their recently celebrated birthdays. We hope you had wonderful birthday celebrations Hunter and Joseph!

P & F News

On behalf of the St Rita’s P & F Committee, we would like to thank all families who attended the Father’s Day Friday night Social event. There were so many smiling faces on the night enjoying the novelty games, such as ‘dress up in dad’s work gear’ relay races, three-legged races with dad, feeding dad jelly and the cleanest and fastest shave. Well done to all the fathers for getting into the spirit of the night, having fun with their children and making it a huge success.

The P & F would also like to thank the St Rita’s Staff and Joe Kurucz for organising and running the barbeque. The steak sandwiches were delicious and it was great to have the night off cooking tea!

Next Monday 9th September is our next monthly meeting. Everyone is welcome to join us, as we need your ideas in the discussion of our plans for the Babinda Harvest Festival and Term 4 disco.

Thank you everyone.

Maryjane Masina
P&F Secretary

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

MacKILLOP CATHOLIC COLLEGE ENROLMENT

Well Women’s Clinic – Babinda Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)

Wednesday 25th September 2019

All services are provided by a specially-trained Women’s Health Nurse.

For appointments phone 4067 8200