Dear Parents and Guardians,

As I begin to draft this newsletter, I am amazed at how quickly agendas begin to compete with each other as we become somewhat manic moving to that deadline that everyone wants things done by, Christmas Day!

At the moment, teachers are trying to finalise assessments that inform reports and commence the drafting process for reports.  In addition to this, I personally have many meetings to attend and evenings that require my presence. I must admit, whilst accepting that end of year reporting is important, I get somewhat overwhelmed knowing there are 615 reports to be read at a time when we are becoming more tired by the day.  I’m sure parents feel the same as we battle to try and fit everything in before that magic date!

One example of this is our Christmas Carols night.  We really struggled to find a date that would not impact in a significant way on the teachers and their commitments as well as you, the parents.  There are dates in the evening to do with principal events that I must attend, two concerning the retirement of our Director Mr Peter Turner.  Mrs Martin, who leads us so well on this very special evening, also has commitments that “locked out” some dates. We tried to stay clear of Fridays because of work and staff Christmas parties as well. Unfortunately, even with the best efforts and intentions, the only date that could work for the staff and I was Friday 13th December. I am very much aware that this will not suit all, but know that we have tried to come up with an alternative.

The theme for the Christmas Carols night is “The Spirit of Christmas”.  The story looks at the materialistic things of Christmas, such as candy canes, and explains the real symbolism in the christian way whilst still telling the Christmas story.  Each grade is allocated a song. 

The gates will open at 5.15pm.  The P and F will run a barbecue from 5:15-7:00pm. The performance will commence at 6.15pm starting with the St Paul’s dance group and concluding with a whole school sing-a-long .

It will be a different performance as it won’t be on the Assembly stage (Area 3), but on the portable stage to be set up on Area 2.  The stage will be in the centre of the area. It will be Christmas carols in the round so that families are not placed at the back of the area and therefore more included.

I hope this new format will bring families closer to the action and so, enjoy things much more.

Kind regards,

Michael Reardon
Principal

Mackillop Awards

Students who are eligible to receive a MacKillop medallion are asked to submit the required number of Principal awards to the school office no later than this Friday, 22 November 2019.

Unfortunately awards submitted after this date cannot be accepted as sufficient time is required for the printing of award certificates

A message from Mrs Mourinho - Comprehension

The teachers at St Paul’s have been very busy teaching reading comprehension strategies  throughout the year. All teachers in grades 2 - 6 participate in ongoing professional learning to teach the program ‘Teaching Reading Strategies 2 - 6’. The students are explicilty taught how to use the 7 comprehension strategies; Visualising, Questioning, Making Connections, Predicting, Summarising, Inferring and Monitoring. Throughout semester 2, in particular, the students have had opportunities to apply their knowledge and skill in using the comprehension strategies when working in groups to discuss texts. This group work is known as a ‘comprehension routine’ and by the time students are in year 6 they participate in three routines independently. These include Reciprocal Teaching, Literature Circles and Questioning the Author. Comprehension routines are a set of practices that students can use with multiple texts in various settings. They are designed to help equip students with strategies they can use when reading other texts on their own.  

Reciprocal teaching provides opportunities for students to participate in a group effort to bring meaning to a text. It involves four comprehension strategies: predicting, questioning, monitoring and summarising, and takes the form of reciprocal interactions between group members relating to segments of a text. Reciprocal teaching benefits all students as it encourages students to read, effectively use four comprehension strategies and understand more challenging texts. 

Literature Circles assist students to converse about texts in meaningful, personal and thoughtful ways. Literature circles promote four types of talk:

1. Talk about the text
2. Talk about the reading process
3. Talk about connections
4. Talk about group process and social issues

After reading, students in small groups share understandings from the text and make personal connections in a form of a conversation. This helps broaden their interpretations and gain new perspectives from other group members. 

Questioning the Author supports the view of reading as a thinking process, as students learn that building understanding involves determining what information means, not simply extracting it from the text. Using questioning the Author assists readers to determine what information is missing, implied and required in order to transact with the text meaningfully. Readers are encouraged to construct meaning by interacting with the text from their perspective and the authors. 

It’s fair to say that our student’s enjoy participating in comprehension routines and are continuing to foster a love of reading.

Angela Mourinho
Literacy Coach

First Holy Communion

Just a couple more rehearsals this weekend which, if like last weekend, will proceed very smoothly. Holy Communion medals will be blessed and distributed this weekend. For our final week of workshops, parents are asked to read page 37 and assist their children with the home activity on page 38. Please try to arrive well on time next week. Thanks.

Sunday Evening Mass in Camden ~ 24th November

Sacrament of Penance for Children

Parents with children who have been baptised and are in Year 2 or higher at school are advised that the Sacrament of Penance programme will begin on the weekend of 30th November - 1st December. Parents wanting to enrol their children are asked to be present at one of the Masses on this weekend. Thanks

Prayer in Time of Drought

O God, Lord of all creation, by whose power the whole earth came to be. Look upon our parched land, we pray, and bestow upon it abundant rain, that pastures, fields and paddocks, may by your goodness, thrive once more. We offer You this prayer through Christ our Lord, Amen.