Week 3, Term 3 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a very interesting start we have had for term 3. It certainly feels like we have started the term twice. It has been another challenging time for everyone across our state as we settled into this new Semester. The important thing is for all of us to look out for each other, taking the time to check in on each other’s wellbeing. It is also very important for our students to  begin again and establish a good school routine so that they are feeling good about coming back to school and being with their friends and engaged in their learning.

I must say it was very timely having the Olympic Games to watch during lockdown, as it provided a real distraction and a wonderful feeling of national pride. Nothing like cheering on our athletes and getting into sports that you don’t normally see on centre stage.

I would like to thank you all for the way you have handled the restrictions, especially around the wearing of masks and the way families have adjusted to the pick-up and drop off arrangements. This is greatly appreciated and allows us to be safe and efficient during these times. We hope we can have families coming back on to the school grounds soon.

We welcome our very new Mid-Year Reception students and their families to our school. I would like to congratulate them on the way they have managed their start to school life and thank Ms Mae McGee for such a smooth start, even if we did do it twice! I would like to welcome to our school community:

Paloma, Emiliana, Allegra, Alessandro, Benjamin, Mason, Alexis, Victoria, Oscar, Isaac and Vivien. We wish them well in their learning journey.

Congratulations to our Term 3 School Captains, Adriana and Kaspar – we look forward to seeing your leadership skills in action throughout this term.

As part of our school wide commitments related to the Star Program, we continue to focus our attention on developing a deeper and more consistent understanding of each drawer of Mathematics. In week 9, teachers were released in teams for professional development related to an area of Mathematics they would be exploring in term 3. The Early Years teachers focused on Measurement. The image above is an example of a classroom display in RCW.

The Primary teachers focused their learning around Fractions, with Lisa-Jane providing a range of resources to support student learning in this area.

Our new Reception class RMM have started their Mathematics learning journey with the ‘Story of Mathematics’. Miss McGee posed the question “How often do we use each Mathematics drawer?” and asked the children to pop a pom pom into the corresponding cup every time they noticed themselves using one of the drawers during the day. The image above is their collection after only one day!

Lisa-Jane from the Primary Mathematics Association will be returning in weeks 4 and 7 for professional development on the processes of calculating.

It has already been a huge Semester of learning with all classes unpacking the drawers of Mathematics and teaching the base ten rules. It is exciting to see what Semester 2 will bring.

Semester 2 School Fee Payments  For families who chose Semester payments for school fees, a reminder that payment for Semester 2 is due by 14^th August 2021. 

Fee Remissions We appreciate that some families may suffer economic hardship as the result of the recent lockdown and ongoing restrictions.  Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with myself or Adrian to sensitively and confidentially discuss any support we can provide.  

Janet Price

Business Manager

jprice@stjotran.catholic.edu.au

On Tuesday 29^th June, the year 3 to 6 students participated in the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival at Priceline Stadium.  The students were very excited to be a part of this event.

During their PE lessons with Mr Raidus, they were taught some netball skills prior to the event with and were keen to put them into practice.

The students displayed fair play, good sportsperson ship and represented our school in an admirable manner.

Jenny Vorassi

‘In week 10 of term 2 The year 3’s,4’s,5’s, and 6’s went to the Catholic School Netball Carnival at Priceline Stadium. We were separated into different teams. All of the teams were even but some people didn’t turn up, so some of the teams were down a player. All of the coaches are very nice and kind. They would let you choose positions that you wanted to play. Every position was very active and lots of fun. There were so many different schools there.

All of them had different techniques and bibs. Some of them were hard to beat but we did pretty well. Our team was short one player so we had to work much harder.

The netball carnival was a great experience for everyone who went. I would do it again I hope other people would to!’

Grace Testa 4/5LB

The Premiers Reading Challenge will close on Thursday 2nd September 2021.

Once students have complete their form please return it to Kathryn in the library or pass it on to their classroom teacher.