Issue 5 - June 2024
-
From the Principal
-
Staff News
-
School Photos
-
Literacy News
-
Student Support
-
Ancient Civilisation's Day - Friday, 5th July 2024
-
NW Cross Country
-
Reminder: Student Illness
-
Awards
-
Parents and Friends
-
Year 3 News
-
Public Holiday
-
Bookclub
-
Trivia Night
-
School Uniform Price Increases
-
Burnie Musical Society
-
Community Survey
-
Community Flyers
-
Term Dates
I want to discuss the importance of mastering maths facts. Maths facts are the basic calculations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division that students need to know automatically. When a student is automatic, we call it maths fact fluency.
Here’s why focusing on these skills both at school and at home is important.
Building a Strong Foundation
Maths fact fluency provides a strong foundation for more complex mathematical concepts. When students have quick recall of basic calculations, they can tackle more advanced problems with confidence and efficiency. This foundational knowledge is essential for subjects like algebra, geometry, and more.
Building Blocks for High School Success
The benefits of knowing maths facts extend well beyond primary school. As students progress to high school, there is an assumption that students have a grasp of basic maths facts. Students who are fluent in maths facts can transition smoothly to the advanced topics of high school maths, as they are not struggling with foundational calculations. This fluency significantly contributes to their overall success in high school maths and science.
Enhancing Problem-Solving Skills
Knowing maths facts by heart allows students to focus on problem-solving rather than getting bogged down by simple calculations. This fluency enables them to see patterns, make connections, and develop strategies to solve problems effectively. In essence, strong maths fact knowledge enhances overall mathematical thinking.
Boosting Confidence and Reducing Anxiety
Many students experience maths anxiety, often stemming from struggling with basic calculations. By ensuring they have a solid grasp of maths facts, we can help reduce this anxiety. When students are confident in their abilities, they are more likely to participate in class, ask questions, and enjoy learning maths.
How We Support This at School
At SPC, we dedicate time each day to practising maths facts. Our school program is Rocket Maths. Students are working to reach their own personal goals.
How You Can Help at Home
Your support at home is invaluable. This year we have reduced our homework requirements to only reading and maths facts. The programs are a mix of Ninja Maths and Rock Star Maths, depending on the age group and teacher preferences. Taking an interest in maths facts at home, reinforces the importance of this learning Celebrate your child’s progress and effort. Positive reinforcement encourages a love for learning and perseverance.
By working together, both at school and at home, we can ensure that our students have the strong mathematical foundation they need to succeed.
Mrs Kerrie Flynn
Principal
Staff News
This week we welcomed Mrs Victoria Cotton who has been appointed as our new Finance Officer. Melinda Armstrong, in her new role as CET Finance Specialist, has been assisting Victoria with her transition into the new role.
A couple of weeks ago, we farewelled Mr Moore. Mr Moore has returned to Hobart, where he is closer to family and friends. We wish him all the best as he continues his work with Catholic Education in a student support role.
School Photos will be on Wednesday, 19th June families are now able to order Photos via compass. If you are unable to order via compass please contact the office.
Hair and jewellery must be compliant with the school uniform policy for students to be able to participate in school photos.
Students are able to wear any combination of the smart play uniform for photos. Please note, no underclothing is to be visible i.e singlets.
We are getting very excited for the Premier’s Reading Challenge to start in week 8, on June 17th. In the week leading up to this, I will be visiting all the classes to hand out reading logs and bookmarks and explaining to students how to keep track of which books they are reading. Remember any book counts, whether it is read to students by parents/teachers or whether they are reading it themselves. If older students are unsure how many ‘books’ their larger book consists of, they are welcome to come and see me, and they may record each chapter in their log rather than each book.
Some tips for supporting children’s reading development at home are to:
- encourage children to ‘sound out all through the word’
- encourage multiple readings of the one book
- encourage children to speak in full sentences
- encourage children to spend time with books they enjoy
Happy reading!
Mrs Laura Korpershoek
Literacy Leader
National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).
Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:
- year of schooling
- category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
- level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.
This information assists schools to:
- formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
- consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
- develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes
The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.
The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).
Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).
If you have any questions about the NCCD, please do not hesitate to contact me at school.
Mrs Brooke Lardner
Student Support Coordinator
On the final day of Term 2, we will be having an Ancient civilisation’s dress up day. This is in line with the students core knowledge units they have been working on in class.
Students are encouraged to come along to school dressed according to their class era.
Kinder & Prep - Nursery Rhymes
Year 1 & 2 - Ancient Greece
Year 3 & 4 - Vikings
Year 5 & 6 - Feudal Japan
Below are some images for reference. Please note families are not expected to go out and buy expensive outfits, this is just a bit of fun for our students.
Wishing all of our students participating in the North West Cross Country tomorrow the best of luck!
If your child has an infectious condition, you may need to keep them home from school to stop it from spreading. Please see below some of the sicknesses that we have been made aware of and their recommended exclusion periods.
Illness |
Exclusion requirements |
Cold - Common symptoms of a cold include coughing, low-grade fever, a sore throat, sneezing and a blocked or runny nose. Colds are spread through droplets in the air – from coughs or sneezes, for example – and on surfaces. |
There is no need to exclude a child with the common cold if they seem well; however, colds and flu symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of COVID-19. Even if your child's symptoms are mild, they should get tested for COVID-19 immediately and isolate at home until they have received a negative test result. |
Influenza, or 'the flu', commonly causes symptoms such as high fever, dry cough, muscle ache and fatigue. Less common symptoms include sore throat and a runny nose. Children may also have abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. It spreads from person to person through droplets in the air. |
Should be excluded until they are well. Even if your child's symptoms are mild, they should get tested for COVID-19. If your child tests positive for COVID-19, they should stay at home until their acute symptoms have gone. |
COVID-19 symptoms range in severity. The following symptoms are considered mild symptoms in children:
It’s also possible to have COVID-19 but have no symptoms at all. |
If your child displays symptoms of COVID-19, or is diagnosed with COVID-19, keep them home from school. If your child tests positive for COVID-19, they should stay at home until their acute symptoms have gone. They are generally considered infectious from 2 days before their symptoms begin. If their symptoms worsen, contact your healthcare provider for advice. |
Conjunctivitis, or 'pink eye', causes redness and swelling of the outer layer of the eye and inside the eyelid. It can also cause sore and watery eyes, with pus. Conjunctivitis spreads through contact with the discharge from an infected eye, nose or throat. |
Yes, until the discharge (pus) from their eyes has stopped — unless otherwise advised by your GP |
Gastroenteritis, also known as ‘gastro’, can cause vomiting and diarrhoea, as well as nausea and stomach pains. It spreads easily from having contact with an infected person (or their vomit or stools). It can also spread via contaminated food or water. |
Should be excluded until they have not had a loose bowel motion or other symptoms for 24 hours and if there is no cause identified. They may need to stay home for 48 hours until the cause has been identified |
Thank you for keeping your children home and helping stop the spread of illness.
Congratulations to the following students who received awards today at Assembly:
Shooting Starr Awards
Kinder - Mirha Usama & Tilney Cotton
Prep - Tobias Horton & Archer Armstrong
Year 1 - Archie Radford & Maddelyn West
Year 2 - Luka Walsh & Oliver Wright
Year 3 - Lucas Schuuring & Rory Bishop
Year 4 - Amelia Khan & Harry Dawson
Year 5 - Charlie Ollington & Georgina Blake
Year 6 - Charlotte Armstrong & Max Monson
![IMG_5348.jpg](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3116/240606051503894/600x450/img_5348.jpg)
SPC Way Award - Harper Bishop
This term, Year Three has been exploring ‘changes of state’ in our Chemical Sciences unit. So far, we have learned that there are three states of matter, and we can identify different materials as solid, liquid or gas. To further explore why it is hard to classify some materials as solid, liquid or gas, we engaged in an experiment using water and cornflour/custard powder. To begin with, too much water was added and our experiment didn’t work. We used this as an opportunity to discuss the reality of this problem that real scientists face and then brainstormed some ways that we could improve our experiment next time. In our second attempt, we used our brainstormed ideas (e.g. adding the powder before the water to control how thick it became) and had much greater success with our outcome. We can’t wait to do more investigations and experiments to observe different states of matter.
![IMG_2941 copy](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3100/240606043858520/4032x3024/img_2941_copy.jpg)
![IMG_2942 copy](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3101/240606043900246/4032x3024/img_2942_copy.jpg)
![IMG_2945 copy](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3102/240606043901815/4032x3024/img_2945_copy.jpg)
![IMG_3086 copy](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3103/240606043903328/4032x3024/img_3086_copy.jpg)
![IMG_3084 copy](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3104/240606043904942/4032x3024/img_3084_copy.jpg)
![IMG_3082 copy](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3105/240606043906576/4032x3024/img_3082_copy.jpg)
![IMG_2947 copy 2](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3106/240606043908198/4032x3024/img_2947_copy_2.jpg)
![IMG_3083 copy 2](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3107/240606043909292/3337x2842/img_3083_copy_2.jpg)
![](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3100/240606043858520/500x375/img_2941_copy.jpg)
![](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3101/240606043900246/500x375/img_2942_copy.jpg)
![](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3102/240606043901815/500x375/img_2945_copy.jpg)
![](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3103/240606043903328/500x375/img_3086_copy.jpg)
![](https://prod005-au.sz-cdn.net/stpeterchanel/media/3104/240606043904942/500x375/img_3084_copy.jpg)
A reminder for families that Monday, 10th June is a public holiday. Enjoy the long weekend!
Issue 4 is here!
Book Club provides a fantastic opportunity to encourage regular reading and to offer great value to families.
Families who ordered books on Issue 3 can spend the $5 promo code they earned on Issue 4. Plus, they will get another $5 promo code to spend on Issue 5!*
Issue 4 orders due to the office by 21st June, 2024.
Due to our supplier increasing uniform costs, we have updated our uniform price list to reflect this. These increases will come into effect from 1st July, 2024.
Compulsory Items As per policy |
Size |
Price |
Price from 1st July |
Short Sleeve Polo |
4 - 16 M, L |
$28.00 $30.00 |
$30.00 $34.00 |
Long Sleeve Polo |
4 - 16 M, L |
$30.00 $32.00 |
$37.00 $44.00 |
Shorts |
4 - 16, S, M, L |
$25.00 |
$26.00 $30.00 |
Trackpants |
4 - 16 18 - 22 |
$37.00 $ 43.00 |
$38.00 $45.00 |
Socks |
5-8, 9-12, 13-3, 2-8, 8-11, 11-14, 14-16 |
$7.00 |
$8.00 |
Skort |
4 - 20 |
$25.00 |
$27.00 |
Soft Shell Jacket |
4 - 14, S, M, L |
$55.00 |
No change |
Bucket Hat/ Legionnaire Hat |
One Size |
$8.00 |
No change |
Optional Items |
|||
Windcheater (half zip) |
4 - 16 18 |
$50.00 $53.00 |
$51.00 $54.00 |
Beanie |
One Size |
$15 |
No Change |
Please note prices are subject to change at any time.