Term 1, Week 5 - 24th February 2022

From the Principal

Dear parents and carers,

We are nearing the end of Week 3 of Term 1! Our classrooms are settled, and routines are in place to ensure that we have a positive year of learning.

COVID Update

Earlier this week the Premier announced significant changes to Queensland’s current face mask restrictions and other COVID-19 measures in a variety of settings from 4 March.

Face masks will not be required in most settings, including schools, from 6pm on Friday 4 March. The restrictions that were applied as part of the back-to-school plan for Term 1 2022 will also be removed. This means that gatherings including assemblies, liturgies, and Masses can occur again.

Our first assembly will be on the 10^th of March at 8:45am. All families are welcome to attend.

Do the 5!

‘Do the 5’ strategy – a strategy that helps children deal with challenging behaviours at school and gives them steps that they must take when responding to low level situations (small problems). Each finger on our hand represents the five steps that we need to take when navigating challenging situations:

Step 1 – We ‘Ignore’ the behaviour of the other person.

Step 2 – We ‘Talk Friendly’- at this step, we encourage children to be polite. For example: “I don’t like when you (call me that) and I’d really like it if you would now stop.”

Step 3 – We ‘Walk Away’ - at this step of the process, we walk away from the person or people that are annoying or worrying us.

Step 4 – We ‘Talk Firmly’ – like ‘Step 2’ but at this stage, we are firmer with our words. For example: “I don’t like the way you are not stopping that. If you don’t stop it now, I’ll see the teacher.”

Step 5 – We ‘Report’ to a teacher. When your child is at this step, they must tell the teacher the steps they have gone through.

If the behaviour involves foul language, use of technology to communicate inappropriately, is abusive or aggressive or involves physical contact, children must skip to Step 5 straight away and report to a teacher. These are big problems.

With your support, we are encouraging the children to understand that we do not go through the four steps again if the situation is occurring regularly with the same child/children, we ‘report’ straight away when we are talking about the same children. Bullying is not acceptable at our school and must be reported.

If your child is reluctant to report situations like those mentioned above, please contact your child’s teacher and let them know of your child’s concerns as soon as possible. This will open the conversation with your child and build confidence in them that they can report this for themselves next time.

Shrove Tuesday

To celebrate Shrove Tuesday (next Tuesday the 1^st of March) our Year 6 leaders will be cooking up free pancakes for students. Pancakes will be free to celebrate the beginning of lent.

Ash Wednesday - 2 March 2022

Due to current COVID restrictions, unfortunately we are unable to attend the Ash Wednesday Mass at the church. We will be celebrating Ash Wednesday as a school with a liturgy instead.

Next week the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2022 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues. 

We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each family will receive a Project Compassion box and/or a set of envelopes for their donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: lent.caritas.org.au

INSPIRE Maths

Today we have had Mrs Kerri Shooter and Miss Emily Perry (Education Officers from Toowoomba Catholic Schools) visit our classrooms to work with students and teachers on all things MATHS.

In P-2, students worked on number recognition and place value concepts.

In 3-6, students worked through a Thinking Routine that focused on multiplication and estimation.

Please enjoy some photos below.

Math Mindset Message

An article on how mistakes grow your brain can be found below. (Source: YouCubed)

Mistakes Grow Your Brain - YouCubed

Maths at St Maria Goretti

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Have a great weekend!

Yours in education,

Casey Robinson

Principal

“God kept my heart full of trust to make all come right” (Mary MacKillop, 1874)

Important Dates

Parent Partnership Forum

Notices

Our Lady of the Southern Cross Parish - Mass Times

Sunday 27th February - 9am - Mass

Sunday 6th March - 9am - Lay Lead Liturgy

Saturday 12th March - 5:30pm - Mass