Virtue of the Fortnight : Temperance
Our virtue of the fortnight has been “Temperance”, which is an old fashioned word but is an important virtue in the Catholic tradition, and in modern terms we might call it ‘doing things in moderation’ – and trying to be balanced in everything we do. It’s the good habit that allows a person to relax and have fun without crossing the line. So for example, we have spoken to our students about not being too rough in their play, trying to be balanced with their screen time, and in the food that they eat. We can also show temperance around our friends by not getting involved when they tease others or talk about them unkindly.
Our Year 2/3s wrote some lovely prayers about Temperance:
Dear God
We thank you for the virtue of temperance. Help us make good choices by being kind to our family and to our friends by talking nice and making good choices. Lord hear our prayer.
By Jayde
Dear God
I like to share
I like to be kind
I like to listen
I like you to the moon and back
Lord hear our prayer
By Jack
Dear God
Thank you for Temperance. It helps me make good choices when I am angry and when I am doing my school work.
By Zoe
Dear God
We thank you for the virtue of Temperance. Help us to take turns at school, use our manners when talking to our teachers and to our friends.
Lord hear our prayer.
By Coco
Kimberley Schools Project
Next week we will be visited by Dr Lorraine Hammond from the Kimberley Schools Project for teacher training, observations and feedback. Dr Hammond is an associate professor at Edith Cowan University and is an expert in effective teaching of reading strategies. We are very lucky to have her work with our school through the Kimberley Schools Project which has already seen huge improvements in our students’ literacy levels through the use of data-informed and evidence based strategies, as well as instructional coaches who visit our school every few weeks to observe our teachers and assist them in improving their teaching practices. Dr Hammond will be teaching our teachers more strategies on the Pupil-free day on Monday, and we will be hosting teachers from other Kimberley schools during the week when Dr Hammond visits our school.
One aspect of the project is the intense data collection that is required to monitor our students’ growth and achievement levels in literacy. This data collection has only just started, but to demonstrate a small aspect of the results we are seeing, I’ve attached one screenshot of a graph of our school mean growth in reading skills over Terms 1 and 2. We are very excited about these results and look forward to sharing more successes with you as our student achievement levels grow. This is one curve we are very happy to not see flattening!!
Social Media Usage
Unfortunately this year we have had a number of situations occur where students have posted unkind things on social media about other students. At Holy Rosary we have a zero tolerance to any form of bullying and cyber bullying is viewed as an extreme form of bullying because of the ability for social media posts to be permanently out there, affecting both the victim and the perpertrator. We ask that parents closely monitor their children’s accounts, ensure they have password access to their children’s accounts and check their posts on a DAILY basis. It is important that parents are aware that even when account setttings are private, social media posts can still be saved to another friend/follower’s device and then shared with people who do not have permission to see it.
Any form of cyber bullying reported to the school towards another Holy Rosary student that occurs from now on will be recorded on a student’s record and a comment will be placed on their end of semester report, which may be viewed in the future when applying for high schools or scholarships.
Naidoc Week Celebrations
We are celebrating Naidoc on Friday 14th August, and Miss Lesley, Miss Catie, Miss Bernice, Miss Natalie, Miss Kellie and Miss Tara have been working hard to plan some fun and exciting activities to celebrate Aboriginal culture in our community. Thank you to all the organisations that have offered to be involved on the day. If you are able to assist on the day with any of our activity stations, we could do with some extra volunteers to assist the students with activities such as t-shirt and tapping stick painting, the jumping castle, and Barni chase and fishing activities. Please call or email the school at admin@hrsderby.wa.edu.au if you are able to assist for a couple of hours on the day.
Athletics Carnival Cake and Coffee Stall : VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We also have our Athletics carnival coming up and we are looking for volunteers to assist with setting up a cake and coffee stall to fundraise some funds for resources for the school. If you are able to assist in coordinating the stall or can make some treats to sell on the day please email the school also atadmin@hrsderby.wa.edu.au.
Best wishes
Yvette Clifton
Principal
