Week 5, Term 2 2019
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As you read this newsletter I am travelling to Belgium to embark on an intensive two week study immersion in Lueven, Belgium with six of my colleagues. From there I will travel through France and Spain for four weeks and return to school in Term 3. It is pleasing to know that the school will be in safe hands with Mr Hannant as Acting Principal and Mr Roland (Roly) Poulton as Acting APA. I look forward to sharing with you all my learnings from the Catholic University in Leuven and my journey of St James Way through France and Spain.
Welcome Mr Roly Poulton
Welcome to Mr Roly Poulton who joins us at St Saviour's Primary for the remainder of Term 2. Roly has taught in the Toowoomba Diocese for 40 years in the capacity of teacher, APRE and Principal. As a young aspiring educator he was a class teacher here at St Saviour's Primary. We are very fortunate to welcome him back to our school community as Acting APA. Welcome Roly!
St Saviour's Primary staff and students have been incredibly busy over the past two weeks with 2020 PREP interviews, Athletics, NAPLAN and Eisteddfod performances in Speech and Drama, Instrumental Music and Choir. Several of our Speech and Drama students performed exceptionally well bringing home the Trophy. Thanks to the staff who guide our students through all of these events and parents for your support.
On Monday evening, SSPS staff engaged in further professional development after school with STEM PUNKS. It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm of our teaching staff embracing topics such as:
- Design Thinking Approach
- Team project with the Codey Rocky STEM Tool (Level 2)
- Introduction to eLearning Resources
Early next term during Catholic Education Week, SSPS will extend an invitation to surrounding schools to attend our showcase STEM day. The students and staff in six of our classes will display and present their team projects to interested schools across the region. Further details will be shared with parents closer to the time of this event.
Also, on Monday evening, members of the school board met to begin discussions on creating our strategic plan for the next three years. Dr Judy Smeed outlined the process of creating a Strategic Plan. Judy has many years experience in working with School Boards across the country. We are excited about planning the future of our great school. Parents will be kept up to date via the newsletter in the weeks to come.
Many blessings to you all and I look forward to sharing my experience with you all in Term 3.
Madonna
Dear Parents and Carers,
UNIFORM REMINDER:
As we approach the middle of the term and the cooler weather, please ensure that your children are now dressed appropriately. This means that we should not be seeing any girls (Yrs 1-6) in short white socks with their dress. From now on, they should be wearing either NAVY tights or knee length NAVY socks, with the red stripes. Boys should be in long navy trousers. Everyone needs a formal blue jumper to wear on the days that the Sports Uniform is NOT worn. The zip-up spray jacket is usually worn as part of the sports uniform. Thank you for assisting us with maintaining a good, consistent standard of uniform.
WELLNESS WEEK:
Next week is Wellness Week. As we did in Term One, across the school we will have a few simple activities during the week to encourage students, parents and teachers to be mindful of our health: our physical, social, emotional and spiritual health.
Parents, please be on the look out for a notification each day next week for an activity for yourself or something to do as a family. These will be simple tips or activities that will help you be mindful of your health and wellness and give a simple example of something you can do to support wellness at home.
We will once again be having a shared picnic lunch. This will be on Thursday 30th. This was well received by the students and staff last term and celebrates the community that we are. We are once again going to try and go zero waste or package free to decrease our rubbish, in gratitude to our beautiful earth. If possible, on this day when packing lunch, be mindful of how to send a lunch that has less packaging. Every little bit of plastic wrap that we do not use, is a benefit.
After the picnic we will also be offering a variety of different simple games and fun activities for the students to play together across year levels and learn from each other.
If you have any feedback or suggestions as to what we can do for Wellness Week later in the term, please contact the WELLBeing Team, via the school office. We thank you for your support of this initiative.
BEFORE SCHOOL:
Please be mindful that there is NO SUPERVISION prior to 8:05am each school day. It has been disappointing and concerning to see the number of students arriving prior to 7:45am. Any student arriving early will be expected to sit close to the main school door and will be asked to bring a book to read. No iPads or handballs, games etc are allowed at that time.
EISTEDDFOD:
NAPLAN Online 2019
The Years 3 and 5 students have now completed NAPLAN for 2019. I would like to thank all of the parents and caregivers who have supported the students during this time. The NAPLAN testing does provide important data to the school that can be used to set the future direction for teaching at St Saviour's Primary. Stay tuned for results.
Year 5 and 6 Camps 2019
Please see below the dates and places for 2019 Camps. A letter containing the cost and further details will go home before the school holidays.
Year 5 - Murphy's Creek Escape
Dates: 15-17 October
Year 6 - Gold Coast Recreation Centre
Dates: 29 October - 1 November
Darling Downs Cross Country
Five students from St Saviour's participated in the Darling Downs Cross Country on Tuesday of this week. Congratulations to Grace Oughtred, Lachlan Ottobrino, Milly-Rose Allan, Cameron Dennis and Lainey Currie. A special mention to both Lachlan and Milly who are reserves for the Darling Downs team.
Darling Downs Football (Soccer) Representative
Congratulations to Grace Oughtred who was recently selected in the Darling Downs team for football. This is a major achievement as Grace is only 10 this year and will be playing against 12 year old girls. Good luck for the State Champonships Grace!
BOOK FAIR WAS A GREAT SUCCESS
We earned almost $600.00 worth of new books for our student collection and have $175 worth of Scholastic Rewards to spend in the near future. Thank you for your support.
NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME
We celebrated this event, which is part of Library and Information Week across Australia, with a fun readers’ theatre of the story Alpacas with Maracas by Matt Cosgrove. Enjoy the photos and ask your children about the wonderful actors who brought the story alive. A very big thank you to Mrs Anita McVeigh for her expert direction and to our Year 6 helpers.
SUPER READERS
Our students continue to share something they have loved about their recent reading as we focus on finding what makes them a super reader.
RADII SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SURVEY:
This year our school will be participating in a School Review and Improvement survey managed by Research Australia Development and Innovation Institute (RADII). As well as school staff and students from Years 5-12, all parents are invited to participate in the survey. The survey provides valuable feedback for the future directions of our school. It would be appreciated if parents could update their contact details prior to the 24 June 2019. This will ensure delivery to the correct parent email addresses are available.
On Monday 29 July 2019, RADII will send all parents a personalized invitation to complete the survey online. If both parents' email addresses are on file at the school, the invitation will be sent to both parents. However, the survey will close once the first person has completed. If you do not wish to complete the survey simply delete it.
The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. You can complete the survey from anywhere you have access to the internet. The survey will close on Sunday, 11 August 2019 for parents.
We encourage you to be very honest in your responses to the surveys. All responses go directly to RADII so they are confidential and anonymous. When the surveys are completed, and responses aggregated by RADII, overall data is sent to us so that we can share the findings with you.
TERM 2 SCHOOL FEES:
Term 2 School Fees are due tomorrow 24th May. Thank you to those families who have paid their Term 2 school fees.
SK00LDAYZ UNIFORM SHOP:
The Uniform Shop is open each Friday from 2.30 pm - 4.00pm
Saturday morning - by appointment only.
Please contact Dan Eagleson directly during business hours 0481 318 398
THANK YOU MRS CONDON:
On Monday at Assembly we farewelled Mrs Cathy Condon. Cathy has been our second hand Clothing Pool convenor for a number of years at St Saviour's. The pool has now ceased operating but on behalf of the St Saviour's Primary community we thank Cathy for all hard work with the Clothing Pool. Thank you Mrs Condon.
Pictured above is Cathy with our Year 6 leaders, Amelia, Pascal and daughters Lottie and Juel.
Mini Vinnies members will be selling warm milo with a marshmellow for $1.00 per cup from the Mercy Centre kitchen next Tuesday morning at 11 am. Funds raised will go towards the upcoming Vinnies Winter Appeal. We look forward to your support.
TUCKSHOP UPDATE!!
Macaroni Cheese is back on the menu.
Chicken Drumstick (lightly seasoned and freshly baked in the Tuckshop - also a Gluten Free item) Priced at $2.00 and available for 2nd break.
STATE OF ORIGIN:
Don't forget State of Origin is just around the corner. The Tuckshop will be selling the usual iced donuts for morning tea and dagwood dogs and blue and red jelly cups for lunch.
HELP NEEDED:
Please consider a day or just a couple of hours to helping out in the Tuckshop. There are quite a few volunteer required spots on the roster for the remainder of the term. If you would like to help out please contact Tash Biggar in the Tuckshop or via the office.
ROSTER:
Please see attached roster for Term 2.
