Issue 16 - 9th September 2021
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From the Acting Principal
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Religious Education News
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Pastoral Care and Wellbeing
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Book Week
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Father’s Day Stall
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Kindergarten 2022
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Catholic Education Tasmania
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Smithton High School Orientation Day
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Parents and Friends
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Footy Colours Day
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Hockey
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Uniform
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Grade 6 Stalls
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Primary School Basketball Tournament
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Autism Australia
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Smithton High School Transition Day
Over the last couple of weeks, Andrea and I have been meeting with the 2022 Kinder students and their parents. It has been a joy to meet them! Some have been reserved, some have been bursting with confidence, some have taken a while to warm up, but all are ready to step into the next phase of their journey and join our SPC family.
I have also sat in on the Kinder Information Sessions conducted by Lauren Workman. Lauren spoke to parents about the Kinder routines and explained the process of learning through investigation and play. The importance of learning through play cannot be underestimated. It is so important. With the growing presence of digital technology and devices being used in the earliest years by many children, opportunities for play can be diminished. Schools are noticing underdeveloped gross and fine motor skills, an increase in speech and language delays, issues with self-regulation and delayed social skill development.
Put simply, “play grows the brain”. In the early years of schooling, teachers plan play opportunities that target specific skills.
Sara Wilford from Scholastic says: Play is the young child's most powerful tool for learning.
How does play support your child’s development and learning?
Physical development - active play supports children’s overall health and sense of wellbeing, physical growth, appreciation for the benefits of active lifestyles and skills for independence in self-help such as dressing or feeding.
Social and emotional development - dramatic and imaginative play which includes dressing up and role play can develop positive social and emotional skills and values. This provides opportunities for children to learn to control their emotions, reduce impulsive behaviour, or reduce stress as they act out feelings and events that might be worrying them, and develop empathy and fairness as they learn to play alongside and with other children.
Cognitive development - when your child plays individually and with others their cognitive skills, such as thinking, remembering, learning and paying attention are all being developed. Children develop problem solving, the power of imagination and creativity, concept knowledge and strengths such as concentration, persistence and resilience.
Literacy and numeracy development - play requires thinking, language, interactions, curiosity and exploration. Through play children develop skills and understandings in language, literacy and number.including :
During play, children develop foundational understanding in curriculum areas such as Maths, English, Science and Humanities. Here are some examples:
Maths: When children are shoppers or cashiers in a pretend grocery store, or when they build in the block area, they use numbers (“It costs three cents”), explore measurement (“My tower is taller than yours”), and develop problem-solving abilities (“Put the big blocks on the bottom so your wall won’t fall down”).
English: Children develop early reading, vocabulary, and writing skills by telling familiar stories to friends and toys (“Once upon a time, there were three bears”), practising and using grammar and tenses (“The brontosaurus ate all the leaves on that tree!”), and creating a menu for an imaginary restaurant (“Write pizza first—it starts with P”).
Science: Children use science concepts like prediction when they experiment at the sand and water table. (“I think two scoops of sand will fill the bucket.”)
Social studies: As children take on different roles in the dramatic play area, they practice being carers (“It’s bedtime. Let’s put on your pyjamas and we’ll read a book.”) and learn about community helpers, like health care professionals (“Put your arm here so I can take an X-ray”) and service workers (“I have a package for you in my truck”).
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/aug2018/talking-parents-about-play-and-learning
Giving your child plenty of opportunities to play is one of the best ways to help them grow into curious, creative, healthy, and happy individuals, equipped with the skills they need to learn in a more formal way. In the Early Years, the children may often look like they are only having fun, and they certainly are, but they are learning very specific and necessary skills whilst having that fun!
Acting Principal
Mrs Kerrie FlynnNext Tuesday, 14th September, we celebrate the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. This feast goes back to the seventh century when the Cross was recovered from the Persians and exposed for veneration in Jerusalem. The Triumph of the Cross is the Triumph of Jesus Christ whose love for us and obedience to his Father culminated with his death on the cross.
The cross is the symbol of the Christian. It is our sign of our personal relationship with our Saviour. He died not just for people in general but for me and for you. He calls us to join him on his cross not just as a people but as individuals. The ideal that he realised is the goal of our lives, to make real the only true love there is: sacrificial love. Some people treat the cross as a trinket. Other people treat the cross in a superstitious manner. These people have seen too many cheap horror movies and act as though a cross can defeat evil spirits. It is not the object that conquers evil, it is the power of Christ whose presence the object reminds us of that conquers evil.
The deeper meaning of the Cross is presented in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Jesus emptied himself completely, not just becoming a human being but accepting the worst public death of the society he was in to demonstrate the extent of the love of God for us. He died making a willing statement of love, filling the world with the love he had for his Father and his Father has for him.
When we wear a cross we are saying: Jesus is Lord of our lives.
Pax Texum
Mrs Andrea Jaffray Morf
Deputy Principal
Well done to all of our families for your enthusiasm for this year's book week dress up day. Everyone looked fantastic. Here are some photos from the day.
Thank you to all families who were able to support our book fair this year. From our book fair sales we have been able to purchase new books for our school library.
Thank you to our families for your support with this year’s Father’s Day stall. Our Grade 4/5 students raised $786 towards their 2022 camp.
Families with children enrolled for Kindergarten 2022 should now have received their letter of offer, these need to be signed and returned to the office by Friday 17th September with any outstanding documentation. Orientation sessions will take place in Term 4 as per the Kinder Timeline. We encourage all families to come along to Learning Treasures on a Monday morning from 9am - 10.30am.
On Thursday, 23rd September, we will be holding our annual Footy Colours Day and Special lunch day. Pies and Saveloys will be available to purchase through the Qkr! App. More details will be sent out closer to the date. We look forward to seeing everyone dressed up in their team's colours.
Last Friday saw our U12’s play their first game. Coming away with a win, 2-1, against Edith Creek. This week our team plays on Tonight at 5:15pm.
Next week SPC do not have a game due to Country Gold.
Under 8’s will commence on Friday, 15th October at 3.15pm
As the weather is warming up, for the remainder of the term students can choose to wear the Summer or Winter uniform. Whichever uniform is worn, it must be worn in its entirety i.e. full Winter uniform or full Summer uniform.
As a part of our learning in Business and Economics in Grade Six, we have been analysing how businesses work, goods and services and profit margins. To support our learning, we created four unique stalls to be run at school. We created a pitch and presented these to Mrs Flynn and Mrs JM. We were successful in gaining their investment and will be running these stalls next Monday and Tuesday (13th and 14th).
The stalls range from $1 to $3.50 with a variety of items. Please see the four different posters below for the different products.
Students will only be allowed to buy from one stall each day (to make sure everyone has access to the yummy foods). This means that some students may miss out on the item they first wanted, if it sells out, as we are limited to what we can sell.
As per the letter home to 3/4 & 5/6 families last week, we are seeking interest in the upcoming primary school basketball tournament held over 23/24 October. Forms are due to the office by Friday, 10th September. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Thorp via the office.
Autism Tasmania conducts free workshops for parents and family carers of autistic children, or those who have autistic characteristics. Please see below information about the two upcoming workshops.
Tomorrow, our Grade 6 students are attending a transition day at Smithton High School.