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Message - Deputy Principal – Teaching and Learning
Dear Families,
We are in a wonderful position to celebrate learning across our school after another busy, engaged and productive term of learning. Happily, our students have almost completed their second full term of onsite learning. Our staff need to be commended for the way they have supported one another to ensure learning has continued for all students despite experiencing more than our fair share of staffing absence due to illness over the past eight weeks.
Term 3 Curriculum
Next term, students will be exploring the delights of the Design and Technologies Curriculum in combination with the Physical Sciences. Through an exploration of engineering principles, our students will be developing their skills, knowledge and understanding by creating a designed solution. Learning experiences will centre on how forces act on objects and an exploration of light and sound. In the senior levels, students will be learning about energy, electricity and how light is absorbed, reflected and refracted.
Semester One Reports
School reports will be made available to families from Friday 24th June via your PAM account.
Parent/ Teacher Interviews
We look forward to sharing your child’s progress in learning early in Term 3. Please look out for further information regarding how to book a time with your child’s teacher.
Wishing you all a wonderful end to the week.
Best wishes,
Peta Overbury
Deputy Principal – Teaching and Learning
Does The Bible Get It Wrong? (student free day 24th June)
Next Friday (24th June) is the last day of term 2. This is a student free day and teachers will be engaged in some professional learning around the teaching of Religious Education.
The focus of our learning is going to be on how to approach scripture to make the maximum impact on student’s understanding. This is quite a complex task. Biblical texts were written thousands of years ago. It takes some expertise to be able to dig deep and find the key messages that were written by people that long ago in a culture that doesn’t exist anymore.
I was watching an episode of ‘Insight’ on SBS the other day and the topic of discussion was about estrangement. Partners, siblings, sons and daughters were discussing the reasons why they were estranged from their families. One particular man was talking about his estrangement from his family due to his choice to become an atheist. He was brought up in a particular religion and then decided in his adulthood that he no longer believed in God, in any God.
People go through all sorts of faith stances over their life time and this is completely natural. Everyone has different experiences and influences on their faith stance. The interesting thing that came up for me was that he said that he no longer believed in a God because the bible had got it wrong. He said that the bible had inconsistencies and was written by people who were misguided. I wished that the Insight host had delved deeper into his ‘revelations’.
It is very common nowadays to make these claims about the bible. For instance, the book of Genesis at the beginning of the bible has two different creation stories. With knowledge of the writers of Genesis, and the purpose of their writing, one could easily assume there are inconsistent stories that outline how God created the world. Without delving deeper into the context and the purpose of these ancient writings, it looks like the bible ‘got it wrong’.
But the Bible is not a historical account. And we shouldn’t treat it that way. We also know that the Gospels have conflicting accounts of Jesus’ life. The order of the key events is different across the different writers and the details are sometimes very different. But do these things mean that the bible is not worth reading or being inspired by? With some exploration and uncovering of things like understanding of the genres, historical/cultural contexts and purpose of the writings, we can gain some awesome and inspirational insights into the key messages in the bible. This is why we tap into the knowledge and expertise of theologians and biblical scholars because there is so much richness and wisdom to uncover. This is what we hope to achieve next Friday!
Sacramental Dates
Confirmation
Date |
Event |
Time |
10 May |
Parent Formation Night 1 |
7pm |
14/15 May |
Enrolment Masses |
|
17 May |
Parent Formation Night 2 |
7pm |
21/22 May |
Enrolment Masses |
|
7 June |
Parent/Child Workshop 1 |
7pm |
8 June |
Parent/Child Workshop 2 |
7pm |
16 August |
Retreat Day |
|
10 & 17 August 13 August (catechism group) |
Reconciliation |
|
20 August |
Confirmation Masses |
11am 2pm |
First Holy Communion
Date |
Event |
|
19 July |
Parent Formation Night 1 |
|
23/24 July |
Enrolment Masses |
|
26 July |
Parent Formation Night 2 |
|
30/31 July |
Enrolment Masses |
|
9 August |
Parent/Child Workshop 1 |
|
10 August |
Parent/Child Workshop 2 |
|
7 September 3 September (catechism group) |
Reconciliation |
|
10 & 11 September |
First Holy Communion Masses |
6pm 9am 10:45am |
Dear Families,
The Art room is still looking for some assistance with art supplies.
Driving for the Safety of Our Children
As parents we are focussed on the safety of our own children. Sometimes as drivers that means that we can forget about the safety of other children. We encourage all drivers to be aware of the driving behaviour that may risk the safety of other children and families around our school.
U-turns near the busiest parts of our school are one example. A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. If you are travelling down Fiorelli Boulevard and want to turn around, please don’t do a u-turn in front of the school or near Ferrari Drive. If you are travelling along Mackillop Way, please don’t do a u-turn near the busy area outside the gate and near Tawleed Grove. Cars doing u-turns and parking illegally put all children and families at risk as it makes it harder for them to assess when it is safe for them to cross the road.
We are extremely lucky to have an on-site Drop off Pick up Zone and parent parking, but we will never be able to accommodate all 530 families with a parking option right near the gates. We ask you to consider parking a little further from the school and spend the extra few minutes walking to meet your child if necessary. Your children are supervised and safe so you may also consider arriving a few minutes later for pick up, rather than adding to the congestion on the school bell.
Parents also play a vital role in teaching children how to be safe road users. Children imitate adult behaviours. We know that safer road crossing options are needed around our school, but it is still important that we think about what we are teaching our children by how we act as a road user. Please remember to choose the safest, clearest and most visible place to cross the road, concentrate at the kerb before crossing (never be on the phone or talking to another adult) and always look both ways before crossing the road.
Lost Property Box
The lost property box is currently overflowing with unclaimed items.
If your child is missing an item of uniform, water bottle or lunch box, please ensure they check the lost property box located outside the office.
NB: All unclaimed uniform at the end of the term will be donated to the Second Hand Uniform Stall and all other items will be disposed off.
Dear Families,
Circus Royale has come to town. We have been kindly given some passes to any families interested in attending. If you would like a pass, please collect from the office.