I trust the children have settled back into school and that routines have moved back to normal as we start the beginning of term 2 with much to keep us focused and challenged.

As the students settle back into those routines, the teachers have a number of significant focus points that we will be attending to throughout the term. 

The staff met for a full day at the beginning of the term in their particular teams, each grade has representation on each team to review the focus of the school in literacy, numeracy and religious education.  This enabled each team to review the data in all three Key Learning Areas that was used to share with you, your child’s goals at the end of last term.  This data is also used to inform the teachers about class, grade and whole school needs in literacy, numeracy and religious education.  From the above meetings, teachers were able to reflect about their classroom practice and plan together to respond as a school to the needs of the children that went beyond the individual.  The meetings were also an opportunity to review our professional learning plan for the term to ensure that it clearly reflected the focused needs established through the meetings.  These meetings are largely problem solving activities where staff process the data to establish issues with matters of practice, identify the helping and hindering factors and then brainstorm or generate possibilities to solve the matter.  The meetings also allow for reflection to evaluate the progress of other matters already in action.

Teachers will also be involved in a number of day sessions this term where they will focus on the teaching of reading and comprehension  There will also be significant time devoted to assisting teachers in aligning the marking criteria for persuasive and imaginative writing to the syllabus and their classroom practice.

Teaching is not just a matter of planning lessons from the NSW Syllabus documents and turning up to deliver them.  There is significant work that happens well beforehand and it is this aspect that makes a teacher’s work incredibly complex and time consuming.  I wish to acknowledge how hard the teachers work for the children at St Paul’s.  I also acknowledge that without your support, as the first and primary educator of your child, our work would become even more challenging.  Thank you for supporting our teachers, which indirectly, also supports your child and every child.

Go gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal

Please note, students will begin wearing their full Winter uniform from Week 4,   Monday, 10 May 2021. 

Be safe, respectful and Responsible -
Coming back to school...

As the students are returning to school after our 2 week holidays, we will be focusing on re-establishing strong routines within the classrooms and across the playgrounds. This will help to maintain an environment that is conducive to learning.

Teachers will take the time to revisit and re-teach the classroom and playground routines and expectations to the students.

Students will continue to unpack the weekly target and then journal on something that was positive for them during their school week. We will continue to lead our students into our final chapter of PB4L Social and Emotional Learning.

It is also timely for teachers to start talking to their students about Relationship Skills, which is one of the Core components for SEL. Please take the time to look at these skills with your child as well.

Relationship skills are an important component of Social Emotional Learning. Relationship skills pertain to “the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups.” To demonstrate appropriate relationship skills, students must learn to:

• Listen well: Active listening depends on the ability to make an effort to hear and comprehend what another person is saying and respond appropriately. Some skills involved in active listening include appropriate eye contact, regulating thoughts to limit distractions, utilising facial expressions, and providing oral responses.
• Cooperate with others: When students cooperate, they each become active members working toward a common goal. Cooperation requires that students be flexible, have an awareness of self and others, take turns, respect each other’s thoughts and opinions, listen well, and practice effective problem-solving.
• Resist inappropriate social pressure: Strong self-management skills can help students to communicate and commit to their decision not to engage in unwanted and unsafe behaviour. 
• Negotiate conflict constructively: In order to resolve an issue in a relationship, students must know how to calmly discuss the problem, brainstorm solutions, and come to an appropriate decision.
• Seek and offer help when needed: Students should be encouraged to check their understanding in both academic and social situations. If students hit a roadblock while working to achieve a goal, they need to know how and when to ask for help.

For further information please visit https://www.allprodad.com/10-ways-to-teach-your-children-to-be-problem-solvers/

Thank you for assisting in keeping St Paul's a safe, respectful and responsible environment for all.

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