Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the start of the 2022 school year, I hope you have all enjoyed a relaxing and restful holiday period. I’d especially like to welcome all of our new students and families I’m sure you will enjoy your time with us at St Angela of the Cross. 

Our school newsletter will be distributed through the SZAPP App on a fortnightly basis every Tuesday. We encourage you to read all sections of the newsletter to ensure you keep up to date with the happenings of our school.

On staff, we officially welcome Miss Claire Henry, Miss Meg Lambell, Mrs Lindsay Tweedie and Mrs Suzanne Zammit. They are all very excited about their new roles and I am sure that they will be made to feel welcome by all. Please see below for a full list of our school staff and roles.

For any classroom correspondence/concerns, the classroom teacher is your first point of call. Please note that teachers will not respond to emails over the weekends and they will endeavour to respond to emails within 24-48 hours (weekdays). A phone conversation is sometimes much more appropriate than an email.

Congratulations to Mrs Kasey Burrell and husband Daniel who are expecting their second child in June. We wish them well for the exciting journey ahead.

Ongoing Professional Development and Planning is vital for teachers as it allows us to improve our knowledge and also reflect on current practice and trends in education. Throughout 2022 we will have a number of closure days focusing on improving our teaching and learning. Please note the following school closure days.

• Friday 8^th April 2022
• Thursday 23^rd June 2022
• Friday 24^th June 2022
• Friday 16^th September 2022
• Monday 31^st October 2022

A reminder to all families that all vehicles must access the school via the Downton Street entry only. Children can be dropped off at the kiss and drop parking on the left-hand side of the road way. If you wish to park and enter the school please park in the designated spots adjacent to Mills Road. With the increased number of families this year, please ensure we are patient and sticking to the 5km hour speed limit.

During the school holidays Gavin Mckinley, husband of Connie who works at our school passed away suddenly. Gavin was a loving husband and a devoted father to his two children Balin and Tian. As you would appreciate, this is a very sensitive time for the family and we thank the school community in advance for your understanding and support.

It is quite common that when someone within a community dies, children ask questions of us. We suggest it is important for you as parents to answer any questions truthfully, in an age appropriate way.

Below is a prayer that you may like to share as a family, keeping the Mckinley family in your thoughts:

Father, we pray for the Mckinley family.

We ask You to help them at this time of loss.

We reach out to You, the Father of compassion asking You to look over them with Your unfailing love and kindness.

Please comfort them and bring them through the tough times ahead.

Be alongside them in their pain, and strengthen them.

May they sense Your presence in this time of need.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Please see the below information in relation to Specialist Days for 2022.

A reminder that full sports uniform and runners will be required for Physical Education classes.

Summer hats must be worn during Term 1 and 4.

A reminder that Lunch orders will be available for purchase every Friday beginning this week. 

Our local provider is Almentios, who focus on lots of healthy “green and amber foods” (most of which is homemade), as well as a few “red” processed items on the menu that are not offered as regularly.
Almentios uses an online ordering system called Flexischools, which is an easy app or website, where each family set up an account and order.

Please see the below flyer for further information on account setup, a flyer can also be collected from administration.

As part of our Literacy and Numeracy Program, we assess all of our foundation students at the beginning of the year. We conduct individual assessments on our Foundation students in Literacy and Numeracy. Each Foundation child sits with their teacher for approximately 45 minutes and completes a series of activities. Completing these assessments informs our teaching and guides us in what the children already know and areas to be taughtIn order for these assessments to be carried out, we would like your child to attend a 45 minute appointment.

We have scheduled these assessments to take place on three of the Foundation days off;
• Wednesday 9th February
• Wednesday 16th February
• Wednesday 23rd February

To book your child's assessment please log in to your PAM Account (Parent Access Module).
Alternatively, you can follow this link:

http://pam.stangelawarragul.catholic.edu.au

Upon login there will be a ‘Parent Teacher Interviews’ button to start the booking process. If you are unsure of your login details for PAM please contact administration on admin@stangelawarragul.catholic.edu.au for assistance.

Parents will need to organise for drop off and collection of their child at the school office for their child’s assessment time. Parents will need to QR code upon arrival at school and unfortunately are not permitted to remain onsite for the duration of the assessment.

If you are unable to make any of these times, please notify the school on 5622 9800 or via email to your child’s classroom teacher.

Developed by the staff and students at St Angela of the Cross, Primary School.

Just as I am?

Simon Peter in today’s gospel (Lk 5:1-11) makes the amazing discovery that millions of Christians have made since. “Me! You want me? Now, just as I am! A sinner!”(Lk 5: 9)

Yep – that’s it Simon – he loves you now and wants you to work with him – before any conversion or confession or repentance! God’s process doesn’t end in forgiveness – it starts that way! Jesus, who you, Simon, will come to confess as the Son of the Living God, has become incarnate specifically to bring that news to all of us. 

Even after 2000 years of absorbing Christian notions and teaching about equality, justice, outreach, and compassion, Jesus’ proclamation of the Creator’s kingdom still startles us. Everything is different in Gods reign, where mercy has taken the place of holiness

In spite of Peter’s sinfulness, almost because of the disreputable, dubious, shameful condition of people, that is who Jesus wants to be with. That is who he moves and chats and laughs and dines with. Rather than spending time with the devout, the holy and the respectable, that is the norm throughout Jesus ministry.

We can imagine Jesus’ message spreading excitedly through communities of ordinary, frail, sinful folk and its frequent rejection by “holier than thou” types, made of “the right stuff.” Still is. The latter are affronted by the concept that their assiduous ticking of boxes isn’t important. God loves even (maybe especially) and unconditionally the sinful unwashed.

How is that? Well the truly holy don’t know they are holy. They just do what Jesus asks them to do. Love everyone as Jesus tells them to love. And hope and trust in God. The truly holy are immersed as Jesus was, and as Simon Peter became, among all God’s people as reassuring and living examples that, yes – He loves you and wants you now – exactly as you are.  

Deacon Mark Kelly                                                                          

We have a library full of books that need some contact covering.

If you would like to help the school with this task, please see the office staff for a take home bundle.

Any help big or small will be appreciated.

Literacy:

Phonics: Students will begin participating in the Sounds-Write phonics program. We will begin by introducing students to the following sounds; a, i, m, s, t. They will engage in a variety of experiences that promote one-to-one sound-spelling correspondences to help them read, build and eventually spell simple words.

Reading: Students will be involved in shared and modelled reading experiences. They will learn about different book features and will explore how to respond to a read text in a variety of ways. They will be learning about the difference between a letter and a word and will use pictures to help tell a story. Students will work on the strategy of pointing to the words within a story.

Writing: Students will focus on writing their name using a capital letter at the beginning and then lowercase letters. They will build up their fine motor skills through activities such as cutting and pasting and finger gym. Students will be encouraged to plan their writing through drawing and verbalise their ideas in full sentences to their teacher. In handwriting, students will be encouraged to form focus letters using the correct entry and exit points and will be exposed to writing using ground, grass, sky dotted thirds.

Numeracy: Students will engage in a variety of hands-on learning experiences to enable them to represent numbers when counting and ordering. They will begin to count forwards to ten (and beyond) and will be learning to recognise numerals and make matching quantities. Students will be learning to describe position and movement using the everyday language of location and direction, such as ‘between’, ‘near’ and ‘next to’.

Inquiry:  Students will be learning what their job is as a learner and what and who helps them learn. They will be exploring learning tools and strategies to ensure they are well-prepared and supported for a successful school year ahead.  Some of these skills will include goal setting, independence and confidence, leadership, teamwork and problem solving.

Religion: Students will be exploring what makes them and their friends special and unique. They will develop the knowledge, skills and understandings to enable them to learn that they are unique and loved by their family and others. They will celebrate differences and learn about the love of God through relationships with others.

During term 1, Homegroup B will be focusing on the following areas:

Literacy: Students will be continuing to develop their phonics knowledge through their participation in the Sounds-Write phonics program. In Reading our main focus will be retrieving directly stated information within the books we are reading and answering questions using this information. Take home readers will be sent home next week, until then please encourage your child to read books from home or the local library. Our writing focus will be on creating recounts using the 5w’s- who, what, when, why and how and including basic punctuation. 

Numeracy: Students will be building on their place value knowledge by reading, writing, making and ordering 2 digit numbers. They will continue to develop their counting skills by counting forwards and backwards from different starting points and skip counting using different counting patterns. Students will be sorting, describing and naming 2D and basic 3D shapes.  

Inquiry:  Students will be learning what their job is as a learner and what and who helps them learn. They will be exploring learning tools and strategies to ensure they are well-prepared and supported for a successful school year ahead.  Some of these skills will include goal setting, trying new things, being persistent and teamwork. 

Religion: Students will be exploring what makes them and their friends special and unique. They will develop the knowledge, skills and understandings to enable them to learn that they are unique and loved by their family and others. They will celebrate differences and learn about the love of God through relationships with others.

In Homegroup TP we welcome Mrs Tweedie to our wonderful class! During term 1, we will be focusing on the following areas:

Literacy - In Reading, our main focus will be determining the main idea in texts we are reading and retrieving directly stated information. We will begin sending readers home next week, until then please encourage your child to read books from home or the local library. 

In Writing, we will be focusing on creating engaging narratives with a clear beginning, middle and end and a problem and solution.

Mathematics - In Maths, this term we will be focusing on understanding the place value of numbers and the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.

Inquiry - This term, during our Inquiry unit, the students will explore who they are as a learner and how to work collaboratively with others. This will tie in with our School Wide Expectations - Safe, Respectful, Inclusive and Persistent.

Religion -In Religious Education this term, students will prepare for Lent and Easter. They will learn all about how Jesus lived and what he was taught, including Mary’s special role in the life of Jesus.  Students will explore the Easter story through scripture and the importance of using Lent to focus on people in need. 

During term 1, we will be focusing on the following areas:

Literacy - In Reading our main focus will be determining the main idea in texts we are reading and using the supporting evidence within the text to explain our reasoning. We will begin sending readers home next week, until then please encourage your child to read books from home or the local library.

In Writing we will be focusing on creating engaging narratives with a clear beginning, middle and end, including a problem and solution that grabs the reader’s attention from start to finish!

Mathematics - In Maths this term we will be focusing on understanding the place value system and identifying and describing the properties of different numbers. We will also be focusing on the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.

Inquiry - This term, during our Inquiry unit, the students will explore who they are as a learner, how we can be successful learners, and how to work collaboratively with others. This will tie in with our School Wide Expectations - Safe, Respectful, Inclusive and Persistent.

Religion – This term in Religious Education, the students will learn the Easter story and the importance of using Lent to focus on people in need and how we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Through this learning, students will explore how the mission of Jesus continues today through the Church. 

What an exciting year we have planned in Performing Arts! This term we will begin an exploration of music. Students will learn to read simple musical notation and work collaboratively to create short musical pieces. We will be using an instrument called 'Boom Whackers' which are tuned percussion tubes. We look forward to sharing some of our performances with you. 

Homegroup M and Homegroup H

This term the Foundation students will be taking part in different tasks and games to develop their spatial awareness, boundaries and knowledge of different rules. Students will explicitly learn a range of Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) including throwing, rolling, dribbling and catching. These skills will assist them to participate in a variety of minor games and group activities using a wide range of equipment.

Homegroup B

This term the Grade 1 students will participate in basic movement experiences exploring the use of space, time, energy and body awareness. Students will learn a range of motor skills and movement patterns to participate in minor games which have simple rules and equipment. Through these games, students become aware of the spatial requirements, safe conduct and familiarisation of basic skills.

Homegroup TP

This term the Grade 2/3 students will complete a range of tasks and problem-solving activities to develop their ability to work cooperatively and fairly within a team. Through a range of games and experiences, students will extend and refine their range of manipulative skills including kicking, throwing and catching. Students will be introduced to the skills and sequences of individual and team athletics required for effective participation in modified track and field events.

Homegroup L

This term students will extend and refine their range of motor skill development and explore the skills for working effectively in groups, including problem-solving and decision making. They will begin to apply motor skills in a sport specific setting and practise these skills playing in small sided games. Additionally, Students will be introduced to the skills and sequences of individual and team athletics required for effective participation in modified track and field events. 

Please refer to our school calendar for dates and information about upcoming events for the year.