Principal Report

Tina Badcock Retiring

It is with great sadness that Mrs Tina Badcock is retiring from St Patrick’s. Tina has worked at St Patrick’s and Catholic Education for 20 years. She has contributed to the effective learning of many students as a teacher and more recently in the role of Literacy Practice Leader. Tina will be sorely missed by many staff and students. We wish her well and all the very best for the next part of her life journey.

Karyn Kingshott Long Service Leave

Mrs Karyn Kingshott will be going on Long Service Leave in Week 5 this term, Monday 21st August until Monday 16th October. Ms Melenna Zeleznik will replace Karyn in year 6 on Mondays and Tuesdays each week while Mrs Kingshott is on Long Service Leave. Ms Zeleznik has extensive experience teaching and is also currently working in year 2 Wednesday to Friday each week. We hope Mrs Kingshott has an enjoyable time away.

Fee Assistance

In the light of Catholic social teaching and the preferential option for the poor in the Gospels, the objective of Fee Assistance is to provide access to a Catholic education for those families whose children are eligible for enrolment but who are unable to meet the fee requirements because of financial hardship. It is also to ensure that fee remissions are granted appropriately and consistently so they support those with genuine financial hardship and allow these parents/guardians to maintain their dignity.

There are four forms of fee assistance in a Catholic school:

• Discount for families with a concession card;
• Discounts for families with three or more children in Catholic schools;
• Humanitarian entrant families - fees waived for three years;
• Fee remissions for families in financial hardship.

Currently, with rising interest rates and inflation, some families may be experiencing financial difficulty. If families require financial assistance for paying fees, please contact the office on 6426 1626 and make an appointment with me to review the fees. All requests are treated with the strictest of confidentiality.

For Jesus spoke of caring for the poor and marginalised:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me…In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" Matthew 25: 35-40.

ThinkUKnow

If your child is using the internet through social media, apps, gaming and instant messaging, they may have ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ on their accounts they have only met and spoken to online. Unfortunately, it can be easy for someone to lie about their online identity and it can be difficult to prove someone is who they say they are. Online child sex offenders are manipulative and capable of grooming a young person into believing they are someone else, including an online ‘friend’. Many social networking apps also have location options, which can allow for others to connect based on a particular location. This can present privacy challenges particularly if personal information such as a home location or address is being shared with other users.

 

ThinkUKnow is a federal government initiative that aims to help protect children and young people from the threat of online child sexual abuse and exploitation, reducing vulnerability to abuse, and increasing confidence and ability to seek help from an appropriate source when needed.

Police officer Paul visited our years 3-6 students to educate them about being safe online. The students learnt that not everyone online is who they say they are and not everyone who is online is your friend. Online games such as Roblox and Fortnite are open world games. The average age of a person who plays these games is 34 years old. Children are often scared to ask a trusted adult for help for fear of losing access to their device.

Recommendations about being safe online include:

• Tell a trusted adult that you are going online;
• Don’t close the door of the room you are in;
• If someone you don’t know interacts with you online, tell a trusted adult;
• A trusted adult includes, parents, grandparents, teachers;
• Say no, if someone starts asking questions about you online;
• Don’t use your real name - use a nickname;
• Keep your accounts or games private;
• Play in single player mode or with a trusted friend.

Students were advised that there is always someone who can help and someone who will listen. Tell a trusted adult or alternatively they can always call the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or go the website Kids Helpline

Information about ThinkUKnow was retrieved from ThinkUKnow

For more information from ThinkUKnow go to the website.

INSIGHT Project

Catholic Education Tasmania is committed to supporting our educators with a deep understanding of the Science of Learning through the INSIGHT Project. The INSIGHT Project will focus on improving three key areas of teaching and learning. These include how we teach; what we teach; and what our students have learnt.

As a part of INSIGHT, we continue to teach our students the essential core knowledge and strong foundations systematically and explicitly to be successful readers and writers. We continue to develop teacher’s literacy knowledge and practice, use evidence-based programs, and develop consistent frameworks in literacy.

As a system wide initiative, we are introducing Spelling Mastery across years 3 to 6.

What is Spelling Mastery?

Spelling Mastery builds spelling skills for students in Years 3 to 6 through a highly structured method that blends the following approaches:

Phonemic approach - helps beginning spellers learn the relationships between spoken sounds and written letters and then apply them to spelling

Morphemic approach - exposes advanced spellers to prefixes, bases, and suffixes

Whole-word approach - gives spellers at all levels the meaning and root of a word.

Spelling Mastery interweaves these three approaches according to students skill

development and provides lessons to help efficiently and effectively teach the

spelling skills students need to become proficient readers and writers. Explicit instruction, careful selection of spelling words, and repeated and cumulative practice help students master each concept and reinforce and retain key information.

Every child in year 3 to 6 has been assessed in Spelling Mastery. From this assessment, we have ascertained groups which allow targeting the students at their level and movement between them as students progress. Beginning this week, students will move to their instructional class groups for Spelling Mastery each day and then return to their regular class afterwards.

We are excited to continue the INSIGHT  project as it will allow us to truly target students' learning in their zone of development. If you have any questions regarding the project or the placement of your child in the program, please contact me on 6426 1626.

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

It is a nationwide measure through which parents/carers, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments and the broader community can determine whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

NAPLAN results allow parents/carers and educators to see how students are progressing in literacy and numeracy over time – individually, as part of their school community, and against national standards. 

For information about reading your child’s individual student report visit youtube
Reading the NAPLAN Individual Student Report 

Have a great week!

Carmen Aylott

Principal