Virtue of the fortnight
Our Virtue of the Fortnight has been Patience. We have spoken to children about the important of practising patience, like when taking turns during play, lining up for things and waiting, and when listening to our friends. We have spoken to them about how this helps them be a good friend and if all Holy Rosary kids show friendly behaviours such as patience, this leaves less room for bullying behaviours to exist in our school. We have taught them strategies for helping them be more patient, such as deep breaths and Ocean Breathing (or Take 5 breathing: https://theinspiredtreehouse.com/calming-breathing-techniques-kids/
This beautiful prayer has been floating around on twitter and fits wonderfully with our Virtue focus:
We also pray for our First Eucharist candidates and look forward to sharing their photos with you after they receive the sacrament this Sunday!
World Teachers Day
Last week we celebrated World Teachers Day and I wanted to again acknowledge the amazing work all our staff do in ensuring the best outcomes for our Holy Rosary kids. All of our staff work long hours providing academic and extra curricular opportunities and as the weather heats up after a long year term 4 in the Kimberley can be tough! I have had many people tell me wonderful things about their child’s teacher and I always pass these messages on but please try to let them know personally what a great job they’re doing!
Acer Online Testing and Academic Growth of our students
This fortnight children from Pre-primary to Year 6 are completing online standardised testing in reading and maths, and Year 3s and up in grammar and punctuation. These same tests were completed at the beginning of the year as a baseline and we will be analysing the data in the next few weeks to assess the academic growth of our students.
I have quickly glanced at some of the results already and some students have seen massive growth in their maths and reading results over this year. This is a fantastic achievement for our staff and students in a year when they have had to deal with a global pandemic and the anxiety, uncertainty and disruption caused by it. Attached is some data from 1 of our classes for students who completed the tests in March and November.
Next newsletter I look forward to sharing with you some of these successes and also any goals for improvement which the school needs to focus on for next year to improve our students’ literacy and numeracy results even further. As stated in our 3 Year Strategic plan , one of Holy Rosary’s strategic goals is to ensure our academic results are at or above All Australian school averages, and collecting this data twice yearly is aimed towards this goal.
Class Lists and Staffing Update
Class lists for 2021 are currently displayed in the undercover area. There may be some small changes to these lists however parents will be consulted before any changes occur. We have notified our 2021 Year 2/3 parents of Miss Jessica’s Term 1 Long service replacement, Mrs Andrea Koh, who you can read about here : Year 2/3 Staffing 2021
Miss Bernice has also recently reduced her days and role and will only be with us 2 days a week, and no longer taking literacy support groups. Miss Tanika will be replacing Miss Bernice for the other 3 days per week in the Year 2/3 classroom for the rest of the term and we will confirm as soon as possible well who will be taking the literacy support groups Miss Bernice was taking.
Absence from school
I will be absent from school this coming Thursday and Friday for CEWA Broome region Principal meetings, and the following week from Wednesday to Friday in Perth for CEWA Principal training days. Whilst I do not like being away from school, these days are vital for enabling me to bring back essential skills and knowledge required to ensure Holy Rosary is providing the best possible outcomes and learning opportunities for our students. Please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or email during my absence : 0409 533 651, yvette.clifton@cewa.edu.au
Merit Award Winners
Congratulations to our Merit Award winners this week!
